Are aspies more likely to be conservative?

Post Reply New Topic

The latest research I've read on this suggests whether you're liberal or conservative is more neurological than a choice:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/inter ... pefkXUVhBc

Ever since I learned about autism, I've been wondering if it has an association with this, or if they're unrelated.

For the record, I was pretty hard-core libertarian until 2008. But after seeing how the governemnt reacted to the fiscal crisis, I realized that there was no chance, ever, that the government would allow rich people to lose all their money. So I became pretty liberal, because since the government will obviously never let anything bad happen to rich people, I feel it's only fair they help out poor people too.

Finally, I'm not sure exactly that the "rigidity of thought" typical in autism is really the same as not wanting societal change. Just because I'm better off following a daily routine does not mean that I like seeing cops murder black people in the streets.

I am moderate in most things I support but I am conservative on family structure and fiscal responsibility.
Many of my family are liberal progressives and Californians with very socialist tendencies in govt view. Most are declared Dems. Specially the native american, Southern and Cali side.
I think with the majority most people are same affiliation and leaning as the bulk of their close family unless a rebel purposely choosing opposite or changed to oppose thru a life experience.

I used to be very liberal due to my firm belief in equality. But after being diagnosed with autism I view myself as apolitical. I think that NTs minds are so geared toward being part of a social group (generally speaking) that they are more concerned about how a political party or leader makes them feel than whether or not their ideas are sound or logical. This is why you get so many narcissist and psychopaths (of either party) running our country. If you have an ASD you should be proud of the fact that we are generally less susceptible to this emotional manipulation.

I voted conservative in the poll but to be honest I'm no longer sure where I fit.

I'm pro-capitalism, anti-corporatism, somewhat isolationist, anti-war, pro-life, pro-guns, I'm all for reasonable environmental regulation but I think the EPA is a bunch of bureaucrats and thugs pretending to be concerned about nature. I think the purpose of government begins and ends with protecting people's individual rights (and by extension, their right to live on a planet that can support life in perpetuity).

I think we should throw out the tax code and start over with something simple and immutable that isn't riddled with so many loopholes that the government ends up giving money to the very wealthy.

I'm very strongly in favor of Martian Independence, or will be if that ever becomes a thing.

I think certain cultures are inherently inferior due to archaic and barbaric customs, and the world would be much better if people in those cultures would stop practicing said customs. The people from those cultures are still human and should be treated as such, but it does no one any good to pretend that such practices are acceptable.

I think we should abolish or otherwise phase out Social Security because it is essentially a government-mandated ponzi scheme. We should have help for those who are injured or otherwise unable to work, but I feel that people should be responsible for planning for their own retirement and should not have the government do some of that for them.

I think we should abolish most alphabet soup government agencies and merge the plethora of intelligence/law enforcement agencies (FBI, CIA, DHA, etc.) into one entity. The government should invest the savings into scientific research and projects that will be important for humanity's future (such as space exploration and colonization).

Well... ProbablyOverthinkingThisUsername. Firstly, that's an awesome username.

What you're describing sounds more or less Libertarian, inasmuch as that actually means anything now. There aren't really any mainstream candidates who will actually be on the same page, though a few will pretend to be. Look at their other statements and their actions and it's blatantly clear they're not.

I get it. It's the same way for me. People go "You're a socialist, what do you think about Bernie?" Well, I think Bernie's... "diet socialist", at best. Better than liberals, still not actually the real deal. I'd expect you to see the same thing with a lot of candidates on the right.

I've always been in the middle, because I make up my mind about things rather than going along with what everyone else believes. So my beliefs fall on both sides, depending on what I feel is rational.

I hate politics and politicians. I don't think the majority care one bit about what's best for the people.

I'm pretty Conservative/libertarian, but I'm cool with anybody as long as they aren't obnoxious or ignorant or both. Hey! Personal liberty and freedom for all, amiright???

Given the tendencies for aspies to connect with the physical world and what is measurable, one would expect more actual research.

I found this: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/articl ... ne.0052970. Hopefully, most of you are aware that the amygdala of aspies is smaller than those of NT's (actually it is said to be poorly functioning). Note that the plosone article says that the amygdala is smaller. But both aspies and aspers also really do have more empathy. Aspies are just poor at expressing it.
So... As far as I can tell, there is a measurable commonality of the brains of aspies and liberals. Both tend to be more cerebral and less reactive / emotional.
So, not an opinion. Aspies have, on average, measurably more liberal brains.

FWIW do research on aspies and empathy. The Jury is out, but the evidence appears that aspies have at least as much empathies as NT's

I am a Libertarian Capitalist Whatever that falls under I like both traditional values and progressive policies I am a pragmatic person.

I never really labeled myself politically.

can you tell me how this squares with the abundance of decidedly non-empathetic far-right-wingers on this site?

The vast majority of people stop thinking sometime before 40, usually before 30. Very few have any training or education in science. The tendency of a person to post has little if any correlation with with the actual knowledge and a lot more to do with their degree of Dunning Kruger. When you are dealing with large bodies of fuzzy squishy things from bugs to diseases to humans to eco systems then any generalization you make will, if you are lucky and have actually done some research as opposed to navel gazing, your observations will be valid for 60 to 80% of the population. Thus the validity of the aphorism "all generalizations are false, including this one". Which is just a whitty? way of saying that there will be exceptions to such rules.

Now lets look at definitions: CONSERVATIVE: noun 1. a person who is averse to change and holds to traditional values and attitudes, typically in relation to politics.

Now lets consider a useful definition of stupid: STUPID as being unwilling or unable to learn new stuff.

So, auntoblabby: Hopefully this answers your question. Not sure how much of the first paragraph applies to you. Probably at least a lack of education / training in science. My guess is that I spent at least an hour doing research on the net before publishing. And you spent, maybe 5 min. This would indicate dunning kruger.