Liberal enclaves in a sea of conservatism

[JW2020]

Austin, Texas, Chapel Hill, N.C., Charlottesville, VA, and Lawrence, Kansas come to mind. What do these places have in common? They are towns centered around higher education. Towns that are very progressive. Makes it pretty clear why the right wants to destroy education. Educated people are more egalitarian, more environmentally conscious and more community oriented. These ideas go against conservatism. Education is liberalism's last stand.

[Recursion]

1. I don't think smugness helps us

Educated people are more egalitarian, more environmentally conscious and more community oriented.

It can, or it can make them more elitist, more consumption-oriented, and more individualistic.

Keep in mind that self-identified Tea Party supporters have higher average educational attainment than the median American.

[southernyankeebelle]

2. I have seen lots of educated idiots. All you have to do is look at congress. Enough said.

I know people who come from humble backgrounds but have more manners than any educated person I know. It's how you are raised. Your right I hate this smugness.

[FSogol]

10. Huh? Where did you see this:

"Keep in mind that self-identified Tea Party supporters have higher average educational attainment than the median American."

[Recursion]

13. A CBS survey, IIRC

A person who self-identifies as a Tea Party supporter is more likely to have finished college than the average American.

[FSogol]

14. I find that really hard to believe. n/t

[Recursion]

16. Why? They're also richer, older, and whiter than the median American

All three of those correlate with higher educational attainment.

[FSogol]

18. Because of the moronic (or is it moranic?) nature of their cause?

I think lately, there is a blurring of Republican, tea party, and libertarian types that is underway since Rand Paul decided to run for President in 2016. Example: this puff piece in the Washington Post today (have a barf bag nearby)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/is-rand-paul-going-mainstream-or-vice-versa/2013/06/19/71b2bb12-d83d-11e2-9df4-895344c13c30_story_1.html

IMO, Paul is trying to sweep up the tea party in with his libertarian groupies to create some sort of majority in the GOP. Most of the recent faux scandals seem to have connections to the Paul camp. He is certainly prepared to fund-raise off of any allegation.

[progressoid]

28. It is hard to believe. I was surprised to see the numbers a few years ago.

33% of Americans have a college degree. Clearly there is no connection between having a degree and being intelligent.

[FSogol]

29. Thanks for the study. n/t

[pipoman]

3. Yeah, that is the problem with

psudo-intellectual liberalism..the abandonment of blue collar and what is important to them...like their jobs and upward mobility and family and maybe even...hold it...religion...al which have been abandoned by Democrats. No, the Democratic party used to be the labor party..the labor party is dead..unfortunately the self proclaimed intellectuals who stole the party from the working class have nearly exactly the same interests as the rethugs, just with a bit more environmentally friendly twist..class warfare! It's whats for dinner..FFS

Educated people are more egalitarian, more environmentally conscious and more community oriented.

[JW2020]

5. "pseudo"

[pipoman]

7. LOL..case in point

[pinboy3niner]

4. GWB had academic credentials

And look where that got us.

Both Recursion and southernyankeebelle made a good point. "Admirable" characteristics are not unique to one side or the other.

[JW2020]

6. academic maybe

Which were rubber stamped due to his family's finances, but he damn sure was not an educated individual. He was a proud anti-intellectual, it's what made him popular among the rightwingers.

[pinboy3niner]

8. You focused on bastions of higher education

And that bastion certainly got bastioned.

[HappyMe]

9. Education does not automatically

equal being liberal, common sense or compassion. There are lots of well educated people that have their heads firmly up their asses.

[pinboy3niner]

11. Take Republican economists, for example

They...I'm sorry, I can't even type...

[Paladin]

12. I'll take liberal smugness over brain-dead conservatism, any day..... (nt)

[Recursion]

15. But voters in a majority of districts don't, which is our problem (nt)

[CanonRay]

17. Grinnell, Iowa

Lovely little town in a sea of red.

[tabbycat31]

19. It's not only academic towns

Sometimes small towns are liberal enclaves. In the state senate district that I'm working in right now, we have two towns (out of 14) that consistently vote Democratic at the federal level. They're not college towns, in fact one of them has less than 1000 registered voters (the other about 2500).

They're blue-collar working class towns.

[kentauros]

20. If Austin is the only place in Texas that comes to mind,

then your mind is way out of date!

Have a look at this map and link, please



http://politicker.com/2012/11/the-purple-election-map/


Austin's main focus is not education, either. It's the state capital. UT accounts for a small percentage of their population. Plus, if you look at San Antonio, they're a military town (Air Force and Army) yet are still quite blue.

Houston used to be primarily Oil Country, and yet we're turning blue. The universities and colleges we've had here for decades (or longer) haven't had an impact on our voting records, probably due to the high-percentage of out of district students here.

So, there have to be other factors going on besides the rather simplistic notion of a place being a "college town." In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to call the biggest college-town in Texas as anything but hardcore-rightwing (College Station, home of Texas A&M.)

[Paladin]

21. Good points. Some of the most conservative people I know live in Austin. (nt)

[kentauros]

22. Austin has changed, considerably.

It's no longer the town depicted in Slacker, and hasn't been for years. However, that's one of the sources that keeps people thinking that Austin is still this tall island beacon of blue in a boiling sea of red, and nothing will remodel that mental image to a more factual representation

[Paladin]

23. I couldn't agree with you more.

This constant "all of Texas sucks, except, of course, for Austin" refrain has become accepted, uninformed doctrine around DU, and it's total bullshit. I grew up in Austin, so I know something about the place and people; it was a lot nicer, two or three decades ago.....

[kentauros]

24. You know better than I do.

I only visited there, due to siblings going to UT, and most of my family eventually staying there or nearby. We had a house on Ave. C for a while, as my sister's main residence after we stopped renting it. So, I spent quite a few weekends helping do maintenance work on it, and driving through town.

All the build-up and sprawl makes it look more and more like Houston every day. Other than the hills there, of course

[Paladin]

25. Houston's traffic is better managed than is Austin's.

I never dreamed I'd see it, but it's true. That's what happens when everybody moves to Austin to have the "Austin experience." Those of us lucky enough to grow up in Austin in the 50's, 60's and early 70's just didn't know how damn good we had it.

[kentauros]

27. At first, I balked at us having better managed traffic.

But it does flow pretty well in most spots. The one place of contention would be the West Loop (610 W.) "Rush Hour" is more appropriately titled "Parking Lot Hours" for the West Loop. It's the same on Saturday mornings, too.

My brother (who lives in Oak Hill) said that the reason weekend traffic seems at least as bad as weekly traffic is that on the weekends the entire family is out driving, running errands, whatever, and with all available vehicles, at all hours. So, we end up with "rush hour" all day long and heavier traffic jams because no one knows how to multitask their vehicular trips.

[FarCenter]

26. College towns are liberal because the students are young and from out of town

Townies in college towns are liberal? I don't think so.

[JW2020]

30. The mayor of Charlottesville is Sikh.

A town in Virginia has a mayor who wears a turban.

[FarCenter]

31. Nikki Haley, the Republican Governor of South Carolina, is a Sikh.