[jdfreefly]

* Healthcare isn't a right. It's the product of someone's hardwork and as such, you have no "right" to it.

* Making college education free for US citizens is a terrible idea.

* We've taken the idea of "sanctuary cities" way too far.

* Gun control is a bad idea

These are a few conservative ideas that I think plenty of people would be afraid to express in a workplace that is disproportionately filled with ardent "liberals".

[chasing]

> ardent "liberals"

Yeah, I mean those aren't necessarily popular opinions. So if you express them you might find a bunch of people who will vigorously argue against you. If that's upsetting to you, I don't know what to say.

I really, really doubt you're going to get fired. Unless you're expressing these opinions in very inappropriate ways. It's a workplace, after all.

[libertyEQ]

I agree with all of those assertions except the one about sanctuary cities because I am an actual liberal (now known in the US as a classical liberal).

[irhd]

because they would get fired or because they would face a unified front of "you're wrong"?

Cause the former is a problem. The latter, meh. If you can't figure out how censor yourself at work that's your problem. I felt like calling out a coworker for recent conduct I think was incredibly petty, immature, and damaging to a relationship with another team. I think he deserves to be called out, but it's just not worth it.

I do think you should be able to say some of this stuff in a casual conversation at lunch, or whatever. You have to be aware of your audience though.

[mithr]

Sure, but discussing any of those wouldn't get you fired out of any reasonable job -- at most it might make your coworkers think less of you, but I don't really see why holding an opinion _should_ protect you from the social (i.e. not job security) consequences of holding it.

However, saying that the idea of sanctuary cities has been taken too far "because immigrants are rapists", as a random example, _should_ perhaps get you fired, especially since it's likely that some of your colleagues are in fact immigrants and saying something like that is a direct insult to them.

I think the state of politics in the US today is such that many (though certainly not all, as you've outlined) "conservative" ideas have strong ties to xenophobia and racism, whereas "liberal" ideas can be more freely discussed because they are about inclusion, rather than exclusion. And that's the way it _should_ be. Saying "I support giving more rights to group X" is not in general harmful to other groups, and is not the moral equivalent of saying "I support taking away rights from group X", which is actively harmful to group X.

[RestlessMind]

> However, saying that the idea of sanctuary cities has been taken too far "because immigrants are rapists", as a random example,

Nice strawman there! I think that the idea of sanctuary cities has been taken too far, that the illegal immigration should be curbed and that democrats are just exploiting this for their political gains. I am also a non-white immigrant myself. But discussing my views openly would definitely get me in a few discussions with HR, if not outright fired.

[mithr]

Not intended as a straw man, but rather as an illustration that the same general opinion ("the idea of sanctuary cities has been taken too far") should be a perfectly fine (even if unpopular) thing to discuss in the workplace if your opinion and reasoning behind it are not derogatory, but not at all fine to discuss if they are.

[RestlessMind]

But thats the problem. Nowadays, saying "the idea of sanctuary cities has been taken too far; nations should have full control over their borders; immigration laws should be enforced" would not be a safe thing to say at my workplace.

[mithr]

Then I think your workplace is in the wrong in this situation. Reasoned discussions not based in bigotry/xenophobia/etc, where both sides are respectful, should definitely be acceptable at work -- they definitely are at mine.