It always boggled my mind when I heard how Democrat Silicon Valley is. But recently I have heard that SV is libertarian leaning. Big oil is always going to be conservative leaning. Where does WS stand politically? It seems like a lot of my friends who have gone on WS are libertarians.
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I'm a Libertarian. Everyone thinks it's a really edgy ideology, but it just boils down to personal responsibility, independence, and minimal government intervention. I think a lot more people would be Libertarian if they were informed as to what it is. The Libertarian Party needs a really sociable, sexy candidate to promote itself. In the future, I see Libertarians replacing Republicans.
It makes sense that Wall Street would have a lot of Libertarians. Privileged 20-somethings with undefined moral foundations who think that they've gotten where they are all on their own and everything is a perfect meritocracy. That's basically what Libertarians are.
The day I have to chose between Liberals and Libertarians at the polls is the day I rethink my current residence.
Liberals don't want the same kind of help you're saying libertarians think they didn't get. I'll happily help anyone with advice, a good word here and there, a referral etc etc. But there's no way I'll support the kind of liberals who have stopped my friend in the street to compliment his suit and ask why he doesn't agree that something like that should be free for everyone.
I think that it's important to boil down political platforms to their core and fundamental principles, doing away with mainstream ideas such as what you described. The Liberal idea is not free shit for everyone.
I tend to align with the GOP on most issues (save for some key concerns). My biggest gripe with the Party right now is that there is no youth element in its leadership, something I believe is at the center of their inability to effectively get their message across beyond core conservative demographics.
If the GOP had some young, intelligent, world-wise candidates, with sensitivity to modern social paradigms and progressive thought, then I believe the Party would gain far more traction among non-traditional demographics. It's imperative for any organization to evolve, and by sticking so staunchly to old ideas I believe that the GOP is simply diminishing its own relevance.
However, I find this lack of true progressive thinking to be prevalent across all of American politics and through every demographic. An example of this: while I do believe that the LGBT community should have its "independence," I also believe that this should NOT be nearly as big an issue as it currently is. That the nation is "grappling" with this "change" is a symptom of a potential underlying problem. On this same note, something like Obamacare being passed into law is a telling sign of America having a more cloudy idea of what we're supposed to be. Last I looked, the very idea of socialized healthcare was against what this country stood for.
All that said, I believe that most liberal platforms have due cause and are well-intentioned, but lack the economic and demographic reach necessary to be truly "good" ideas; I find that the GOP has simply devolved into an organization that fights change wherever possible, instead of evaluating what positive evolutions of contemporary issues exist; lastly, I think that both Libertarian and Moderate-leaning ideas are convenient cop-outs to current political issues.
To answer your question however, I think that pretty much all the older people on the Street are Republican, and many young folk are more liberal (Dem. or other).
The LBGTWXYZ crap is just an annoyance. They are no different than any minority. We want to be equal to everyone as long as we are more equal than everyone else.
Now back to the OP. WS is actually quite "Liberal" but this is only because Liberals get more of a pass when they commit financial based crimes. If you can't get away with it then bribe those who make the rules.
So much this.
Most people I know are socially permissive and fiscally conservative. The caveat is that very few people I work with have any formal education about how the gov't actually works or what the schools of though really say. So, the views are largely based off of what other people say as opposed to any real analysis of their own. This has just been my experience, and after working for some years in politics I find that the general level of understanding is 9th grade at best. There are more sophisticated people in finance for sure, and the MD of my group is very good at calling policy decisions. There is a tendancy in finance to think that money buys somewhat more real power than it does....looking at money all day long tends to warp one's perspective a bit.
The bottom line is that your job comes first and your political preferances second, at least while the markets are open. No one gives a rat's ass if you lost money because you think a politician "should have" done something. People who talk about their politics in the office tend to generally annoy the rest of us, especially when they just stick to people who agree with them on everything: the general definition of douchiness.
Personally, I am not a fan of "isms" and deplore the intellectual laziness and dishonesty that comes from subscribing to prepackaged thinking. I try to look at things realistically and optimistically, and I'm an opportunist on a day to day basis.
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