Welcome to the Ideopolis. - A new Democrat Majority is Emerging!

The Boston Globe (not on Web Site- Paper Printed Edition Only) ^ | Sunday October 27,2002 | John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira

[vannrox]

The Democrats will do well, particularly in gubernatorial contests unaffected by talk Of War, but they may not claim the Majority toward which they have been Moving, by fits and starts, since 1996. It won't be long, however Before the decade is over, the Democrats Will complete this journey, and the country will move from conservative Republican majority to a progressive Democratic one.

[Z in Oregon]

The Engineers just keep mum about it.

True.

Why?

[CasearianDaoist]

To keep their jobs/grants/fellowships.

[vannrox]

Yea. The Engineers do keep mum about their Political views. I think it is because most of them spend all their free time studying - followed up with copus quantities of Beer. The Liberals have more "Free Time" on their hands and get to associate more outside of their individual college of study. Engineers, however stay"home" and just work. When they do get out to take the liberal electives they are usually shouted down early on and they learn to be quiet or they won't get any dates.

[Blake#1]

I am pessimistic. The womens vote changed everything in the USofA. It is only now (Clinton years) that women's-emotional voting is affecting our culture. It would be prudent for all Freepers to plan for the worst and be happy for anything less. We may need to immigrate (OH NO!!)

[CasearianDaoist]

I agree. Underneath this all is fact that a good undergraduate engineering degree is no easy achievment, no matter how bright or prepared the student. The vast majority of the "humanities" undergraduates could not get into an engineering curriculum. Also, many of the humanities majors did not exist years ago - they have been fabricated in order to meet that new constitutional right: the right to a colleged degree. We not only need an idweological reformation in academe, we need an intellectual one as well

[dennisw]

Immigration will do in the Republicans and the conservatives. Dick Morris's new book says as much. States that used to have chance of going Republican now have none. Californian being the best example with Texas soon to follow. Jeb Bush has a good chance of being bounced due to immigration. 

Immigrants remain DemocRat for generations after they arrive. One need only look at the Irish, the Jews and the Italians.

[Z in Oregon]

That's sad.

[Z in Oregon]

Womn are allowed to vote?

[Z in Oregon]

Women are allowed to vote?

[The Right Stuff]

Where's the MegaBarf Alert?

[Torie]

The problem with all this is that it assumes that the issues that remain salient will not change. I suspect that cultural issues will fade over time, and this "Emerging Democrat Majority" paradigm will collapse. In the end, politics for the long distance runner is about the efficacy of government, facilitiating economic vitality, where it intrudes and where it doesn't, and the degree of redistribution of wealth. Plus it is about style. Bush had the wrong style for highly educated and upscale northern suburbs.

[Truthsayer20]

"Following up on your post - Engineers and scientists are logical creatures, by temperament and training. Logic and reason are the mortal enemy of the Left, who rely on emotion and feelings."

Well, one has to wonder then why people in natural sciences and mathematics tend to be as leftist as other academics. Engineers are a totally different species, however.

[The Iron Duke]

If the Democrats are the party of the future, why do they have candidates like Frank Lautenberg and Fritz Mondale? Why are candidates like Kathleen Kennedy Townsend running on glories now 40 years old? Why do they need to rely on inner city blacks mired in poverty for their base vote?

Enquiring minds want to know.

[jd777]

Have they noticed the surge of FOX NEWS, Talk Radio, Conservative books(Bias, Slander, Hannity, O'reilly. Rudy) The conservative net: Drudge, WND, and Free Republic? Has there ever been more action on the right? Let's see what happens on election day. But I think we got the real Momo!

[Koblenz]

Mathematicians and other theoretical scientists probably tend towards liberalism because they deal with abstractness, not reality. Liberal theories are much nicer than conservative theories: we all wind up with free health care, etc. Of course, liberal theories don't end up working, but they seem much better.

[TopQuark]

"Logical thinking" refers to the process of deduction of new truths from previously held --- theorems from axioms. The behaviors you address are rooted in axioms.

A mathematician may have limited informtation about the nature of man and society, which leads him to a flawed model. Within that framework, his logical thinking is phenomenal. But, purgementum init, exit purgamentum -- garbage in, garbage out.

Engineers, in constrast, are not necessarily logical thinkers: activities of many design engineers are more akin to art rather than science. They are proficient in logical thinking, however, due to training. In adition to that, however, their lives and objectives of work are deeply rooted in reality. Things must work, even when the reasons are not fully clear.

This, I believe, explains your observations.

[Holden Magroin]

Third World immigration is the reason Republicans are losing. Those liberal techies aren't having kids (they keep women from moving up the corporate ladder), so they won't provide many votes in the future.

[WOSG]

iT IS NOT FULLY NUTTY.There is a danger from Democrat inroads of proessional classes.

I am also a consevative tech worker. Many of us engineers are conserviatves. BUT, if you look at 2000 election polling, Gore *won* among those with PhD level credentials. The fact is, there are Democrat inroad among professional groups, and liberalism is rampant in many of them.

Consider how the left practically "owns" the college campus today. Hoowitz did a study and found 90% of college professors are Democrats, single digit %age of Republicans. same with the media. I am sure hollywood is the same.

SCARY FOLKS: ALL THE ORGANS OF MASS COMMUNICATION TO PEOPLE ARE "OWNED" BY THE LEFT AND LIBERALS. newspaper, TV, classroom, book publishing, etc.

Now the internet frees us from that dominance, but it also should make us think - where do these people come from? and why are they so pervasive if their ideas basically *suck*? which they do.

I also agree with your point about women ... if the Democrats didnt have the "women" scared the way they have minorities, we'd have a majority Republican party. Somehow we have a 'gender gap' out there. it's a key problem and i think it is the professional women who seee teh Democrats as their savior (incorrectly).

[WOSG]

wrong premise, mathematicians are not leftists, not as much as those in the humanities are today.

likely most mathematicians hide their politics or are ignorant/uncaring about it.

[Jim Noble]

>>The Republican Party fails when it tries to be The "Democrat Lite" Party<<

Louder, please...

The Republican Party fails when it tries to be The "Democrat Lite" Party. .