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Comment by zelly | Hacker News Reader

There are people who end up conservative for predetermined reasons, like where they were born or what religion they were born into. Statistically you inherit your politics from your parents. Some of those people will become good developers and engineers. Should they be forced to stay in the closet or be ridiculed or fired? Should they scrub toilets instead?

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In other words-- a hiring process would look at things like team cohesion, but also take into account that an applicant's potential difficulty in that area may likely be due to circumstances that were outside of their control.

I've always found that a fair idea. Oddly, this is the only reference to that idea I've seen on HN that didn't have a bunch of child posts attacking it.

There is a reason it's illegal to ask about political affiliation during job interviews in the US.

I think you are trying to be tolerant, but are you implying that people cannot reason themselves into conservative views?

Let's not lump conservatives in with Trump supporters. It's unfair to conservatives.

True. Upbringing and parents can form a foundation, but reality can shake it, too.

I voted solely for Democrats in every election (local, state, federal) from 1980 until 2012. By then, though, the party I had always supported was telling me that I'm inherently racist by consequence of being a middle-aged white male; that I don't pay may fair share in taxes (though I do); meritocracy is now bad; capitalism is now horrible, most all problems are due to white males, ...

I found myself quoting Reagan, although I despised him in my 20s (many of us at the time believed he would lead us into WWIII). He said "I didn't leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me".

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