To the Editor:
I have wondered why very progressive areas like Silicon Valley/SF Bay do far better economically than very conservative areas like the lower south.
I thought it was because places like MIT and Stanford were in progressive areas. After chatting with some very conservative people in this area, I have drastically changed my opinion. They do not recognize how much of a factor luck and being in the right place at the right time is. They feel business success is all based on smarts and skill. They believe that companies are benign entities engaged in perfect competition. Every company I ever worked for always took advantage of any situation that presented itself. They find it hard to accept that private health insurers distort the healthcare market. For providers, healthcare insurers are pots of money to have the stuff sucked out of. I always had the image of conservatives as “hard nose business types.” But it is now clear that they have rose colored glasses on when it comes to business. Progressives have a far better idea of how businesses actually work.
Herbert Loveless
Chester, Va.
