<p>I am at Harvard and I’ll try to set the record straight.</p>
<p>It’s about half and half. </p>
<p>Granted, a preponderance of those “intellectual types” who want to be academics are liberal. But these people are not a preponderance of the overall Harvard undergrad population. All in all, it is very nearly 50-50.</p>
<p>In the spirit of Veritas, I am not sorry to burst these silly illusions people entertain about Harvard.</p>
<p>As a representative of the…erm…“uneducated” solid South at Harvard (i.e. the Deep South, the dirty dirty, etc.), I’ll go ahead and toss in my two cents. If you’re looking for people who are personally conservative, those will be tough to find at any college (with the exception of BYU, Bob Jones, Wheaton, and service academies). Some do exist, however, largely among science and math concentrators. Political conservatives are…rare. But they’re visible. However, almost every political public gathering/demonstration is of a liberal nature, and I would say (with no statistical basis) that it fells like about 80% of students are of liberal inclination.</p>
<p>Also, this whole regional debate reminded me of a witty retort I once witnessed. In a class taught by a teacher from New York, a student had engaged the teacher in some sort of statistical debate and at some juncture pointed out that the population density was much higher in the North. The teacher replied, “On the contrary, I’ve found that in the South the population is much denser.” Even I had to chuckle…</p>
<p>“It’s about half and half.”</p>
<p>Where in the world did you get this from? This isn’t even close to true. I would guess that it is closer to 75/25 or 80/20. And a portion of both of those will be self-identified moderates who would be considered liberal in most conservative areas. There are a small number or social/fiscal/religious-right conservatives at Harvard, most focused around the Republican club and Salient. Then there are a few New England conservatives who are fiscally conservative but more socially liberal then the general Republican party. And finally, there are a number of first or second generation students, mostly Asian, who are fiscally conservative.</p>
<p>However, it is no more then 75/25, even if you count moderates. I would say 80/20 or less. Heck, most of the deeply religious students that I know are still liberal. At least those who are Islamic or Catholic. My entry way last year was 32 people, and only 4 were not self-identified Democrats. None would be considered socially conservative by most standards.</p>
<p>I agree with you, White Rabbit. There is a good healthy opposition voice in Harvard politics, but that group is pretty diverse, and mostly moderate socially. There are few Sarah Palin fans, birthers, etc. at Harvard, even though those are prominent facets of American conservatism.</p>
<p>Even the Harvard Mormons are pretty moderate. I knew some members of Harvard LDS well. Most of the group, including the returned missionaries, was considered far left within the national Mormon community.</p>
<p>I am a Sarah Palin supporter she’s very intelligent unlike Obama.</p>
<p>Saugus, Bay said the following:</p>
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<p>I merely connected the two and offered a reason why older people may still vote liberal despite voting with their brains.</p>
<p>^
I wasn’t talking to you. </p>
<p>^^ means two posts above.</p>
<p>Were you talking to me when you wrote this?</p>
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<p>If I recall correctly, two of the major voting blocs opposing gay marriage in CA were Blacks and Hispanics, who generally fall into the liberal Democrat classification. Maybe they were following their hearts when they followed their “faith.”</p>
<p>Perhaps it’s sad but I suspect that the most intellectual (ie, thoughtful) students are the most turned off by politics in general. They tend to be the quiter ones, by no means the less intellectual.</p>
<p>^ To be sure, there are all kinds of intellectuals, and some have no interest in political issues. But I think many intellectuals are profoundly interested in debating the solutions to society’s ills. They are not necessarily interested in becoming career politicians, but are passionate about contributing to changing policies and attitudes, and thereby the course of history.</p>
<p>Of course, there are many non-intellectuals who are passionate in there beliefs, as well.</p>
<p>What´s important at Harvard and any other college is that students come in with an open mind and question their preconceived notions about issues. They may or may not come out with very different views.</p>
<p>How does everyone treat their political opposites? Is it merely discussions to broaden perspectives, is it debates over political ideologies, or does it ever come to all out fights verbally or physically? Also, how vocal are students in maintaining their personal ideologies?</p>
<p>Physical fighting is the norm at Harvard. For resolving all sorts of disputes, be they about political ideology or even the color of water. It’s one of those elephants in the room amongst students on campus. People are reluctant to talk about it. In the slim (read: <10%) chance you do end up here next year, you will come to know it all too well. Honestly, the best preparation for Harvard isn’t forming good study or time management habits, but getting beefy and learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Thai Kickboxing to showcase both your physical prowess and appreciation for appreciation for diversity.</p>
<p>I am an athiest. I am also a conservative. surprise!</p>
<p>You are forgetting that both political parties are a mesh of a whole bunch of smaller groups each with their own primary agenda.</p>
<p>The republican party for example, gets most of its press regarding religious issues (abortion, gay marriage, etc). Those are the social republicans (or “Praise Jesus Republicans”) who I despise whose main agenda is seemingly to purify this nation of its sins…</p>
<p>There are also fiscal conservatives (like me and Ron Paul, Peter Schiff, etc) who support republicans predominantly because they seem to be the only ones that realize that you can’t spend your way out of any problem. They have issue with democrats who are proposing a health care bill that costs $1 Trillion dollars while only addressing 1 of the 3 main issues regarding health care, accessibility (accessibility, cost to the consumer <em>premiums</em>, and cost overall <em>including employers, govt. subsidies, etc</em> are the three issues). The same democrats that believe increasing the number of primary care residency positions will magically solve our future doctor shortage without thinking about WHY US-medical graduates scorn primary care residencies and would rather specialize. </p>
<p>I could go on and on but I will stop here.
BTW for reference I think Sarah Palin is an idiot, but that John McCain > Barack “I make nice speeches” Obama.</p>
<p>The reason I would vote Republican.
[YouTube</a> - Peter Schiff 3/25/09 - MSNBC Morning Joe](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f9h7OcOf-Y]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f9h7OcOf-Y)</p>
<p>Yeah I know that by voting Republican I am helping the idiots who think gay marriage will destroy america. But thats a lot better than supporting the idiots who will ACTUALLY destroy america with bogus spending policies.</p>
<p>^ you sound a lot like my son at Harvard and he seems to find plenty there who are on the same basic page.</p>
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<p>It’s a poorly guarded secret that the Harvard Finals Clubs are actually Finals Clubs. Make sure you know how to fight before you join one.</p>