[NewMusic] Indiana

[Sarah - 21 Grand]

PG:
In all seriousness, I have noticed the bay area becoming more
conservative over the years. I start to wonder why that is.

SL: funny, but the more conservative people I know in the Bay Area have been
here for a long time. Oakland used to have a lot more Republicans. I think a
lot of people still move here for tolerance and left-of-center ideals. And
certainly the Midwest isn't entirely conservative - in fact parts of it are
far more liberal than some places in the Bay Area.

I think it comes down partly to money/cost of living. Affluence often leads
to conservatism ... and certainly as housing gets more expensive, a larger
percentage of residents are affluent. I moved to Oakland from San Francisco
10 years ago ... I doubt I could afford to move back.

As far as leftist activism vs. a surge of conservative activism on the UCB
campus (and others), I think it's partly due to conservative groups recent
attention to organizing on college campuses (look up David Horowitz on the
interwebs for an example), and departing from their image in the 60s as the
"silent majority." Maybe UCB has gotten more conservative? SF State, on the
other hand appears to lack vocal right-wingers.

PG: I can build on Chris Broderick's statement about the computer industry
pulling a lot folks here over the past few decades. Does it mean,
intrinsically, that those people are more conservative politically and
that is a big factor in this change?

SL: I don't know how much more conservative computer people are than the
farmers, factory workers, ex-military people that were here prior to the
60s. There are different types of conservatism at play. I think the tech
workers may be more liberal socially (attitudes towards homosexuality,
alternative culture, racial issues, religion/spiritual beliefs) than some of
the "old school" residents, but tend to be more conservative economically
... i.e. libertarians, who respect people of color, queers, weird artists,
etc. but aren't going to part with their tax dollars to support services.
And for christsakes, do not mess with the sanctity of their condos or the
rights of developers to displace whosoever and whatsoever is necessary to
build more condos.