# A conservative in a liberal domain? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 13, 2016, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056 "2016-04-13T02:39:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/1 "2016-04-13T02:39:05Z")
Inspired by the liberal gun owner[thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=789577), I’d like to ask if their is a comparable situation on the left? Some activity or maybe a profession where almost everyone is as liberal as can be but occasionally a right winger can slip in? ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/2 "2016-04-13T02:47:10Z")
Scientist? ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/3 "2016-04-13T03:13:47Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Scientist? The “hard” sciences are not as strained as the social sciences. I knew a faculty member in psychology who is one of the lone conservatives in the department. I am a conservative who belongs to multiple environmental groups, I keep my politics quiet in the meetings. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/4 "2016-04-13T03:31:01Z")
I had a very conservative friend who was pro choice. We didn’t come to a parting of the ways, he passed away. He said that would want any baby of his but that he understood the argument that it was not his decision to make. Whoa! How refreshing. He was also pro national healthcare. But still very business oriented, church, God, no sex 'til you’re married, pull yourself up by the bootstraps, and that you should turn to your family before you turn to the gov’t for support and shelter. I think his national healthcare stance came from his studying the financials of it as a CPA. He also had a sister in the U.K. so he had the opportunity to see how it worked for them. He is actually the person that got me thinking socialized medicine is smart. I never did press his abortion stance because that’s more personal. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/5 "2016-04-13T03:34:32Z")
I hear that a lot of doctors are conservative Republicans, even though you’d expect health care to be a mostly liberal-folk field. Every now and then, I think there is a conservative who gets employed in the media/journalism field. And a lot of engineers are conservatives, too, especially in aerospace, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/6 "2016-04-13T04:01:39Z")
A lot of academia is so heavily slanted that conservatives more or less pretend to be “normal”. And some universities’ definition of normal can be wildly left-wing. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/7 "2016-04-13T04:11:04Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > I had a very conservative friend who was pro choice. We didn’t come to a parting of the ways, he passed away. He said that would want any baby of his but that he understood the argument that it was not his decision to make. Whoa! How refreshing. > > … > I never did press his abortion stance because that’s more personal. That’s the thing about being “pro-choice”; it’s possible to support abortion being legal, while still hoping that people won’t choose it. In fact, understanding how bad a choice an abortion is, is part of why I don’t believe women choose it as a matter of convenience. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/8 "2016-04-13T04:20:10Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I hear that a lot of doctors are conservative Republicans, even though you’d expect health care to be a mostly liberal-folk field. > > Every now and then, I think there is a conservative who gets employed in the media/journalism field. > > And a lot of engineers are conservatives, too, especially in aerospace, IIRC. Media I can understand being thought of as mainly liberal, but why do you think doctors or engineers would be mainly liberal? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Niply\_Elder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/9 "2016-04-13T04:23:50Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > And a lot of engineers are conservatives, too, especially in aerospace, IIRC. No. Just. No. Not even remotely close to the actuality of the situation. #firsthandexperience ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/10 "2016-04-13T04:54:43Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > A lot of academia is so heavily slanted that conservatives more or less pretend to be “normal”. And some universities’ definition of normal can be wildly left-wing. Reality has a liberal bias, it is probably best to prepare students for that. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/11 "2016-04-13T05:10:41Z")
Nonsense. Reality has a bias in everything. There are realities that favor liberals and realities that favor conservatives, and by and large each person focuses on the reality he favors. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/12 "2016-04-13T05:15:01Z")
The one I keep running into is conservation organizations. There are some pretty much on the right politically but for the most part they have become our best liberal property. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/13 "2016-04-13T05:22:26Z")
Maybe it’s not seeing the forest for the trees, but antivaxing seems like more of a left wing thing, but some in the Christian homeschool crowd like it too. There are of course lots of examples where the far left and far right unite, but the ratio is more equal (Prohibition, woo, etc.) It really helps in this to realize that politics are not a binary or single-dimension continuum. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/14 "2016-04-13T07:21:05Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > The one I keep running into is conservation organizations. There are some pretty much on the right politically but for the most part they have become our best liberal property. this intrigues me, could you or would you elaborate? Which organizations have you encountered that are conservative yet the best liberal property? What is it about them that makes them such good liberal properties? I am truly curious, not trying to be confrontational in this. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/15 "2016-04-13T08:50:30Z")
> [@guestchaz](#): > > this intrigues me, Which organizations have you encountered that are conservative yet the best liberal property? pssstt…He said “conservATION organizations”. 🙂 and yeah, he’s right; tree-hugging is almost exclusively a liberal domain. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/16 "2016-04-13T09:53:49Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > pssstt…He said “conservATION organizations”. > 🙂 I had the same reaction before re-reading. > [@](#): > > and yeah, he’s right; tree-hugging is almost exclusively a liberal domain. I would imagine something like Ducks Unlimited would trend conservative - they’re an organization devoted to conservation of wetlands and wildlife, but with the goal to ensure there are enough ducks to shoot. Which seemed odd to me at first but actually seems very responsible upon further consideration. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/17 "2016-04-13T10:07:21Z")
> [@guestchaz](#): > > this intrigues me, could you or would you elaborate? Which organizations have you encountered that are conservative yet the best liberal property? What is it about them that makes them such good liberal properties? > I am truly curious, not trying to be confrontational in this. I won’t presume to answer for someone else, but double check the wording. Environmental groups are generally considered to be of the left. But many hunters’ and/or anglers’ groups are very-pro environmental conservation, and may find themselves better allies with these groups than unrealistic “left” wing groups like PETA (or worse). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/18 "2016-04-13T11:15:48Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I hear that a lot of doctors are conservative Republicans, even though you’d expect health care to be a mostly liberal-folk field. > > Every now and then, I think there is a conservative who gets employed in the media/journalism field. > > And a lot of engineers are conservatives, too, especially in aerospace, IIRC. Every doctor of mine who has mentioned politics has been a Republican. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/19 "2016-04-13T12:40:27Z")
Doctors tend to make more money than average, and there seems to be a correlation between conservationism and wealth. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056/20 "2016-04-13T13:28:45Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > The one I keep running into is conservation organizations. There are some pretty much on the right politically but for the most part they have become our best liberal property. Environmental issues can really be one big battleground even within an organization. For example in the Sierra Club we all wanted to protect wild areas but all for different purposes. For example I wanted mountain bike trails and some of the others thought that was bad because mountain bike trails and riders are intrusive into a pristine wilderness. And the thought of limited hunting is a big fight. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-conservative-in-a-liberal-domain/752056.md?page=2)