Shane writes: " I know of no studies nor do I need any. I just ask--what are the alternatives? "Techies," by definition have strong analytical intelligence but are, like almost all Americans, allergic to a theoretical or historical approach to politics. That makes the more critical of them very unlikely to find anything appealing in the corrupt, fascistic Dumbocratic and Repugnicon parties. The "left" remains incoherent, impotent, stained with the legacy of "really existing socialism," and largely a dumbocratic satellite to boot. In the observable political spectrum, someone like Ron Paul stands out as the symbol of opposition to imperial war, political repression, regulation-enforced crony capitalism, and the banksters. Libertarian ideology, for such people, is understandably the default choice!"
Someone from Tandem just self-published a book about that company's golden years. I worked there for a couple of years (85-87), and boy, were they golden. This was in the early eighties before the profession was professionalized, so they hired everyone. That was the CEO's idea that if you hire bright people and let them figure things out, all will turn out well. He was so right, and the working atmosphere there was amazing. I was surrounded by mathematicians, linguists, philosophers, musicians, physicists, egyptologists, lit majors.....all making things up as they went along. So, that might be a good place to look. All gone now of course. My manager actually let me work on my dissertation at work. Those days are gone: swallowed by Compaq I think. HP used to be great too. Apple was very dysfunctional. But leaving that aside. Yes, most of what Shane says is true. And what someone added: that they're not opposed to taxes or govt. I'd like to add a few things that people don't normally know about techies, because it's inconsistent with the cliches. 1. They do work well together and the nature of software development is that they must work well together for things to work. So, they're not lone rangers. It is also the nature of software development that they're fairly humble. Because what makes them effective is not that they don't make mistakes, but that they know how to fix them. They make mistakes all the time. 2. They, almost universally, have an important creative hobby on the side: generally music or photography. 3. They don't necessarily like computers, but they like problem-solving. 4. The one and only time I saw them involved in politics en masse is when Obama first ran for president. They actually took vacation time to go register voters in the south and south west. That bespeaks naivete, but also potential for political involvement. 5. They do not like the corporate structures for which they work. Joanna
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