Why are Professors more liberal then other people ?

18 Jan 2010
Todays N Y Times has an article that discusses why university professors are more liberal then other people.
The article doesn't mention one obvious reason - that professors, with tenure, are the only professionals in our society who are free to speak their minds.
Anyone who has spent anytime in the business world, particularly in small companies, knows that most CEOs are conservative, and that employees tend to adopt the attitudes of the boss.
You could call it ass kissing, but it is more self preservation: if your boss's boss is an open admirer of (say) George Bush, you will probably be somewhat quiet if you are a liberal democrat.

This effect tends to become a habit; after many years of denying your own beliefs, you take on the beliefs that you pretend to hold.

The other reason people in business are conservative is that convservate thought provides a justification for the often unseemly acts of business. If, say, you are looting the pension plan of a company to make large sums for your self, it is easier to sleep at night if you are a conservative; people don't say "social darwinism" any more (just like they don't say "nigger") but they darn well think it.