Objectively, how liberal/progressive is Chicago *compared to other large American cities*? (Bridgeport: living in, Vietnamese)

[Larry Siegel]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

Although occasionally I’ll still run into a real hippie trying to live a genuinely alternative lifestyle, usually on a Greyhound bus, and it is quite refreshing, even if they are 25 years behind the times.

A "real hippie" is 45 years behind the times, not 25.

[artillery77]

Originally Posted by personone

Chicago seems more "Democratic" as opposed to pure "Liberal" if that makes sense. Just my opinion based on subjective feel.

When I lived in South Dakota, I was considered liberal.
When I lived in Silicon Valley, I was considered conservative.
When I lived in Chicago, I was considered Democrat.

The first plant I had out here had a tree on the lot. The tree was old, and all but dead, and full of termites. We wanted to chop it down.

Because I was in San Jose, there is a department that determines whether or not to issue you a permit to chop down the tree. To my utter disbelief...after a ridiculous series of not live correspondence, the nameless city servants eventually rejected the request to have the tree removed.

If I had been in Chicago. Somebody would have come and visited me and spoke to me about the importance of trees in the cityscape. I eventually would have agreed with him that green was important, and if he'd be willing, I'd like to donate some cash through him, to allow the city to buy two replacement trees, and I'd have a permit.

Both are very green cities.

[treemoni]

Originally Posted by artillery77

If I had been in Chicago. Somebody would have come and visited me and spoke to me about the importance of trees in the cityscape. I eventually would have agreed with him that green was important, and if he'd be willing, I'd like to donate some cash through him, to allow the city to buy two replacement trees, and I'd have a permit.

Both are very green cities.

[artillery77]

Originally Posted by KerrTown

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.

This is fantastic above.

Chicago Liberalism - When I work, you're going to pay me. We're going to hold each other accountable and there's going to be repercussions if one cheats because we have big shoulders over us both. But pay me, cuz I've got a family to support and you'll get your work done because you need to make money. I don't care what creed or color you are. If you screw me, I still got a bat in the trunk....next to a baseball glove and ball of course officer...which is totally bogus cuz who plays with a glove or a small ball?

NorCal Liberalism - I'm always so busy... I just have so many brilliant ideas on things others should do better. So don't talk to me about my piece not being right, I don't do that and I don't know who does. I'll talk to my bff who hires us. Go hire some immigrant consultants to make my brilliance come to life, but create a space for my pets and kids to be with me at work since you won't let me "work" from home in an unaccountable manner. I mean, how can they expect people to come into work when the free lunches have vegan choices that repeat once every week. Plus, I heard Tony stayed at a Trump hotel 11 years ago...that department is so hostile, I need to talk with HR, I just can't deal. Maybe the team building wine tasting day will raise morale here. Later we can all take a day from work to go pack backpacks for needy children. Man, I'm going to miss this place when their funding runs out...really the very best people. I don't understand why our THC edibles for pets app never made it. I love everyone.

[SkylarkPhotoBooth]

Originally Posted by artillery77

When I lived in South Dakota, I was considered liberal.
When I lived in Silicon Valley, I was considered conservative.
When I lived in Chicago, I was considered Democrat.

It's definitely relative to those around you, isn't it?

When I lived in the Bible Belt, I was some kind of extreme radical leftist. When I lived in NW Indiana, I was just a regular liberal. In the city of Chicago, I'm still left of center, but only slightly. I imagine if I lived in NorCal (or Portland, or Seattle) I'd be a centrist or maybe even slightly right of center.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by SkylarkPhotoBooth

It's definitely relative to those around you, isn't it?

When I lived in the Bible Belt, I was some kind of extreme radical leftist. When I lived in NW Indiana, I was just a regular liberal. In the city of Chicago, I'm still left of center, but only slightly. I imagine if I lived in NorCal (or Portland, or Seattle) I'd be a centrist or maybe even slightly right of center.

I'm almost certainly a fascist in San Francisco. Here I'm definitely a simple old Democrat. Give me a Rahm over a Bernie any day.

[agun77]

Originally Posted by personone

Chicago seems more "Democratic" as opposed to pure "Liberal" if that makes sense. Just my opinion based on subjective feel.

As someone who grew up in Bronzeville and Bridgeport in the 2000s, I can attest that this is an accurate description of the political environment on the South and Southwest Sides. In Bridgeport, most of my schoolmates and I were raised as old-school working-class Democrats: pro-labor, pro-Daley (both Richard J. and Richard M.), economically left-of-center, socially conservative, pro-law-and-order, and far more concerned with bread-and-butter issues than idealistic social causes. These were the general attitudes of the Irish and other blue-collar white ethnic groups that used to dominate the Southwest Side and support the first Daley's political machine, and many of the Asian and Hispanic immigrants who largely supplanted the Irish in Bridgeport and the Southwest Side share these sentiments. My family, which is Chinese, certainly does.

African-Americans, who dominate the South Side, also lean liberal on economic issues and conservative on social issues, but I would imagine that they hold less favorable views of the Daleys and more liberal views on policing.

Bona fide social liberals and progressives are more common in the wealthy North Side lakefront neighborhoods and Hyde Park (an island of academia on the South Side).

That said, things have changed since I moved out of the city 11 years ago, and I'm sure Chicago is much more liberal than it was a decade ago. I never would've pictured Logan Square as a hipster paradise and a progressive bastion in the mid-2000s, but look at it now.

But despite the city's leftward shift, it's still nowhere near as liberal as the San Francisco Bay Area, where I attended college. For instance, San Francisco and Berkeley passed soda taxes by plebiscite with landslide majorities, whereas a pop tax met huge backlash in Cook County and was repealed after a few months. The Bay Area is also significantly more explicit in its social liberalism, pursues progressive ideology to absurd extremes, and takes the "live and let live" mentality way too far, which gave me quite a culture shock when I first arrived there (my time in the Bay Area has since moved me leftward on social issues, but I still find the region quite extreme in its liberalism.) I feel that San Francisco puts so much effort into trying to be the nation's foremost progressive pioneer that the city messes up basic bread-and-butter and quality-of-life issues like keeping the streets clean and maintaining a functioning public transit system. Say what you will about Chicago's notoriously dirty politics, but at least Streets and Sanitation actually does its job.

Originally Posted by Vlajos

I'm almost certainly a fascist in San Francisco. Here I'm definitely a simple old Democrat. Give me a Rahm over a Bernie any day.

Amen. Give me a Daley over a Bernie any day, too, even though I hated that horrible parking meter deal just like everyone else.

[Thefuturehereanow]

I think chicago is more centrist. How can any educated person pick a party Democrat or Republican are to radical left and right. Chicago is highly educated I think it's more independents.

Would be interested how many closet trump voters are in chicago .

[SkylarkPhotoBooth]

I'd say somewhere in the center, or maybe slightly left of center, relative to other major U.S. cities. Certainly more liberal than most other Midwestern cities and sunbelt/southern cities, but also certainly not as liberal as most major coastal cities.

[goofy328]

This thread, is why the Chicago/New York, or Chicago/Houston comparisons are silly and fruitless. People still don't get it.