Why are most professors Lefties?

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Tuesday, April 9. 2013

Why are most professors Lefties?

A Lefty wonders why. He thinks it's mostly self-selection.

I think a more interesting question is why so many of the successful people in business are Obama people. Over half of the very wealthy people I know are ardent Democrats, and are people who understand how the real world works. Of course, I do inhabit New England where blue is the cultural color of choice.

Posted by The Barrister in Education, Our Essays, Politics at 13:30 | Comments (10) | Trackbacks (0)

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Some of the most ardent are big fans of crony capitalism.

#1 RJ on 2013-04-09 13:59 (Reply)

Why are a lot of big business people democrats? I think it is because they would rather not care about little things like the poor, elderly, etc. while they make their millions. They'd rather the State do that for them to assuage their guilt when they don't make any donations to help their fellow man.

Think back to the richest people in the 1800s and early 1900s, before there was an income tax. They built universities, museums, etc. Nowadays it seems the liberal wealthy are the most selfish people you can find.

#2 MissT on 2013-04-09 15:27 (Reply)

"and are people who understand how the real world works."

Which doesn't mean lefty policies work. Lefties are organizational people, know how to work the bureacracy for their own benefit. Whether that is gov't, corporate or crony capitalist. The ability to be disingenuous, lie convincingly, be two faced, make a warm and fuzzy sounding argument for populist consumption that is actually for your personal benefit and public detriment is valuable, whether you are in politics or soft drink marketing.

#3 Daedalus Mugged on 2013-04-09 15:44 (Reply)

In order to remain "successful" and wealthy, those people you point out, Maggie, have learned to pay off the party most likely to do the most to maintain their wealth and success. It is no accident that most new money fortunes have come from the newest technologies and none from the older technologies. All the older industries are shackled to the Federal and state regulatory apparatus; the newer, not so much. I would suspect that more of the Democratic rich are old money rather than new money for that reason, as much as having absorbed the socialist lessons in their exclusive private schools as well as their legacy seats in the Ivy League schools.

#4 Ike on 2013-04-09 16:06 (Reply)

I would say there are at least two major versions on the left. But both revolve around socialism as a philosophy of failure.

One group who have been unsuccessful in the open market seek to alter the rules through state action.

The other successful in the "free" market view the lesser beings not as equals but as inferior and in need of their "help." It gives them psychic rewards to help the unfortunate. But they tend toward those that can be grouped into an "other." It is/was the basis of Progressive charity, to do good works for the unfortunates. Except, oddly, to work to give them a fair shot/ equity of opportunity.

QUOTE:

It (socialism) purposes to introduce new forces into society and industry; to put a stop to the idleness, the waste of resources, the misdirection of force, inseparable, in some large proportion of instances, from individual initiative; and to drive the whole mass forward in the direction determined by the intelligence of its better half.

See, the unfortunates will be cared for and the laggards will be whipped into action to support that.

I fear, if you were to prick the elite Obama supporter, you would find a racist, or sexist, or classist, etc. Perhaps all mixing in a witches brew that regardless of intent, perpetrates evil.

What does low expectations reveal of ones opinion of that person or group?

#5 JKB on 2013-04-09 16:11 (Reply)

I wonder what the percentages are for STEM professors...

Just wonderin... Never actually checked, but when I was in the Giant Money Pit that is kollage in the 60's, most of my profs were central to right leaning, if I don't miss my guess. Even talked to a few in the History department and found them to be ex-military types who took the GI bill and made it into a Ph.D. in History ;-> Right wingers. All those great guys with actual experience are retired now and I suppose supplanted by the goof-balls that have rewritten 'liberal arts' to mean any danged thing that does NOT approach hard science: Sociology, psychology, anthropology - the WORST! Well maybe... hard to pick, as the field is so rich with choices!...

Anyway. Anybody seen a survey of actual professors in STEM? Not the idiots that claim a Ph.D. but did no real work to receive it? (Yeah, I know I am being somewhat unfair, but only somewhat.)

I stayed in kollage way too long, having a great time studying all the stuff other students shunned - math, statistics, computer science, even some philosophy, just for kicks. Did I mention physics and geology? Paid for it myself with scholarships and Summer work (as a Kelly Girl, and later as a Summer intern doing programming) and was left, at the end of 6 years of enjoying school with a $2,500 student loan. Not bad, and completely possible back then. Of course, I went to inexpensive state schools (they ALL were inexpensive back then...)

Now I spend money at the Teaching Company and listen to TED lectures (sometimes clenching my teeth), lots of cool stuff out there! Be an autodidact - you will receive no credit from anyone - but yourself. But that should count for a lot.

So much to learn! So little time!!

Wow. Got off track there. STEM professors are probably a better analog to Real People.

#6 Cap'n Jan on 2013-04-09 17:19 (Reply)

Guilt. They can give lip service to the poor and still drink their $5 cup of coffee. It's like confession; it absolves them of their sins.

#7 ahem on 2013-04-09 20:17 (Reply)

Here in CT I just spoke to a guy from Pratt & Whitney who has had dealings with Governor Malloy. He reports that astonishingly the Governor has no interest at all in the private sector or how it fares. Your sucessful friends in New england are obviously smart people and know that old line businesses cannot thrive there. So they exploit the Progressive state to leverage everything in their lives (to their own enrichment). Want a new office building, use your government contacts, want to keep a nice view from your house, donate a fraction of the cost of buying the next door lot yourself to the land trust and get the government to pick up the rest.

The old CT with now decrepit bridgeport as one of the wealthiest cities in the USA, cannot recreate the wealth of bridgeport tool, remington arms, torrington bearings without discarding much of the progressive agenda. So let the south and Mountain states have the real business, we will have the trendies of the day, propped up by finance.

Your friends choose being Democrats for crony reasons and because is gains them the social status required to use their connections. A question, are your friends truely happy with their lives?

#8 DirtyJobsGuy on 2013-04-09 20:29 (Reply)

Lefties tend to gravitate to positions where they pay no price for being wrong.

#9 mudbug on 2013-04-09 21:03 (Reply)

Some reasons Academia is leftist:
Its a concerted effort by the Communists to pollute the Officer Pool of the Armed Forces.
Can't be fired
No accountability
No challenges to inane philosophy
Fertile environment for petty dramas and intrigues
Hot Chicks who drink too much and will buy into their Trip
No physical labor required

#10 Lazlo on 2013-04-09 21:11 (Reply)

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Tuesday, April 9. 2013

Why are most professors Lefties?