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Old 12-24-2018, 06:35 PM
 
Location: Illinois
3,205 posts, read 3,470,577 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by personone View Post
Chicago seems more "Democratic" as opposed to pure "Liberal" if that makes sense. Just my opinion based on subjective feel.
This is the most accurate statement so far. Chicago is much more Democratic and balkanized along ethnic/racial lines than it is 'liberal progressive.'
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Old 12-25-2018, 01:11 PM
 
197 posts, read 231,208 times
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I thought Chicago was liberal until I spent some time in Seattle. I'm as conservative as they come but there is a world of difference between places like Chicago and Seattle, Portland, etc.
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Old 12-25-2018, 03:54 PM
 
Location: West Seattle
6,323 posts, read 4,855,473 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Caglee View Post
I thought Chicago was liberal until I spent some time in Seattle. I'm as conservative as they come but there is a world of difference between places like Chicago and Seattle, Portland, etc.
Could you elaborate?
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Old 12-25-2018, 04:55 PM
 
Location: Illinois
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheTimidBlueBars View Post
Could you elaborate?
I think Chicago has less of the kind of 'bra-burning' and other irrational 'progressive' sentiments that characterizes much of the population in places like Seattle, Portland, and Boston. The World Naked Bike Ride and other oddball nudity protest movements have not taken hold here the way that they have become even cliché in coastal cities.
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Old 12-25-2018, 05:04 PM
 
Location: C.R. K-T
6,202 posts, read 11,383,224 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by emathias View Post
The West Coast liberalism is more focused on individual rights in their expression of liberalism, something I call "Frontier liberalism," whereas the Midwest and Chicago especially have a more Bohemian influence that focused more on equality between groups and minimising power differentials. The East Coast is closer to Chicago style. To be sure, Chicago style still wants individual rights, too, but it's not the first focus.
West Coast liberalism isn't monolithic either. California is simply Progressive with challenging (sometimes long-standing) convention, while the Pacific Northwest is (the rare left-leaning) libertarian.

Chicago liberalism tends to revolve around labor (worker relations) issues, due to the blue-collar roots of the labor union movement. Socially, it defers to Middle America values by default--Illinois finally abolished the death penalty due to its Catholic roots, but protects the right to choose due to anti-abortion movements being associated with Southern Confederate Evangelicals.
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Old 12-25-2018, 09:39 PM
 
4,633 posts, read 3,430,201 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hiruko View Post
I think Chicago has less of the kind of 'bra-burning' and other irrational 'progressive' sentiments that characterizes much of the population in places like Seattle, Portland, and Boston. The World Naked Bike Ride and other oddball nudity protest movements have not taken hold here the way that they have become even cliché in coastal cities.
Never looked at it that way. I'm not sure what to call those things, but I wouldn't call them "liberal". Portland and Seattle just seem to be where modern day hippies go to live. These people, in my opinion, are supporters of things like diversity in theory, but their true colors show when it's time to put it in practice. I find that such cities are more focused on individual pursuits and they are "accepting" of alternative lifestyles because it's the cool thing to do - not because that's who they really are. People don't seem to understand that voting patterns are not necessarily reflective of your values. I know someone who voted for Obama during his second term because he didn't want to be seen as "that guy" if his grandson (who is mixed race but not black) later asked him about it. Ummm...wrong motivation. The time to be on the right side of history was when it was actually risky to vote for him during his first term. You don't get brownie points for doing it when its safe. Close, but no cigar.

All that is to say, I find modern day liberals to be like this guy. They vote a certain way because they don't want to be judged for voting their heart (which might be more conservative/archaic than they're willing to admit).
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Old 12-26-2018, 08:40 AM
 
629 posts, read 533,933 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SubconsciousMe View Post
I have been openly gay from the west to the south to the north without issue.
wow you really get around!
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Old 12-26-2018, 08:57 AM
 
2,990 posts, read 5,238,982 times
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As others have said, I think it was traditionally Democratic primarily due to labor issues, immigration patterns etc.

These days the transplants are likely “liberal” primarily for the reason young people are everywhere — fear of utter and complete ostricization and demonization if they express a contrary point of view.

One thing that makes Chicago different from SF/LA is those cities are dominated by hugely influential and visible industries that set the tone for everything. There’s no one group of people who do that here.Chicago is largely made up of transplants, many of whom probably come from more conservative backgrounds. But, by and large, they toe the line.

That said, I don’t think it’s a place where the next big liberal ideas/movements will be born.
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Old 12-26-2018, 09:17 AM
 
Location: Portsmouth, VA
6,514 posts, read 8,389,483 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheTimidBlueBars View Post
A family member who moved out to Seattle about a decade ago was telling me earlier tonight that he was considered a firebrand liberal by his social circle in Chicago, but is considered pretty conservative in Seattle. That sounded strange to me, since AFAIK Cook County goes at least as strongly Democratic in elections as King County, WA and the majority of urban counties in the country.

Is Chicago... less culturally liberal than coastal cities, somehow? I'm trying to figure out what he meant by this.
Chicago is still in the Midwest.

Midwestern cities can go either way, depending on what circles you travel in. Cities tend to be liberal whereas states tend to be conservative, because of how conservative some of the rural areas are. It is probably not going to change. If anything both coasts are getting more liberal whereas the Midwest is a place you can just live and let live. This includes the Southeast.
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Old 01-02-2019, 02:33 PM
 
Location: West Seattle
6,323 posts, read 4,855,473 times
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I will say that I've noticed lately that when there's a news story about trans people or non-binary genders or some issue like that, the comments on the Chicago news stations' Facebook pages are a lot more uniformly negative than the ones on the New York or LA stations, ehich are more evenly split between mockery and support. Sigh.
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