I know this might seem like a stupid question, but I’m serious. I will soon be starting a Master’s degree at a university in DC in a policy-related field. During our orientation, we had a guy who came and talked to us about “networking.” I was really let down about how pretentious some of the stuff he was saying was, not necessarily because I don’t think there’s a lot of truth to it, but because it seemed to encourage us to advance a system that everyone knows is shallow. One of the things he said was that everyone in this city is either a democrat or republican, and if we want to have any chance of getting the good positions (especially within an administration), we need to register with a party and pay dues so that our devotion is evident, even if we’re really not that devoted to “the party.”
Though I certainly lean one way, I really don’t want to register for a political party, and I don’t intend to just because this guy said so. The reason being is that I think there are way to many assumptions that go into labeling someone as one thing or the other, and I’m someone who really likes talking and interacting with those who disagree with me, not those who already agree with me. I like looking for middle ground and trying to coax it out of others.
So, is DC really that partisan?
Is this really going to affect my job prospects in DC in the future?
Is this a generational difference? Is my generation as predisposed to this sort of thing?
Resident of DC checking in, we’re not partisan, there are no Republicans here. A few come in from the suburbs, but they flee before nightfall when the chuds come out.
In all seriousness, it is a political town. People talk and argue politics. No one is going to check your party registration, but the city itself skews very heavily Democratic.
Kind of the way the Atlantic skews very heavily wet! I don’t have the numbers for the 2008 election, but in 2004 DC voted 90% for Kerry. Would be very surprised if Obama actually did worse. checks Yeah, 93% for Obama according to the Washington Post.
Overall… no. I doubt registering or not registering with a party is going to affect your job prospects. Of course I lived in DC for 14 years but didn’t try aiming for the positions of power so here’s your obligatory grain of salt.
Out of curiosity, where you going? GWU? Georgetown? American? UDC? Catholic?
What kind of job do you think you’ll be looking for? Party affiliation does not matter one whit for civil service type jobs, but it matters a lot for political appointee type jobs. If you could be more specific about what you want to do, I think the advice you’ll get would be a little more helpful.
It depends quite a lot on what you want to do. If you want to work directly for a member of Congress, in certain other Hill positions or within the presidential administration, you need a strong track record of devotion to the relevant causes/political party.
I’m curious about how comfortable you’ll be here in DC given your desire not to register as a member of a party. If you’re working in policy, people will grill you about your views and party affiliation, particularly if you hold a non-majority view. I certainly hope you vote…wanting to make policy but not using the most basic tool you have at your disposal to influence it is one of the most hypocritical things I can imagine.
Dems outnumber Republicans significantly in registered voters within DC proper, but there are certainly Republican enclaves in the burbs.
this could be anything and the consultant could be spot on correct or wildly off base depending how your speciality interfaces with real world of political decision making and what your specific ambitions are regarding that career.
So - “Yes, it really is that partisan” or “No, it’s not that partisan” could easily apply. You’ve given almost no useful info re your speciality and career ambitions that would allow for a practical answer.
Are you looking for a political appointee sort of job? It’s certainly not true that civil service jobs (which are nearly all the civilian federal jobs in D.C. and the surrounding area) require you to establish your party loyalty. In fact, if someone were to even ask about your party membership or your political leanings when interviewing you for a job, they could get into major amounts of trouble. Most of my friends are civil service federal employees or employees of federal contractors or military people. They’re all white-collar employees incidentally. (I don’t think there’s such a thing as a blue-collar political appointee.) They all came from college or grad school to take jobs in the area. They have hopes of someday making it into higher-level civil service jobs, although they won’t be bothered if they don’t make it very high. The jobs they have require college and usually graduate or professional degrees. Although it’s important work, it never rises to the level of making political policy. If you make it to the top in a civil service job, you can make a pretty good salary, although you won’t be rich by a long shot.
There must be some political appointees, members of Congress, and their immediate subordinates in this area, but I’ve never met one. (I guess employees of partisan think tanks fit into that set also, and I have met a few of them.) Even if, like me, you’re a federal employee with a graduate degree, you’re unlikely to know the real political types. If you don’t want to announce your political leanings to the people you work with, why do you want to take a job that requires you to work with other people who are highly partisan? Just take a civil service job.
Here’s where I stand. I’m going to be studying US Foreign Policy, focusing on transnational issues (climate change, terrorism, etc.).
I am neither shooting for nor avoiding political appointments in the future. If Obama were to, for some reason, give me the chance to be one of the young, intrepid foreign policy wonks working in one way or another for him to innovate USFP. I’d jump on it.
This isn’t a passive way of saying I want a political appointment down the road. What I am saying is that I want whatever I do in the future to be because I’m good at it and I’ve proved it, not whether or not I’ve been loyal to one of two parties which I don’t view as really meaning much of anything anymore. What I’m curious of here is if I’m naive to think that shouldn’t feel like I’m closing doors by not joining the party towards which I lean.
The reason I can’t be too specific is that I am so wide open to what might lay ahead. I know exactly what I want to study and the issues that interest me, but I don’t project what career that lead me to. Much of that depends on who I meet and how I perform over the next two years.
I am willing to work for the government, in the private sector, or for a non-profit. But I was led to believe at orientation that I’m limiting myself even within those parameters if I do not choose a team.
As Wendell said, the sort of thing you’re likely to do is filled by civil servants, not political appointees. Don’t bother registering officially as a member of either party if you don’t want to.
Incidentally, the DC Statehood Green Party usually gets more votes than the Republican. Well, maybe not usually, but often.
Politics matter for every government job except the lowest. Even civil service at higher levels counts. Sure you take a test, big deal, all that means is the people who hire CHOOSE from the people passign it. Suppose 50 people take the test and 40 pass. 39 are Democrats and 1 is Republican and the Republicans are in power, who do you think they are gonna hire, everything being equal.
It’s not just DC, it’s how every city works. This is why government is horribly ineffiecent and corrupt.
In Chicago the head of Cook County Board of Commissioners hired a friend of his a kid with a record a mile long and who’s last job was as a bus boy and hired him onto a $65,000/year job.
And in a way I can see why it happens. You have to WORK for those candidates. Obama ran for President for almost 2 years before he got in. People had to work hard for him. They expect once he’s in office he’ll use his influence to help them on their way.
That’s simply not true, Markxxx. Do you actually know any federal civil servants? As I said, most of my friends work for the government or for a federal contractor, and not only does your political opinion not matter for civil service jobs, you would get into trouble if you tried to impose your political opinions on people who worked for you in civil service jobs.
gitfiddle, it looks to me like you’re training for a job at the State Department.
I agree, it’s not true. I’m a lifelong DC-area resident, and my father worked for the federal government for 30+ years, and he was never partisan in the workplace. Only appointees were obvious about their political leanings, the rest of the people just did their jobs, without regard to political ideology. Also, my SO works for the federal government and doesn’t have a political bone in his body.
With that said, however, I do agree that this area probably has a higher concentration of people who are passionate about politics on an above-average level. It is kind of annoying (and I say that as a politically active person myself).