<p>i seem to notice that are quite a lot of political conservatives in the profession...</p>
<p>This is just me and this might start something.</p>
<p>But I think conservative view are more logical then the Liberal views.</p>
<p>Some conservative view:</p>
<ol>
<li>Believe in personal responsibility</li>
<li>Limited government</li>
<li>Free markets</li>
<li>Individual liberty </li>
</ol>
<p>Here is a site with both conservative and liberal view:
[Conservative</a> vs. Liberal Beliefs](<a href=“http://www.studentnewsdaily.com/other/conservative-vs-liberal-beliefs/]Conservative”>Conservative vs. Liberal Beliefs)</p>
<p>Most engineers are Democrats.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That isn’t true. I know just as many Democrat engineers as I do Republican engineers, and by far the majority of engineers I have met are moderate and don’t necessarily ally themselves with either party.</p>
<p>I think most engineers are libertarian. That is, fiscally conservative but socially moderate/liberal.</p>
<p>The political affiliations of engineers are much better explained through their socioeconomic background than their profession.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I don’t know about the social political tendencies of conservatives. But yes, no good engineer I know is a socialist. Engineers typically value hard work, results, and merit by nature of their profession and training and believe that society should reward those who exhibit these qualities.</p>
<p>That is also a pretty simplistic view of libertarians just like saying Democrats are liberal across the board or Republicans are conservative across the board. All the named parties have their own specific viewpoints beyond just liberal and conservative. A lonof those are pretty kooky, which is why I like to steer clear.</p>
<p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>god forbid if your individual liberty isn’t something the bible approves of… apparently being able to serve in the military while openly gay or choose whomever you want to get married to aren’t really individual liberties. </p>
<p>Or even worse, what if the individual in ‘individual liberties’ wasn’t a legal US citizen?</p>
<p>Conservatives support limited government? </p>
<p>Ha, ha, that’s a good joke!</p>
<p>"Conservatives support limited government?</p>
<p>Ha, ha, that’s a good joke!"</p>
<p>Um yeah in general they do. How’s that funny? Do you think liberals support limited government? Things like welfare, social security, government run health care, and nearly all other government programs are usually viewed negatively by conservatives.</p>
<p>You’re probably gonna pick something like gay marriage and say conservative want government to control who you can and can’t marry, therefore they don’t support limited government. But if you’re gonna make that argument, you could say conservatives want government to control people by enforcing speed limits too.</p>
<p>Back to the original question… I think engineers tend to lean conservative, at least fiscally. Libertarian would probably be the most common ideology.</p>
<p>
You could not be farther from the truth. Conservatives love these programs… as long as they are benefiting from them personally. A Republican fearmongering tactic is to tell people that those evil Democrats are going to take away their social security/medicare/etc, to which the people respond along the lines of “keep your government hands off my social security!”</p>
<p>
Uhh what? Limited government, from a conservative sense, generally tends to refer to the size of the government and the cost associated with it (minus the cost of invading countries that most Americans have never heard of, of course). It does not refer to the level of involvement in social affairs.</p>
<p>All I can say is: political parties are mental slavery.
And this competitive mentality that we have in USA is tearing us apart.
Politics is not another lame sport. If you’re so thirsty for competition, watch the superbowl or play Call of Duty. </p>
<p>I really think we need to work together and these parties (I’m a republican. You’re a democrat. We’re gonna beat you in November. Etc!) are a totally messed up and childish mentality.</p>
<p>I have seen a fair spread. I think many older engineers are conservative, but peoople tend to skew conservative as they age anyway. In electrical engineering I have seen a pretty typical distribution of political beliefs. When I was in aerospace engineering I was struck by how conservative the students were, but as I left that field I cannot say if that trend represents the profession as a whole.</p>
<p>
How? Both sides on any issue have advantages and disadvantages, but weighing them is based on individual beliefs and preferences more than logic. I think if the merits of either view could adequately be explained through logic we would have a much more unified nation.</p>
<p>Anyway, it is not all black and white, anyway. I work for a defense contractor, but I am not aware of ANY of the younger generation of engineers that have a problem with homosexuality or same-sex marriage, regardless of conservative or liberal affiliations. Likewise, I know a very liberal software engineer who is also very religious and ardently opposes abortion.</p>
<p>I was talking more on the views of, free market, less government control.</p>
<p>
Actually that’s a Democratic tactic.</p>
<p>Professionals usually don’t mix their personals viewpoints into the work environment.
Perhaps some branches of engineering like civil, mechanical, or electrical might be more liberal. Overall, I would guess engineers as a whole are more libertarian and most would probably be against government controlling what they eat (no transfats or salt, etc.) and how they spend their own money or what they do with their own property (must buy health insurance or pay fine, government can take your property to sell to a company that never builds on the land, etc.) or what kind of shower or car they can buy, etc.</p>
<p>Liberals will whine all day long about the latest environmental catastrophe but the last thing they want to do is actually learn about science. </p>
<p>I don’t consider myself a liberal or a conservative. I want politicians to do what is best for the country and for the middle class. I find that democrats do worse than republicans.</p>
<p>You obviously didn’t follow the news very closely over the past year or so.</p>
<p>[Obama</a> Pokes Fun At ‘Don’t Touch My Medicare’ People | TPM LiveWire](<a href=“http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/obama-pokes-fun-at-dont-touch-my-medicare-people.php]Obama”>http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/obama-pokes-fun-at-dont-touch-my-medicare-people.php)</p>
<p>
Both sides are guilty of ignoring science when it conflicts with their views.</p>
<p>As a student I never bother to like either side. If I will ever vote - I will only vote the one that actually does work for the community, and is a responsible politicians. And yes, city level. I don’t care much about the state or the national level. Just look at the whole mess the NY state is facing. I think Washington is right - why should anyone bothered to belong to a political party!? Well yes party system seems better in a democratic republican country. </p>
<p>Anyway. If I favor a policy then I favor it. If I think it isn’t something that I like, and it’s bad for the majority then I will not favor it.</p>