Are aspies more likely to be conservative?

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I am left wing. While I believe that one could be ecnomically on the right, socially, it wouldn't make sense to some degree. Human rights is one of my biggest concerns. I support Gay marriage, undocumented immigrant rights, pro choice, planned parenting and teaching sex education around that, etc. How can I as an Aspie fight against the idea of a "cure" while calling homosexuality immoral? It's hypocritical. It's cowardly to believe such thoughts; to ask for equal rights and the liberty to live and breath as you are and then turn around and curse another group.

Economically, I believe in spreading the wealth. Tax cuts to the wealthy and the idea that it will "trickle down" is BS. People don't need to be that rich, and the other people shouldn't be that poor. etc etc.

I am a strong socialist

From what I've seen, Asperger's doesn't effect what people believe in, it only makes them believe it more so.

I was raised hard-line, anti-war, tax-and-spend leftist and still am. Ive known NT people far to the left of me, but they don't cringe when they watch Penn and Teller or hear "beer for the horses" on the radio. South Park even makes me angry. On the other hand, I try ultra hard to stay PC and not push my politics on other people while I'm at work or in social situations, because i don't really want to make anyone else feel uncomfortable. People keep labeling me as rude or unfriendly, but the fact is, I'm just trying to respect their boundaries. Randites, Rednecks, Warhawks.. people pretty much just f**k with me because they can get away with it; politics is just like everything else.

And an American mindset.

The British tend to classify politics in terms of left-wing and right-wing rather than liberal and conservative, but these are also vague and ambiguous terms nowadays. The American definition of liberal is not the same as the British definition of liberal, and neither is the American definition of conservative the same as the British definition of conservative. The American liberal does not directly correspond to the British left-wing, and the American conservative does not directly correspond to the British right-wing although it is usually the better of the two matches.

I'm distrustful of political compasses as none are perfect and take into account all political positions. Many are designed around the political parties and ideologies of the country the compass was designed in. A political compass that I particularly like is a 3D model with axes for social, economic, and nationalist vs internationalist. I end up socially right of centre, economically left of centre, and quite nationalist - which is what I think I am. Try fitting that to a 1D liberal vs conservative political compass!

The United States isn't a country I know much about but is there a reason why despite having one of the most diverse populations of any nation in the world it has a solidly entrenched two-party system? Why isn't there a diversity of political parties to reflect the diversity of the people?

Can't put it on a 1D compass, but it would fit quite well in the populist corner of the 2D political graph that a lot of libertarians like to use.


No run-off voting- a plurality automatically wins, so regardless of distribution of political belief, this system will tend to promote the creation (and maintenance) of a two-party system. Since third parties act as "spoilers," there is an incentive to set aside differences for the sake of party unity so that you can have the lesser of two evils. In America, voting strictly on your principles tends to help the groups most diametrically opposed to your views, so most people compromise and go with the less objectionable of the two big names.

I'm inclined to say populist describes my political viewpoint in one word.



So you are saying the election system is the primary factor supporting the two-party system.

The UK uses a plurality system called first-past-the-post. This works against most small parties unless they can build up concentrated support in a particular area but it hasn't prevented three smaller parties (four if you count the English Democrats) from making some political inroads in the past 10 years.

Me too. I am more minarchist-libertarian than either conservative or liberal.

Fiscally I'd consider myself a centrist, but on social issues I'm definitely a strong liberal. In a way, I suppose my AS did contribute to my political sensibilities. I grew up in a very religious and conservative environment. Being an Aspie (though I didn't know it until my twenties), I was often the target of persecution for being different. I know what is said about Aspies and their capacity to feel empathy, but I know from firsthand experience how it feels to be part of a persecuted minority-- which is probably why I am so staunchly liberal for human rights issues.

OTOH, what you're doing by taxing the wealthy so heavily is punishing them for being successful. The capitalist system is built around the idea of 'a day's work for a day's pay', and the people who are that rich tend to be so by working more and harder. I favour a system that encourages the poor to find work, rather than simply giving them enough money to live to a reasonable standard without having to work.

If you haven't guessed already, I'm an economic conservative. Socially, I'm very liberal - I think you should be able to do as you please, as long as you're not actually hurting anyone. I don't have to personally approve of it or wish to enjoy it for it to deserve to be legal - eg, I utterly despise the smell of pot and the way it makes people behave; but that only means that I should be able to ask them not to do it around me or in my house - not that it should be banned in general.

Executive summary: I'm a libertarian.

I think its a false dichotomy. Most people are both conservative and liberal.

The true dichotomy between NT;s and aspies is that NT;s are more moved by persons than by ideas, while aspies are more moved by ideas than by persons.

I haven't noticed much of a difference in the political demographics between the people here and those on the other forums (mostly populated by young people) I've visited. I can't gauge whether AS has a significant effect on anything.

Another thing to consider is that Americans are quite a bit more right-wing than Europeans in many respects. In Ireland, Dennis Kucinich would qualify as being somewhat left-of-centre and could reasonably be part of the Green party, who are currently in government.

As earlier said, what matters is rather content than form.

Aspies, in my experience, tend to tilt more to right-wing or left-wing solutions than on the centre.

I think that is because NT;s are genetically programmed to follow leaders, while aspies are genetically programmed to analyse problems and come with solutions. Most aspies tend to be politically indifferent, but often tend to burn on one single issue.

Do you know if people with AS are more likely to vote for smaller political parties than NT people in countries where large political parties dominate, such as the US and the UK?

I find Aspies are far more likely to be liberal. That goes both for WrongPlanet, and the viewpoints among Aspies I interact with locally.

Somewhere on WrongPlanet, I found it on the search, there's a poll asking if people are liberal or conservative. The result was something like 52 liberal, 12 conservative.

People who recognise themselves as part of a minority in a country are more likely to vote liberal. In America, the vast majority of the African American population voted liberal, even before Obama stood for and won this year's presidential race. Hispanic people are also a lot more likely to vote liberal. The Jewish population tends to lean liberal, as does the Native American population. For example in Alaska, on the west coast, the Inuit population of that state is most concentrated. The Democrats won those same counties.

This might help explain why Aspies are more to the liberal side, as they are likely to feel in themselves a palpable minority.

Finally something I have that the majority of WP doesn't, great political views. I didn't really mean that, I can be very unbiased at times. I didn't care one way or the other until Sarah Palin was introduced, I am Conservative for the most part.