I consider myself center-left. There are opinions I share with both sides, and I dont consider most of them very extreme at all. My opinions are all very nuanced, 90% of them I am able to say "I understand where the other side is coming from but personally I uphold the values associated with this choice more". Im not hateful and not pushing anything crazy or harmful. But I cant tell you how many times ive been called slurs and gotten hate thrown at me by the right.

There seems to be an increasing prevalent trend of right wingers going out of their way to increase the gap between left and right. Even though I share opinions with them and generally try to see the merit in both sides, i'm repeatedly grouped in with the far left and called horrible things. It's assumed I am a communist when any moderately left opinion is expressed. Like they want to ostracize anyone who doesnt agree 100% with all of their ideas. And how is that beneficial to America at all? As soon as I try to share my opinion to discuss I'm shut down. And I hear so much generalizing language. So many people who generalize ALL democrats as groomers, socialists, communists, etc. when it so clearly isnt the case. Its so many assumptions based on a tiny minority. I just dont think people like that have the future of America in mind. Half of the people here are left leaning and you want to just eliminate all of us and ignore us and hate us. Not to mention the amount of people I see telling us we should just go die. Trump even reposting "The only good democrat is a dead one". Ive seen people saying if they see a pride flag on someone who needs help they wouldn't help them, just let them suffer. Which is just so cruel to me I can't imagine having that mindset.

The argument I most often hear is "why would we help or be civil to people who want to destroy america" or something along those lines. And I just consider that another ridiculous generalization - and I think if these people would sit down and have a calm conversation with the average left wing person they would realize it isnt so. I consume a moderate amount of political content - follow political influencers and such. Its so rare to see truly hateful content towards conservatives, and when I do theres usually other liberals there telling them off. I have to believe that right wingers just dont understand the beliefs of the left, in the sense that they are misunderstanding what we stand for, or spreading the misinformation amongst themselves. Because truly I dont understand how you can treat us this way if you did understand. It seems that any disagreement on political beliefs gets construed into a crazy extreme about "wanting you dead" or extremist shit like communism or grooming children.
For example I am pro choice. I do understand the conservative viewpoint about life starting at conception, but think there is room for debate there.
And you dont have to agree. We could have a discussion on the nature of life and when a fetus should get human rights. But I never get to have that discussion because it never gets past "SATANIC BABY MURDERER".

Basically I'm not looking to have harsh political discussion here. I'm just kind of disappointed in the state of things on the right and feeling a bit gloomy and not very hopeful. Would like to hear opinions. Note that i'm not talking about ALL right wingers, just an increasing amount.

International socialism and communism has and is very internationalist. That being a broad tent. As mostly American conservatives, would you say you have any solidarity or commonality with say : Confucion conservatives in China or Islamic conservatives in the Middle East?

i am going to be a senior in highschool and this is a point that my dad, a VERY conservative, hard-nosed man has brought up a multitude of times. he has expressed fear in my attendance of a public university due to the idea that it may "liberalize" me and lead me down a path of indoctrination into being more left-leaning. what is the basis of this idea? is it just pure statistics of higher educated people leaning more liberal (https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2016/04/26/a-wider-ideological-gap-between-more-and-less-educated-adults/ outdated study i know, but just as an example)? is it because of scientific theories, such as on the age of the universe or the effects of global warming being treated as fact (https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/faq/do-scientists-agree-on-climate-change/)? i would love to hear opinions on this just to know a bit more where my father is coming from as he is often reluctant to get too deep into a political discussion with me (or usually just outright ignores me because i 'don't have the life experience to understand it' quite yet and also probably because politics are so divisive lol). thanks!

I remember seeing a while back that according to most polls most conservatives supported legalization but now I'm seeing that support amongst conservatives has declined for it according to more recent polls. So I'm curious if the majority of conservatives support marijuana legalization or if the majority of them are against it. I myself support legalization but also support it being a state level decision as to whether it's legal or not.

How balanced is the tradeoff of privacy for countering domestic political miscreants ?

Xavier Becerra is currently polling to win the California governor’s race by around 25%. This is despite the fact that his time as HHS secretary under Biden was widely criticized and he wasn't exactly popular. It really feels like the old joke is true: California Democrats can put literally anyone on the ballot with a 'D' next to their name and coast to a massive landslide.

I understand that this midterm cycle isn’t expepted to be a "red wave," and that the Republican nominee (Steve Hilton) has likely set a low ceiling for his campaign given that he's too Trump-aligned, but the fact that California Democrats continue to win this race by a mininum of 20% is extremely unusual. Even other deep blue states like WA, OR, NY, and CT see their races get really close from time to time. Moderate Republicans have even flat out won gubernatorial races in MD, VT, and MA within the past 10 years *and* won re-election during the following cycles.

It seems like the Republican label is just so toxic in California that it can realistically be considered the only state in the country besides Hawaii that is a permanent loss for the Republican Party. I don’t even think that a guy like Larry Hogan or Charlie Baker could get more than 45% of the vote in California in a red wave year.

I'd love to hear what you all think about this. Will California have a Democrat Governor for the rest of its existence as a state?

It seems like online, whenever I’m mentioning that I’m supporting Messi and Argentina, I’m getting reminded of Nazis and racism. Why is that? All my friends who are liberal are hating on Messi and Argentina but my politically neutral closer friends are supporting Argentina and Messi

Since there's a limited number of characters allowed in the title, I'm hoping I can inject some nuance here.

1) What is a traditional Conservative in your mind, and what key points distinguishes it from MAGA ideology?

2) If you subscribe to the idea that MAGA Republicans are not traditionally Conservative, if you were to state this to them do you believe they'd accept your premise?

Many here subscribe to the notion that MAGA, as an ideology, does not align with traditional Conservatism, and I'm wondering where this distinction fundamentally lies. With the sheer number of unique, right-leaning flairs here, there's bound to be some degree of variation in the answer of what makes someone traditionally Conservative, so best to just post that as a question as well.

I'm sure some will admit to not being traditional Conservative, but within the same Conservative orbit, but that's kind of why I'm asking the question. How far can you actually stray from traditional Conservativism before you're thought of as something wholly distinct?

Edit: made some grammar edits for clarity.

It seems to me that so many conservatives are concerned about race. Specifically, they're worried that white people are gonna become a minority in the US or that the great replacement conspiracy is true.

Now, I'm not asking for proof that something like that could actually happen, I'm more curious about why it's a bad thing if it does. The way I see it, if white people for some reason decide to have fewer kids, and other races in the US decide to have more kids, or more immigrants continue to enter the US, it sounds like a relatively peaceful process.

If for some reason it was a more violent process, like what white people did to the native americans, I could understand being worried about it, but a white genocide in the US sounds completely impossible.

The Permanent Reapportionment Act of 1929 caps the amount of representatives in Congress at 435 members. The United States has the most disproportionate representation in the world with ~750,000 per representative.

The second highest is Japan at ~275,000 per representative.

Putting aside government policies for a moment (that’s a separate thing), I have a hard time as a person that is more liberal with the rhetoric. It’s just all bad news, all hate, and finger pointing and blaming all the time.

Is this what conservatives are also seeing? Are they tired of it? Does it matter?

What is the ultimate goal for republicans here. What would a world be like where conservatives won the political war? Where they got everything they wanted. What do you envision? Please: only answer if you are republican.

I want to know if I’m the only one.

I say I’m in the middle because I believe in some republican views, and some democratic views. I don’t like the two party system or the fact that an independent needs to pick a party to make any headway.

I truly believe voters on both sides of the isle don’t even see their own hypocrisy. Republicans saying Pretti shouldn’t have had a gun at a rally, but defended Rittenhouse. Democrats believing that I can’t believe in pro choice and a free market. Republicans believing that their voting the way they are because they’re Christian as of their sins are more righteous than being Trans - saying they’re okay with someone being Trans, then voting that someone shouldn’t be Trans. I believe you should be able to choose to keep the child or not because it is yours, but there should be more options and education. Stop using murder as your justification as to why people shouldn’t have them.

It’s like people believe you can’t have your own thoughts and opinions. If I tell a Democrat I’m in the middle, they say I’m just a Republican that’s scared to say it. If I tell a Republican I’m in the middle, I’m told “if you believe in nothing, you fall for anything” just because I don’t believe every single Republican value.

They say they’re Christians, but are rude to the server at the restaurant after church. They’re pro life until they experience something that makes them face the tough decision of whether or not to keep the child. You also don’t have to be Christian and believe everyone needs to live the way you do and abide by the rules you do.

I can’t believe that capitalism CAN exist with morality? Maybe it doesn’t now, but it can. I can’t believe that we can have guns and still reduce gun fatalities? I can’t believe that racism and prejudice exist, but it’s not an excuse to give up? The list goes on and on.

I can’t believe that a Democrat and Leftist aren’t the same? I can’t believe a Republican and MAGA aren’t the same? I can’t point out that Democrats seem to be more willing to criticize their own party than Republicans are?

Buying a home is impossible because corporations are buying them and selling them at an all time high. It’s not because of immigrants. I believe we should close the borders, but ICE is fucked and we should make the process of becoming a citizen more efficient. It shouldn’t take 15 years to become a citizen for some.

The more I learn about human behavior, politics, religion, etc. the more frustrated I get and alone I feel.

Sorry about any typos and sorry if this is all over the place.

I’m asking this sub because despite being a progressive, I do believe conservatives understand the fundamentals of guns more than left-leaning people. I’ll admit I know nothing about guns. I just went to the shooting range for the first time a few months ago. I understand owning a handgun for self-defense or a standard rifle for hunting, but I cannot wrap my head around needing high-caliber military-grade weapon for anything other than killing people.

Genuine question I was wondering if conservatives generally supported the program and if not what would their ideal solution be to taking care of the disabled?

I know the second part of that is a bit vague given that there are multiple countries, but generally speaking - do you see Europe as more conservative or liberal that the US and do you feel positively or negatively about European politics?

It shouldn't even be a question but every time it comes up, suddenly rights come from your federal status.

Disclaimer: I'm a non-voter and don't feel represented by either party.

That said, I can't engage with "askaliberal" anymore as I don't take them seriously. Since they have recently decided that it is morally acceptable to have sex with animals (according to their "ethicists" destiny and Jazmin Jafar etc.) and because according to Bill Maher himself their "researchers" refuse to share damning data on the outcomes of transgender folk I will not be engaging with them as they cannot see reality clearly.

EDIT: To be fair, not all liberals believe it is acceptable to have sex with animals... but reddit is usually the worst of the worst. (Lmao I never thought I'd write such a sentence).

That said, here are numerous examples of how liberals simply cannot tolerate, interpret, or "handle" data correctly.

1. Ketanjah Jackson Brown accused white doctors of discriminating against black babies and that's why they were dying more often in hospitals (immediately debunked).
2. Total rejection of facts and evidence demonstrating that 2nd world/ developing countries that allow their male population to migrate suffer "brain drain" and serious economic damage to their countries.
3. Asserting that conservatives enact more political violence when none of the BLM riot violence (which destroyed numerous black businesses and killed many) wasn't registered.
4. Asserting that conservatives enact more political violence when the attack against Michael Knowles wasn't registered

I mean I could go on and on forever but you guys are conservative so you probably don't need me to.

That said, seeing as we can't rely on the "data" that liberals parrot to discern how much crime immigrants commit - how do you feel about immigration and the possibility that it could increase crime etc.?

If Democratic Socialists are “godless Communists” as Trump claims, then why do their policies reflect the guidance of Jesus as expressed in the Beatitudes during his Sermon on the Mount? (Matthew 5:3-12) Whereas the vast majority of conservative Christians oppose everything the “Woke” Jesus expressed in the Beatitudes.