Should employers be allowed to discriminate on the basis of political views/affiliation?

except where it's actually work-related, it would be a lousy business decision to hire/fire/promote on the basis of democratic/republican affiliation. but i don't think i'd want the government to prevent an employer from firing a neo-nazi or member of some other abhorrent party.

amendment rights, including the right of free association. On the other hand, they are engaged in interstate commerce and interfering with the vote undermines our political system.

I have a dim memory of one of my elementary school teachers telling me that, way back in the day, employers would tell their employees, "If so and so wins the election Tuesday, don't bother to come to work Wednesday."

Kinda puts a crimp in the whole democracy illusion.

I say hell yes. As long as the political reasons are clear, public and I am accountable for my actions.

This is why I keep my political opinions and thoughts inside of my head when at work.

When you go to work and start talking about "Muhammad this", "Jesus that", "Bush this", "Obama that" or whatever hot button issue, you're going to attract a lot of unwanted attention and probably find yourself out of work for something very petty or nothing at all.

Successful employers like Max profits not hostile work environments.

firing for vanilla campaign bumper stickers seems like a vindictive fuck-you to the first amendment and should probably be a reliable basis for wrongful termination lawsuits.

on the other hand, if the worker is a direct employee of the GOP, yeah i could see firing for an Obama bumper sticker.

or if the employee is impacting the work environment with his/her political views, like blasting limbaugh from a cubicle, or leafleting during staff meetings.

but the burden of proof should be on the employer that said political views and/or their modes of expression in the workplace are directly and negatively affecting the quality of work and/or the atmosphere in which it's conducted. and no, "Obama's bad for profits" is not good enough imho.

alot of these some person claims to be a boss fires those ***** employees who voted for that ***** Obama!

I suspect most if not all are false.

During the 2012 elections. And it wasn't because I supported Obama, but because I did NOT support Romney. After a discussion where I said that I didn't support Romney for president, I was fired shortly thereafter, even though my production was there.

Unless that employee brought their politics to work and badgered other employees or clients. They'd get exactly one warning and then they'd be gone... regardless of their politics.

"Defense spending should be reduced by 75%" = "anti-government?"

"Federal budget should be reduced by 50%" = "anti-government?"

"Federal workforce should be reduced by 50%" = "anti-government?"