It's a common mistake among conservatives that they believe everyone is as self-centered and greedy as they are
I've not become more conservative as I age because I'd kill myself before becoming that awful to people around me
To what extent do you think education has played a role in allowing kids to critically analyse these types of people. Because in my history classes, we learned about ways people influenced others in nefarious ways and I'm wondering if kids see the same common pattern and know when to avoid.
Just a thought 🤷
Oh, I definitely think it's played an important role. There's a reason the right wing regularly attacks education. Seems to be a global thing, too -- not just the US.
Also just a thought, though!
I’m conservative, I’m not American though.
I wish there was a place we could talk about the issues we disagree on without assuming the other is PURE EVIL OMG HITLER HITLER NAZI!
Or DIRTY PEDO COMMIE HATES WESTERN CIVILIZATION AND WANTS US TO ALL BE GULAGED LITERALLY STALIN STALIN STALIN!
"I just wish there was a place I could talk about maintaining the structures that oppress billions but keep me feeling comfortable and superior without those who are negatively impacted telling me I'm a piece of shit"
Damn, man
It must be miserable being you
Why not actually respond to what they said? Conservatism is inherently about conserving power in the elite. It seems a bit immature to respond to an (admittedly snide and sarcastic) challenge to your beliefs with a personal insult. All they did was accurately break down what your comment represents.
Yeah, that's why they want change.
Its because for us in America there is nothing to argue for on conservatism that is appealing. Our democrats are center-right. What do we have to discuss between extremists and centrists of the same side? What companies should be bailed out first? Which lobbyist donate the fattest cheques? Its abysmal. So no, you won't find any citizens who want to discuss with conservatives same as you won't find many willing to discuss with the Taliban.
Conervative: "please don't call me a nazi hear me out first"
Normal people: "ok"
Conservative: "sieg heil, gas the jews"
Normal people: "you're a nazi"
Conservative: "see you won't even listen"
Oh poor you. Go fuck yourself with a rusty blade, asshole.
What's your definition of conservative, and what is it about conservatism that appeals to you?
All of the political tests I’ve ever taken have named me a ‘classic liberal’. There are so many subdivision of political leanings that it gets pretty confusing.
I call myself a conservative because I believe in the family unit being the backbone of our society. The most important thing in the world. I believe in small government, I believe in free market capitalism, I think taxes should be minimal and government should be responsible with balancing the budget.
Im not overly religious, but I think religion has a lot of good lessons to teach. I think the Bible creates fences around issues and asks us to do our best not to cross them, but those fences are far enough away from the real issue that we need to avoid to mean it’s not a huge deal if we step over the odd one here or there. I don’t take the Bible 100% literally.
As for social topics, I’m much more liberal than where I am with governing. This is why I voted for Justin Trudeau back in like, 2015.
I believe drugs should be legal, sex work should be legal, I think we should have less laws in general. I respect the idea of the police, but I realize a lot of them are just losers from highschool who got picked on and now they have a gun and a badge.
I had a long soul searching introspective moment on abortion when my wife became pregnant with our first child and we were talking to the doctor about testing for Down’s syndrome.
I realized that for me, I am against it. But I’m not so quick to say it should be banned. I do think there should be common sense restrictions though.
Does that all make sense?
families and free market capitalism are exclusive of each other.
Free market capitalism wants both parents and any children working as young as possible and as old as possible, as much as possible.
Free market capitalism does not - practically - support childcare (and childcare - bringing in someone else to care for your children - is the opposite of being a family), it does not support time off, it does not support vacations, it doesn't support education, it doesn't support public transportation (important when you have small kids), it doesn't support free Healthcare for childbirth, pre- and post-natal care, it doesn't support retirement so grandparents can help.
It also supports strict immigration and very much looks down on people immigrating with their families or brining their families over — leading to such terms as "anchor baby"
I'm a millennial immigrant to the USA. We can't have kids because my wife's job is location based and tied to student loan forgiveness and retirement divestment, so her family are thousands of miles in one direction, my family are thousands of miles in another direction. If we have a baby she loses her job, as theres no maternity or paternity leave, can't get her student loans forgiven, can't ever retire, I get 2 weeks off a year + public holidays and I often work 8am to 6 or 7pm - I would literally never see my child.
Captialism is directly responsible for the destruction of (this, but in my opinion all) families.
Yeah that makes sense. I think as an inevitable result of writing a brief online comment, you've expressed a quite vague and shallow perspective here, so if you don't mind I'd like to dig into it a little bit. In particular, I'm curious about what you mean when you say you "believe in small government" and "free market capitalism".
What sort of things do you think government should not be doing? Should people not be entitled to live a healthy life without being bankrupted? (I.e., should government not fund healthcare?) Are workers not entitled to fair treatment for their labour? (industrial relations laws and workplace health & safety.) Is public safety and order not important? (Fire departments, police, maybe the defence forces.) How do you feel when governments give subsidies to some businesses, like agriculture, mining, "bailing out the banks", or private education?
You'll note that some of these are things that conservative governments are associated with doing more of, while others are things conservative governments do less of. It's why I've always found the conservative parties' claims to be "small government" rather misleading. More of a marketing approach they use that doesn't actually represent what they stand for, and thus not particularly useful in good faith political discourse.
The issue is that you rely on fear to gain support. You can’t just say, “I’m opposed to illegal immigration, we need to police our borders better.” Many people are interested in regulated borders. But then many on your side make it clear hate is their motivator, playing the xenophobic line and saying shit like “because these sand n*$&ers are murderers, terrorists and rapists.” And those who aren’t saying shit like that are silent.
I’m not interested in importing deeply conservative religious people to this country that are going to threaten the societal shift toward a secular society, especially at the specific time the SCOTUS is giving religions special privileges. But by no means do I need to cultivate hate in my heart or others, unless I’m a fuck.
I see boomers posting “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” on FB all the time, and they genuinely, unironically think they were here >strong men create good times< instead of where they really were, here >good times create weak men<, and so now we are absolutely here >weak men create hard times< thanks to them.
They're just so close to seeing the point.
I thought it was weak men make me hard
13 year olds when they discover sex ed
The actual baby boomers were the weak men created by the good times.
The strong men created by hard times were their parents who fought in wwi and wwii
My generation (millennial/gen x) is also weak.
My children’s generation, unfortunately, might be the ones who grow to be strong, if we don’t turn around this disaster
Historically, people have become more conservative, not as they age, but as they become more financially secure, own their own home, and want to keep more of the fruits of their labour.
That's increasingly not happening, and we're not happy about it.
"Fruits of their labor"
Well, fruits of exploitation of the global south that made your labor worth so much more than theirs.
People become more conservative as they gain wealth, not age.
I gained wealth and only realized how bullshit and unfair it all is 🤷♀️
Yeah, I should clarify that you have to gain wealth and also be an asshole.
Boomers assuming people become conservative as a function of time as opposed to a function of "getting theirs". I have no evidence but it seems to be you're less likely to become conservative without having amassed some wealth to conserve…
"You need to have a sense of ownership and responsibility for your community."
"So you're actually going to let me invest in the community and own things?"
"What? No! Jesus, no. I want you to feel responsible for my stuff and work to preserve a status quo that will never serve you."
100 years ago a big part of the young generation was socialist too. Look how much changed.
This whole obsession with policing people's nationality came about because states were trying to clamp down on the massive amounts of working-class agitation that erupted across the world straight after WW1 - but all that history has essentially been scrubbed out from the "official" narratives.
This. We have to be weary that the owning class will put "leftists" in front of us to "vote for" and then this political energy will go to waste. Or they will draft us, or change the voting age, or get KOSA to pass. Idk. We gotta keep dodging the wrenches and throwing our hammers back at them.
In the UK we have something called the "Shy Tory Factor", where opinion polls almost always favour the left, because people will tell people (including pollsters) that they voted for one party, but then voted in a way they view they will be judged against.
IIRC it's also noted in US politics, and IMO it's highly likely that in certain areas you'll find many people that will say all the right things in public, but secretly prefer Trump over Biden, regardless of what either party stands for.
Even as a perfectly self centered capitalist I would still pick more socialism. System has not bought my loyalty, so why should I care about it?
The very young do not always do as they are told
Seeing youth orgs like TPUSA and YAF on college and high school campuses means that we might have to start playing at their own game and not just take kids becoming socialist as default.
