4 ms·

This must be an American thing but I have never in my whole life even remotely considered the political opinions of my neighbours when choosing somewhere to liv

• rayiner 3y ago
  Do you have kids?
  • tibbydudeza 3y ago
    Getting taught creationism at school would be a big turnoff for me and that slavery had its upsides and To Kill A Mocking Bird is verboten. Fortunately where I live there is no political meddling in the school syllabus - standards are set nationally by the Education Dept and schools boards don't get voted in on political lines.
    • trilbyglens 3y ago
      If you don't like the good ole boys running things don't come to Texas. It's basically an authoritarian state run by a cabal of car dealers and preachers.
      • check89 3y ago
        [dead]
    • rayiner 3y ago
      The biggest trick elite professionals played in America is creating the impression that their point of view is neutral and that everything else is political. They are trying to optimize for some value function just like everyone else.
    • check89 3y ago
      > there is no political meddling in the school syllabus > standards are set nationally by the Education Dept
  • mvdtnz 3y ago
    If you have a point to make, make it. I'm not here to tell you about my personal situation.
    • rayiner 3y ago
      You suddenly start caring more about the politics of your neighbors (i.e. people who vote in school board elections) when you have kids to raise.
• jwestbury 3y ago
  Political opinions matter when they affect your daily life. For instance, after the Dobbs decision last year, Texas passed an anti-abortion law which made it illegal to terminate pregnancies even when the fetus had no chance of survival and continued pregnancy was a mortal risk to the mother. This was finally changed last month, but the situation persisted for over a year. For women at high risk of miscarriage (for instance, my sister-in-law who moved to Texas and has previously had a miscarriage), their neighbours' political opinions could actually kill them. Perhaps it's an American thing because the American political system has resulted in a complete lack of common-sense legislation; but it's absolutely justified. (My background here: I'm an American living in the UK. I've been consistently surprised by the number of common-sense laws and regulations that are supported by even conservatives, or if not supported, are not immediately repealed once conservatives gain power.)
  • mvdtnz 3y ago
    OP indicated that they're disappointed that the city of Austin was not the liberal Oasis in Texas that they hoped. So they're not discussing state politics, they're concerned about the politics of the people and city. I doubt OP was expecting Austin to have different abortion laws to the rest of Texas. I'm saying I don't understand why one would be concerned about the politics of the people in the city they live in. It wouldn't even cross my mind to consider it.
    • jwestbury 3y ago
      Honestly, local politics can still have a big impact. The city I grew up in cancelled weekend bus service because the local Republican party thought it was a waste of money. If you're a person of colour, it can change your day-to-day life significantly if you're around people of particular political persuasions (either way). If you're uncomfortable with people carrying guns into grocery stores, likewise.
    • jmye 3y ago
      You don’t think your neighbors’ voting habits in local elections will affect your life? There are numerous counties in Texas, for instance, that have criminalized driving a woman through their county for the purposes of getting an abortion. That behavior would make a material difference in my choice of where to live. I can’t imagine simply not caring, unless one is so wealthy that the laws don’t matter, or the kind of person who is never affected by their neighbors’ antagonistic voting.
• nvm0n2 3y ago
  It's not an American thing. The same issue crops up in the UK with London, for example. If you move to London you know you're going to be hit by things like ULEZ or endless ideological propaganda ads on the public transport system because of how the people there like to vote. If you move to a village in the home counties you're going to have a very different set of experiences. In the UK this is often disguised because it gets conflated with age: people want to live in the big cities when they're young, and when they're young they're more liberal. As they got older they get less liberal and want more space, so move out of the cities, so at no point does it feel like they're selecting where they live based on politics. But it does shake out that way regardless. The USA is big enough and California far enough to the left vs other places, that even moving from one big city to another will yield noticeably different neighbourhood politics.
• pandaman 3y ago
  More of a Californian thing, I'd think. You can live your whole life in SF or LA without seeing any promos for the opposition party. In other states, even in as Blue of a city as Austin you can still see an occasional bumper sticker on a car, or even, a plaque in somebody's front yard. And if you drive in/out of the city, you will see a whole lot of those.
• fmajid 3y ago
  Abortions are illegal in Texas and anyone going out of state to get one is persecuted. Kind of a big deal. Also, non-competes are banned in California but not in Texas. Moving to Austin means giving your employer a veto over your future career.