Living in Austin as a non-leftist (Wilson, Abbott: renting, fence, law)

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by Austin97

We have quite a few conservative friends, but mostly liberal friends. I would say yes non leftists have to keep their views to themselves, while leftists can say whatever they want, put signs in their yards etc.

This 100%. Many Texans call Austin "East California." The old "Keep Austin Weird" slogan is a real thing.

The problem in Austin is that those liberal views also run the Austin city government. For example, the defunded police department has trouble keeping crime down, and there was recently a huge street racing takeover that blocked city streets. The Travis County DA won't prosecute some crimes. You also have the significant homeless population downtown, too. Austin ISD schools are pushing leftist views in the classroom, resulting in many parents pulling their kids out of AISD public schools and switching to privates or homeschooling, or just moving away.

Williamson County has become a haven for many conservatives who still need/want to live in the Austin area, but don't want to deal with all of that.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by DashRiprock

That, plus the Hispanic population is increasingly voting Republican. I haven't looked at hard data but my gut tells me that that's canceling out whatever gains Dems are making in the cities.

It seemed to matter some in 2020 (at least it got a lot of publicity), but not so much in 2022 on a statewide basis (though the one new Republican congressperson got some notice). Not discounting it, but it doesn't seem to be a huge deal either, yet.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Williamson County has become a haven for many conservatives who still need/want to live in the Austin area, but don't want to deal with all of that.

They may move there, but it's still a "purple" county anymore. It's certainly nothing like Montgomery County.

[Aquitaine]

If you live in a place like Mueller, you can expect the local social media groups to be extraordinarily left-leaning, but even in-person I'd say it doesn't come up much (or didn't when I lived there)

In other parts of Austin, my experience is that neighborhoods don't usually encourage a ton of political traffic on-line, though there are exceptions and it has gotten worse over the last few years. Austin has politics like any city, and those politics lean left, but I've been here for 11 years and frankly don't find it to be a day-to-day problem aside from the city's spending habits!

[riaelise]

I don't wear my political beliefs on my sleeve and many of my friends don't either.

I think most people left or right should "keep their views to themselves" unless they're in confidence with those they know.

As a coworker, I'm not interested. As a customer, I'm not interested.

[Ice_Major]

As a person who frequently travels to various areas of the state ranging from rural to urban, diverse to non-diverse, poor to rich. Some advice I was given was to avoid conversations about politics, religion, or sports. People are irrational and have strong opinions (right or left) on these subjects. They invoke deep passion and can turn a pleasant encounter into awful one quick. If you are wondering about the sports part, once you meet a Dallas Cowboy fan you will understand.

As far as Austin, I would say like other posters pointed out, most people here aren’t outwardly vocal on their political opinions. So long as you don’t come with a "this is my opinion, I’m going to say it loudly and don't care what you think" mentality. Trust me no one likes those people regardless of if they are left leaning or right leaning. A course there will be vocal pockets of the city, like anywhere else. You will quickly learn those areas and can figure out how to adjust accordingly. Plenty of conservatives here, though most are the libertarian variety from my experience. Social conservatives tend to stay out in the exurbs and surrounding rural areas.

[PSBlows]

Originally Posted by DashRiprock

Texans are by nature very live and let live. For the most part, you're probably not going to encounter leftists shoving their views directly in your face unless you go looking for it. We're just not geared that way.

Now, the flip side of that is that unless there's a specific context for it, even conservative people aren't looking to hear your non-leftist political views, either. As mentioned above, you'll see arguments here but it's not really a thing in the "real world".

That said, what's been happening lately, as I'm sure you're aware since you're in Portland, is that the left as a whole has become increasingly intolerant and vitriolic, and it's getting harder to avoid that. We're not immune, especially at the city and county levels and you'll pull your hair out over some of the idiotic things this city does or tries to do. But what you have here that you don't in Portland or California is a conservative state government that can and will keep the worst impulses of the left in check, and they know it and for the most part don't push it. 99% of the local elections go to Dems but we haven't had a single Dem elected statewide in nearly 30 years.

Yeah that's what I've noticed. It was so much easier to be apolitical about 6 years ago. I never cared about the political climate of where I'm deciding to move to until recently. It was so much easier to be apolitical about 6 years ago.

I recently heard someone comment that Austin can be compared to SF back in the days when CA was still a red state. Is that a fair comparison or more apples and oranges? Austin doesn't give me big city vibes like SF does.

Originally Posted by Austin97

I would say yes non leftists have to keep their views to themselves, while leftists can say whatever they want, put signs in their yards etc.

I noticed this double standard almost everywhere and find it pretty puzzling that most people don't seem to notice it until I simply point it out to them (and then they go "Oh yeah....you're so right")

[Ice_Major]

Originally Posted by PSBlows

Yeah that's what I've noticed. It was so much easier to be apolitical about 6 years ago. I never cared about the political climate of where I'm deciding to move to until recently. It was so much easier to be apolitical about 6 years ago.

I recently heard someone comment that Austin can be compared to SF back in the days when CA was still a red state. Is that a fair comparison or more apples and oranges? Austin doesn't give me big city vibes like SF does.




I noticed this double standard almost everywhere and find it pretty puzzling that most people don't seem to notice it until I simply point it out to them (and then they go "Oh yeah....you're so right")

By California being a red state, I'm assuming you are referring to the period between 1964 and 1992 during which no presidential nominee for the democrat party won the state. If this is the case, I don't think Austin of today can be considered pre-1992 San Francisco.

It's easy to be apolitical here. Keep in mind things will vary by neighborhoods. Muller and Tarrytown are going to be different regarding political expression. Regardless, don't get caught up on the extremes. Most people are the same. Simply going to work to pay bills and hoping to have extra income to enjoy life pleasures.

Regarding double standards, it's perception only. Liberal people tend to live in big cities. Cities dominate media soaking up the attention. I can tell you as a person that grew up in a conservative small town, expressing left leaning ideas gets one ridiculed and some cases ostracized. It’s similar to how rural poverty often gets ignored while inner city poverty dominates headlines.

[mkwensky]

When I lived in Houston the only time I was annoyed by the political views of others on a personal level is at work lunches or events with certain employers. I did a stint at Harris County and some of my colleagues were full Q-Anon. The worst thing is they won't stop sharing what they read at lunch. Some of my former coworkers at some of the energy companies I worked for were similar. That was an easy problem to solve as I would just not have lunch with them. Now that I work from home the only time politics annoy me is at school board meetings.

As long as you're not forced to interact with the people who hold views you find odious I don't think it's that bad. People who got triggered by posters or signs should try to get over it.

[DashRiprock]

Originally Posted by PSBlows

Yeah that's what I've noticed. It was so much easier to be apolitical about 6 years ago. I never cared about the political climate of where I'm deciding to move to until recently. It was so much easier to be apolitical about 6 years ago.

I recently heard someone comment that Austin can be compared to SF back in the days when CA was still a red state. Is that a fair comparison or more apples and oranges? Austin doesn't give me big city vibes like SF does.

I'm not all that familiar with the politics of California so it's hard to say. I know it was once at least nominally middle of the road - for example, as recently as 2008 a gay marriage referendum failed - but I don't know that I'd say it was ever anywhere near as conservative as Texas even when Swarzenegger or Wilson were governor. That said, CA seems to have gone off the deep end over the last 10-15 years and from what I've seen there's little hope of ever going back.

But beyond the general tenor of the political climate, Texas law is structured such that cities and particularly counties are pretty restricted in a lot of the things they can and can't do. They don't have as much autonomy as say, a Chicago or NYC, which means that our cities don't drive the agenda at the state level the way those cities sometimes do. For example, state law preempts cities here from enforcing gun laws that are more restrictive than state law, which means things like so-called "assault weapons" can't be banned by the City of Austin (and believe me, they would if they could).

Another example - Austin got caught up in the "defund the police" craze in 2020 and started making moves in that direction. Abbott then threatened to take over APD and replace it with state DPS troopers, and Austin more or less backed down. That's kinda what I mean when I say the state here keeps the worst impulses of the left in check and I think that makes a difference.

I don't know how California handles things like that but I get the impression that cities there have more autonomy than they do here (like, doesn't SF allow non-citizens to vote in local elections? that would never happen here). Which is why even though Austin is often called the SF of the south, not without reason, it's probably not an apples to apples comparison because I don't think CA has the same state governing structure as we have here.

Does this make any sense?