[Baynative]

I live on the very liberal Washington Coast and would agree with the premise judging from all the wimpy little men in floppy hats and berets who carry man purses or wear fanny packs. But I am still confused at the high percentage of tradesmen in unions who march lock step for socialism.

[NotYourAverageDhimmi]

“But I am still confused at the high percentage of tradesmen in unions who march lock step for socialism.”

I don’t think those tradesmen buy into the social aspects of the Liberal agenda — endless affirmative action, paying for prisoner’s sex changes, etc. They support the union and vote Democrat because it makes their wallet fatter.

[Maelstorm]

Well the problem with tough union types is they have been brainwashed into union dependency. Also most union members who are in the trades/mining/industrial are far more conservative than the average Democrat.

[driftless2]

The guys/friends I knew who worked in factories and were union members were socially worlds apart from your college-type, liberal/leftist jerkwads. Their social views pretty much reflected your basic conservative positions. It mostly came down to they were in closed union shops. Everybody who was not in management belonged to the union. That put the automatically at odds with management who they associated with Republicans. And of course, most of them grew up in Democrat homes with their parents constantly telling them how evil Republicans were. Like my parents.

But it usually came down to money. Most union members thought they were worth more than they actually were. And they thought management was always cheating them out of what they thought were their rightful wage increases. But socially, the great majority were/are law and order types many of whom served in the military.