NRR: Why are college students mostly liberal?

I've noticed that liberal and conservative students alike take full advantage of services provided by their schools to get the most for their tuition. Republicans seem just as likely to accept financial aid as Democrats, and just as likely to take advantage of every opportunity to get things for free. Students mooch off the system because they don't have money, not because of their political affiliations. Dorm life probably has a huge influence on students' opinions of various social issues.

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As a college student, I'd love to see a balanced budget for our country, even if that means higher taxes. Unfortunately, the Dems like to increase taxes and expenditures simultaneously, and the Republicans like to cut taxes but not expenditures. Either way, we're in the red. If there is ever a fiscally conservative and socially liberal presidential candidate, I will vote for him/her.

It is funny to watch the ignorance of the liberal young. It seems as though many of them do it because it sounds cool.

For example: A young doctor just out of med school that I know, who strongly believes in evolution, said that he is going to go overseas for six months to help with those that are struggling in less developed countries. That is great, but... From my belief, that completely contradicts his belief in evolution! Evolution, meaning the strong survive because they have evolved and the weak die off because they have not been able to evolve. WTF? Is he trying to throw off evolution? If he believes in evolution why would he try to disrupt it?

ALGOREsucksBALLS wrote:

It is funny to watch the ignorance of the liberal young. It seems as though many of them do it because it sounds cool.

For example: A young doctor just out of med school that I know, who strongly believes in evolution, said that he is going to go overseas for six months to help with those that are struggling in less developed countries. That is great, but... From my belief, that completely contradicts his belief in evolution! Evolution, meaning the strong survive because they have evolved and the weak die off because they have not been able to evolve. WTF? Is he trying to throw off evolution? If he believes in evolution why would he try to disrupt it?

Ok. Why don't we get rid of doctors and healthcare so that only the naturally healthy will survive? And let's get rid of grocery stores too, because that's just a way for people who can't grow or catch their own food to stay alive.

Or, we can consider that compassion and generosity might be a RESULT of natural selection. For example, 20 humans working together have a better chance at surviving and reproducing in the wild than 20 humans going their own ways.

That's a rather selective and inaccurate and misleading notion of evolution, but why am I not surprised?

By the way, that old truism about how liberals become conservative as they get older no longer applies. Quite a few diehard Righties turned left as a logical reaction to what was going on in the Bush years. I know lifelong Republicans who did so, and they haven't looked back.

Axis Austin wrote:

Partially (not completely, maybe not even mostly) because they are brought up in a self-serving liberal system. College students, who are liberal, become professors and teach new students.

I'm not suggesting brain-washing or anything like that (college students are smart enough to understand), but when you're in a liberal system it has some effect.

Why are businessmen "Conservative?" Same reason.

Mr. Price wrote:

Why are businessmen "Conservative?" Same reason.

Because of the belief in a free market.

Clowns of the Purple Sage wrote:

Because most of them have at least 3 digit IQs

100 is average IQ, so 3 digit is not much to brag about.

because they are educated (they can think for themselves)

If you are under 30 and not liberal, you do not have a heart. If you are over 30 and not conservative, you do not have a brain.

duck in the chicken wrote:

If there is ever a fiscally conservative and socially liberal presidential candidate, I will vote for him/her.

The Libertarians have such a candidate every election.

It may not be 100% accurate, but Churchill said something similar.

The notion that college students are overwhelmingly liberal is just a reflex left over from the 90s. There are only a very few colleges where the ideological makeup is truly hegemonic either way, and often many of the "popular kids" on a given campus--the most visible, social ones--are conservative.

I was not claiming 3 digits were a lot to brag about. They're just more than "conservative" students have.

ron paul revolution wrote:

If you're younger and conservative you don't have a heart

If you're older and liberal you don't have a brain

Ron Paul... You mean Winston Churchill. That's his quote.

ALGOREsucksBALLS wrote:

It is funny to watch the ignorance of the liberal young. It seems as though many of them do it because it sounds cool.

For example: A young doctor just out of med school that I know, who strongly believes in evolution, said that he is going to go overseas for six months to help with those that are struggling in less developed countries. That is great, but... From my belief, that completely contradicts his belief in evolution! Evolution, meaning the strong survive because they have evolved and the weak die off because they have not been able to evolve. WTF? Is he trying to throw off evolution? If he believes in evolution why would he try to disrupt it?

I know you're trolling, but that is a God-awful example.

I believe in car accidents. But WTF man, every time I get in my car, I do my best to avoid them. What gives????

ALGOREsucksBALLS wrote:

It is funny to watch the ignorance of the liberal young. It seems as though many of them do it because it sounds cool.

For example: A young doctor just out of med school that I know, who strongly believes in evolution, said that he is going to go overseas for six months to help with those that are struggling in less developed countries. That is great, but... From my belief, that completely contradicts his belief in evolution! Evolution, meaning the strong survive because they have evolved and the weak die off because they have not been able to evolve. WTF? Is he trying to throw off evolution? If he believes in evolution why would he try to disrupt it?

I know right... Kind of like anti-government types running to the government to get their bonus checks after running their company into the ground.

Small government is great... until it's your job/bonus/country club membership on the chopping block.

Blowing.Rock Master wrote:

duck in the chicken wrote:

"If there is ever a fiscally conservative and socially liberal presidential candidate, I will vote for him/her."

The Libertarians have such a candidate every election.

Not the kind I'm looking for. They're anti-tax to the point where I wouldn't trust them to adequately fund necessary services such as national defense, education, police, fire departments, transportation, etc. I'd like to see a government willing to provide all that and some form of basic universal healthcare, while keeping the budget in the black. This goes for federal, state, and city governments. But if not for my distrust of the free market's ability to supply those services in an effective way, I might well be a libertarian.

ron paul revolution wrote:

If you're younger and conservative you don't have a heart

If you're older and liberal you don't have a brain

I was going to say this as soon as I saw the title of the thread...

You're confusing Libertarians with Anarchists. Libertarians are for minimal government, not no government. National defense is a constitutionally defined governmental function, so Libertarians support that. But that doesn't mean they support being the world's policeman.

Education, police, fire departments, and transportation are primarily local government issues. It would be up to local and state governments to determine to what extent they'd want to develop these functions. BTW, according to the 9th and 10th Amendments that the way it's supposed to work.

Your right, Libertarians do not support government run universal healthcare. They prefer a system where people are directly involved in their health care decisions. For the poor who may not be able to afford adequate care a system of tax credits and/or vouchers plus private charity involvement would be the solution. This would be far cheaper than the currently proposed monstrosity which does very little to take care of the uninsured while adding $1 trillion - $1.6 trillion to the debt. Also, there's nothing fiscally conservative about universal healthcare.

But if you prefer you can continue to support the 2 major parties. After all, they're doing a wonderful job.