I was curious as to general opinions as to how and whether it people here think it’s appropriate to be open about libertarian political views in the workplace(I’m assuming in the private sector here). I’m sure it depends on who you’re working for and the particular circumstances(e.g. if you work at EuroPAC, I’m sure it’s not the worst thing in the world to be an Austrolibertarian).
My own experience is mixed. My last boss definitely thought communism was a disaster, akin to living in a prison. He was a lot less enthusiastic when I openly mentioned my anti-IP views however, even going so far to say that he would not have hired me had he interviewed me to find out I held such a stance, since he would consider it too risky to take someone with such views(and my boss liked me!).
So what are the general views? Let someone know you have a trumpet but don’t blow it, blow it, or don’t mention it at all?
The two topics I’ve sort of not got into at work has been politics and religion. A lot of people I work with are on my Facebook, and they have mentioned they read the things I post (Mises and LRC articles). I just decide not to really talk about it at work, one reason being they wouldn’t understand what I’m talking about.
As far as religion goes I have never specified my beliefs to anyone or what I read (I’m not sure how they’ll feel about me reading books on the occult and non-Christian religions). I recently got into a discussion with one of our projectionist about Norse mythology and runes and he was like a walking encyclopedia on religion.
It’s one of those things where you have to pick the person and topic to be discussed.
Out of all the beliefs, you had to choose the one most threatening the private sector, namely IP.
I’d say another one I wouldn’t bring up would be if the company had some sort of monopoly privilege/franchise/subsidy that kept them going. Yep, sure wouldn’t want to bring that one up.
Seems a bit of a no-no.I guess it depends on where you work.It’s risky though because if it goes pear shaped,you have to put up with being around the people and the antagonism and frustration .
I used to be a cleaner on a military base whose soldiers were -probably still- fighting in iraq/afghanistan and mentioning I was anti-war definately would not have went down well.
I tend to be quite selective about who I tell my politics to.Some friends I have I like to keep it quite light and tend to shut up if it gets mentioned or just be a bit vague.Other people who are happy to talk about it ,I can go on for hours.
Just say you support contractual IP rights and you take care of 99% of your headaches. You then only have to argue that if you patent something, and I have the idea independently, you can’t screw with me.
Nah: I used to work for the government (I worked for the DOE at a nuclear weapons research lab), and we used to discuss libertarianism all the time at lunch etc. I don’t think anyone found it threatening because they knew that the chances that Libertarians were going to take over political power and do something about the incredible waste at the facility was zilch.
I say go for it. If they fire you, sue for discrimination! I talk about anarchism with my supervisors at work all the time, although I do tend to leave any moral nihilism and egoism out of the discussion!
Thanks for the responses everyone. I think the don’t mention unless asked, plus generally not being too pushy about it is fine. I just got hired recently and they didn’t seem to mind my passion for the free market or my understanding of market processes at the interview. If anything, it was an advantage.
Indeed, on another note: Recently, from speaking with some people at a youth hostel I recently stayed at; I’ve garnered the impression, that saying we should contract for all defense and legal services voluntarily comes across and is accepted much more willingly, than saying “anarchy” or “abolish the state”, which makes people scared.
Heh. The workplace is just the beginning for me. I live in the Bible belt where ex-military types grow on trees, and I can’t walk down the street without running into someone who tells me he fought for my freedom.
I’ve come to loathe these people far more than my friends who are socialists. Makes me sick.
My colleagues are a mix of statists who think they have higher moral authority because they want to help the poor with other (greedy) people’s money and apathic folks who can’t be bothered to think about such things as morality, natural law, economics of philosophy, they’d rather play on Wii.
I often get into a verbal confrontation with one of my colleagues who appear to be a socialist in nature. He would disregards all philosophical or economical arguments and throw at me things such as Bhopal, what about the poor, we’d all be poisoned if not for the government etc. I think everyone is aware of my libertarian views and respect that as they value me work-wise.
When discussing liberty topics, one needs to approach the people with opposite view with something you have in common. Often claiming that “banks shouldn’t have gotten bailouts etc.” will get even a socialist to listen to what you have to say.
Mind you my job is a full time student, or so I am told, but I had a conversation a little while ago with a dormmate, and mentioned after he recycled some paper, that he was harming the environment more, and ran through the various costs, and showed how he was harming, but he said “It feels good, thats what counts”- never mind he is Army ROTC.
I will say although there are some leftists at my school, some are very willing to at least partially adopt some of the ideas here- less gov’t, the problems, some solutions. Hopefully my saying, and partially explaining that groups don’t act, individuals act helped push them in the right direction.
Per se though, there isn’t much oppertunity where I am- although my roommates are from Kennedy country, they are supprisingly non-Democrats
