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Yes. Washington, DC is absolutely not an ideologically diverse place, by basically any measure. 93% (!) of the city voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. Additi
by kevmo 9y ago
Yes.
Washington, DC is absolutely not an ideologically diverse place, by basically any measure. 93% (!) of the city voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Additionally, most people there, Democrats included, are extremely dedicated to the status quo. I've live in cities all across America, including DC 2015-2018 -- I actually usually cite it as the least ideologically diverse place I've ever lived.
I generally like Marginal Revolution, but this article is bunk.
- rayiner 9y agoI work here and I agree. Everyone here thinks that the educated class should run the country. I had to move out to Anne Arundel to get away from it.
- moorhosj 9y agoWas there a time when people thought the uneducated class should run the country? Were most of the founders part of the “educated class”?
- walshemj 9y agoPretty much all of the revolutions in until Russia in 1917 where almost 100% like this listen to Mike Duncans revolutions podcast series and its a very common theme. I suspect some of the founders would have been OK with the franchise being limited to well off males.
- mhuffman 9y agoI would go further and be curious if people think that the uneducated class running the country is a good idea now?
- rayiner 9y agoYes. I think the DC mindset that highly educated wonks should tell everyone what to do is intensely anti-Democratic.
- mhuffman 9y agoThe opposite of that is a far cry from the uneducated running the country. You don't think that people in charge of policy should have a minimum amount of learning beyond high school, for example, to deal with something that has such complicated externalities as public policy? Voting is one thing, because we are all in this together, but I really, really prefer a captain to steer a ship rather than someone who just has bold opinions on ships.
- moorhosj 9y agoWho in DC is "telling everyone what to do"? We vote for them, they write the laws. That is how a representative democracy works. Under your vision of uneducated leaders, would those people still be "telling everyone what to do" when they write a law?
- rayiner 9y agoThere is a vast army of wonks (mostly in executive departments and agencies) that are doing most of the “telling everyone what to do.”
- moorhosj 9y agoDo you think MBAs should tell software engineers how to write code? Do you consider people who specialize in software development "wonks" or just experts?
- dragonwriter 9y ago> Washington, DC is absolutely not an ideologically diverse place, by basically any measure. Perhaps, but... > 93% (!) of the city voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. ...is irrelevant to the thesis. The partisan divide in the US generally conceals significant ideological diversity within each major party, and those voting for a particular major party candidate are generslly more ideologically-diverse than those who identify with the major party they are from (as they tend to include people who ideologically identify as independents or wihlth minor parties who vote tactically, and a smaller number who vote that way but ideologically-motivated identify with the opposing major party.)