Centerfield

Amsterdam isn't necessarily 'liberal'. Yes, they decriminalized drugs but have you seen their immigration policy? Pim Fortuyn was the perfect embodiment of Dutch values and he was clearly no liberal.
Also, every time I've ever heard a speaker shouted down and not given the right to speak or newspapers being stolen and thrown out, it has been by liberals silencing a conservatives.
Maybe both you and Totten just have misconceptions on what liberalism really is. There is the ideal and then there is the real. By the same token, maybe your ideas of what conservatives are like needs updating.

Kashei,

I'm not equating liberal and good, not at least politically. But I do prefer vibrant cities and university towns to suburbs and small towns, and for various reasons they trend liberal in their politics.

Go live in a liberal town, and advocate your conservative/libertarian views. You'll have the most fun that way.

I live in NYC, possibly one of the most vibrant cities in the world and all the liberals talk/act/think the same. There is no difference in opinion allowed. I get told all the time how I 'don't look' like a Republican. Imagine a conservative being as closeminded. I've seen liberals attack black Republican friends of mine for being a 'disgrace' to their 'race.' All I mean to say is that Totten makes generalizations about what conservatives and liberals are today and that he should re-examine his ideas.

Jim,

I live in Boston, and I voted for the Republican, Mitt Romney, for governor. I don't know a single other person in my social circle who voted for Romney, yet Romney won. Go figure.

Perhaps if I were a combative conservative, I would enjoy being on my own. But because I'm a concensus-seeking moderate, I find it distressing.

I'm now working with the Clark campaign, and that's a lot more popular in these parts. I feel popular. It's tempting to become a liberal mouthpiece and have people like me, a la Sally Field.

I definitely have noticed a conformist tendency in politics, even among people who consider themselves mavericks.

White Southern males, blacks, people here in LA in the entertainment industry, people with PhDs in nontechnical fields all associate and vote with one political party more than the other at rates over 70% (cut me some slack on this stat but the estimate is pretty close to the mark).

I recently got engaged to a really wonderful woman, but before that I was dating. Trying to explain that I was a Republican, even though a moderate one, to my dates was frustrating. It seemed as if every woman who is educated, perverted, funny, and thoughtful in LA is a leftist who has no Republican friends and could not bear the thought.

It seemed as if intolerant liberalism in cities would ever keep me from getting laid. ;)

You're willing to sacrifice a *lot* for your political beliefs, Zagloba.

That's above and beyond the call, in my opinion. ;-)

I do often feel uncomfortable with the reality -- among family, friends, folks you meet -- that in many cases you can't have a political discussion without making someone angry or uncomfortable. I wonder why liberals haven't gotten used to the presence of conservatives, and vice-versa.

I really, really enjoy all those differences of opinion, personally. Folks agreeing with you all the time is boring and tends to make you intellectually lazy.

"It seemed as if every woman who is educated, perverted, funny, and thoughtful in LA is a leftist who has no Republican friends and could not bear the thought. It seemed as if intolerant liberalism in cities would ever keep me from getting laid. ;)"

LOL. I have the same problem here in NYC, and I'm not even a Republican, just someone who doesn't automatically spout supercilious diatribes about them. Plus I am a practicing Jew (but not that observant - I don't keep kosher) and secular Jews are scared to date me.