The Party of Lawyers
I have noticed that the professional training one gets -- or the summary of life experience that replaces training for a specific profession -- strongly affects a person's outlook.
Take a look at the professional training of the men and women on the presidential tickets, both Democratic and Republican, of the last several years and a trend emerges. To make it easy, I have put one particular profession in bold type.
2008:
(D) Obama -- Lawyer
(D) Biden -- Lawyer
(R) McCain -- Military Leadership
(R) Palin -- Communications
2004:
(D) Kerry -- Lawyer
(D) Edwards -- Lawyer
(R) Bush -- Business Administration
(R) Cheney -- Political Science
2000:
(D) Gore -- Journalism; law school (did not graduate)
(D) Lieberman -- Lawyer
(R) See Bush/Cheney above
1996:
(D) Clinton -- Lawyer
(D) Gore -- See above
(R) Dole -- Lawyer
(R) Kemp -- Physical Education & Professional Athletics
1992:
(D) See Clinton/Gore above
(R) G.H.W. Bush -- Economics & Business Management
(R) Quayle -- Political Science and Lawyer
1988:
(D) Dukakis -- Lawyer
(D) Bentsen -- Lawyer
(R) See Bush/Qualye above
1984:
(D) Mondale -- Lawyer
(D) Ferraro -- Lawyer
(R) Reagan -- Economics
(R) GHW Bush -- see above
1980:
(D) Carter -- Engineering & Military Leadership
(D) See Mondale above
(R) See Reagan/Bush above
1976:
(R) Ford -- Economics, Political Science, Lawyer
(R) See Dole above
1972:
(D) McGovern -- Theology, History
(D) Shriver -- Lawyer
(R) Nixon -- Lawyer
(R) Agnew -- Lawyer
There is a clear trend here. The Democrats are the party of lawyers, the Republicans the party of every other career. If I had stopped before the Nixon era, the difference would be even more profound.
Lawyers are trained to be advocates, and to take a us-versus-them view. They see the answer to every problem in the law.
Take a look at the professional training of the men and women on the presidential tickets, both Democratic and Republican, of the last several years and a trend emerges. To make it easy, I have put one particular profession in bold type.
2008:
(D) Obama -- Lawyer
(D) Biden -- Lawyer
(R) McCain -- Military Leadership
(R) Palin -- Communications
2004:
(D) Kerry -- Lawyer
(D) Edwards -- Lawyer
(R) Bush -- Business Administration
(R) Cheney -- Political Science
2000:
(D) Gore -- Journalism; law school (did not graduate)
(D) Lieberman -- Lawyer
(R) See Bush/Cheney above
1996:
(D) Clinton -- Lawyer
(D) Gore -- See above
(R) Dole -- Lawyer
(R) Kemp -- Physical Education & Professional Athletics
1992:
(D) See Clinton/Gore above
(R) G.H.W. Bush -- Economics & Business Management
(R) Quayle -- Political Science and Lawyer
1988:
(D) Dukakis -- Lawyer
(D) Bentsen -- Lawyer
(R) See Bush/Qualye above
1984:
(D) Mondale -- Lawyer
(D) Ferraro -- Lawyer
(R) Reagan -- Economics
(R) GHW Bush -- see above
1980:
(D) Carter -- Engineering & Military Leadership
(D) See Mondale above
(R) See Reagan/Bush above
1976:
(R) Ford -- Economics, Political Science, Lawyer
(R) See Dole above
1972:
(D) McGovern -- Theology, History
(D) Shriver -- Lawyer
(R) Nixon -- Lawyer
(R) Agnew -- Lawyer
There is a clear trend here. The Democrats are the party of lawyers, the Republicans the party of every other career. If I had stopped before the Nixon era, the difference would be even more profound.
Lawyers are trained to be advocates, and to take a us-versus-them view. They see the answer to every problem in the law.
posted by Randall Newton | 2:10 PM
1 Comments:
You may be shading things a bit. McCain's first career was as a naval aviator. Palin's first career was as a sports reporter.
Looking at congress, the number of lawyers in each party is about a wash.
In any event, there's the question of causality here: it is the college degree that affects the person's outlook, or the outlook that drives them to choose a particular college degree?
Post a Comment
<< Home