So a typical standard Democrat is considered extreme liberal, you tell me is that extreme view point or not. By that logic, just about any Democrat that is electable is extreme liberal and any Republican is extreme conservative, that is why this country is so divided.
I don't let people label me because I'm a logical, evolving, person who's views and beliefs are constantly changing. You can't put me in a box. I have both conservative and liberal views and the needle is constantly moving depending on many factors. Simply put, I decide where I stand on an issue after I research the issue and reserve the right to change my mind at anytime.
A centrist is mocked as a liberal, I don't care to pigeonhole myself. Conservative hippie redneck liberal. Hill Country values.
That's not what I said. What I said is that due to the rise of extremists the "center" of the left has moved to the left and so due to that, Obama could be considered at the center of the Democrat party. I never called him an extremist or suggested that the center was "extreme", just nowhere near the center of where the country is at.
He's black, foreign, from Harvard and Chicago: with their Andre Dawson Jim Belushi politics, all at the same time. Some people think Walker Bush is the most conservative president, ironically enough it was probably some late-19th century Democrat or New England Coolidge-type Republican.
I have the most popular pro-minimum wage thread, and one of the most popular pro-Obamacare chastising threads in this boards history. I'm also extremely critical of George W Bush, the Iraq War, and the continuation of the Iraq war (by Obama). However, I'm sure because of my stance on global warming, illegal immigration, and disdain for Hillary Clinton, there are folks around here who think I am some sort of ultra-right conservative with a two foot long beard, who has has only ever read one book (the Bible, of course), and has no idea what are DiffyQ's (I made a B in Engineering Math, btw). I suspect, that due to the anonymity of the internet, that a lot (I mean A LOT) of rhetoric is induce from a state of emotionally induced blind rage-posting. I'll admit that I've let this anonymity get to me, especially when it came to some of my criticism of Hillary Clinton. However, it is a nice way to exercise the demons. Overall, I think I am liberally conservative.
Define what you mean by moderate conservative, OP. I consider myself to be fiscally conservative by nature and wish my country would be as well. I also consider myself to be socially liberal and I tend to lean left on pretty much every social issue out there, maybe with the small exception of gun control where I'm mostly neutral but agree with arguments from both sides. As you can tell, there isn't any political party that represents my interests 100% right now as of 2017.
It's hard to venture out and form your own opinions. It's even harder to develop nuance with those opinions. It takes a lot of independent research, work, and introspection to do that. It's a lot easier to simply pick up the paper or turn on Fox News or MSNBC and just follow with whatever you favorite commentator, writer, politician, or whoever says. It's also hard to go against the popular opinions that other like minded people might hold. People also have pride. Sometimes they don't even want to think about being wrong or potentially being wrong because it could make them look bad or look dumb. This can hurt open mindedness. It's really difficult to have a flexible opinion or even have an opinion that goes against what everyone else says. It's a lot easier and more comforting to simply stick to one point of view and never change your mind or simply to just follow the views your party or group espouses. Almost to a fault I will argue the opposing viewpoint with my parents or friends or whoever. I will also always try to seek out opposing thoughts to mine to try to understand what someone else might be seeing that I might be missing. I'm constantly building up and breaking down my opinions and thoughts trying to figure things out. If I'm dead wrong on something then so be it. I try to examine what led me to being dead wrong and learn from it and move forward. I think the other trap that people fall into here is that we always want to be right and we want to win the argument or at least have the other person acknowledge our point of view. Further, we have the distance of the internet that emboldens people to act like total dickbags. I try to give people the same courtesy on here as I would if they were right in front of my face. Also, we don't have the luxury of sight to see the person's body language or facial expressions. We don't have the ability to hear the intonation that someone might use with certain words or phrases. A lot of our ability to communicate is effectively lost in this medium. I dunno that's my thoughts on that....
This thread would be more interesting if there was some metric applied to connect posters to "moderation". For example, what position or program suggests you being "moderate" versus "conservative"? As a personal example, I am a liberal, but I could be considered conservative in areas of religious beliefs, crime and punishment (believe we are too lenient, take too long between crime and punishment, believe death penalty is warranted in many crimes), and generally agree with most "conservatives" that taxes are too high and laws are too complex. So it would be interesting to see where "conservatives" consider their areas of "moderation". Another area would be what candidates of the "other" party do you admire, and why? What positions or actions do you support? For example, I admire GWB for his family relationships (his parents, brothers, and especially wife and daughters). Personally I thought he was a very decent man. I also admired and supported his strength in reaction to 9/11 and his positions with respect to AIDs and Africa. I also liked he was into mountain biking. I think the exercise described above would show areas we agree (as opposed the normal areas we disagree). It also puts some wood behind the self examination some are posting ("many of my friends would be surprised and say I am "liberal"") by applying some way of seeing it.
Yes, I have always wanted to know what really defines Liberal, Conservative etc. I believe many things should be done in moderation. For example, minimum wage, I believe there should be a minimum wage, but I do not believe it should be very high, I think $15 an hour is too high for many states, but may be not that high for places like CA, NY etc, so national minimum wage should not be set too high, states can always set it higher. I do not care about abortion laws one way or the other, what I have against the Conservatives on this issue is that they keep harping about personal liberty but when it is against their ideal, they are want to use government to implement restrictions. I want a fiscal responsible government, that means not give any branch, including the armed forces a blank check, and it means not reducing the top income earner's tax rate below to below levels that worked extremely well under president Clinton. I believe many agencies could be consolidated to cut costs, there is no need for 17 different intelligence agencies in this country I am sure. Not all government is bad and government cannot solve everything, just like not all taxes are bad but too much tax is not good for the country either, the optimal level is subject to change due to many factors. I want a strong defense, but I do not believe that we do not have enough spending in defense when our defense budget is more than the next ten highest defense budget combined. There are so much waste in defense spending because everyone only want to cut area that is not related to their state, so nothings gets cut 99% of the time. I want the government to fix SS and Medicare so it will last. I do not know that much about global warming/climate change, but I trust the scientists who works in that area a lot more than I trust the politicians, I believe in science as it is what got the mankind to where it is today. If the top scientists found new evidence that the effect by mankind on climate change is extremely small, I would believe them, as science and technology is improving all the time. The same thing goes for evolution, I believe the scientist more than I believe some holy books. I know not everyone see everything the same way. So I have no problem with people who see things differently due to their religion on issues such as evolution or abortion, MadMax comes to mind, he is what I would want to see in a true Christian, and not many so called "Christian" politicians. I am willing to change my mind on just about anything as long as you can use facts and logic to convince me.
Allright, since everybody here seems to think they are centrists/moderates, let's prove it. Here's 3 quizzes... ranging from longest to shortest. http://www.gotoquiz.com/politics/political-spectrum-quiz.html http://www.people-press.org/quiz/political-typology/ https://www.libertarianism.com/Quiz? My results from each: Quiz 1 You are a left social libertarian. Left: 5.97, Libertarian: 4.89 Quiz 2 Next Generation Left (aka left-center) along with 12% of the public. Quiz 3 Your PERSONAL issues Score is 70% Your ECONOMICS issues Score is 30%
The results of the first test did not surprise me: You are a left moderate social authoritarian. Left: 4.61, Authoritarian: 1.18
Oooo.........my brother! Except I'm almost ambivalent about the pro-life part. Abortion feels wrong to me..........about on par with the death penalty (especially with recent advances in DNA analysis exonerating so many death row inmates), but the "It's a woman's body, and it should be her right to chose" when you're talking about destroying a living fetus just seems like the dumbest argument ever.
My Political Views I am a left moderate social authoritarian Left: 3.4, Authoritarian: 3.29 Second Test: Your best fit is... Next Generation Left along with 12% of the public. Third test Your PERSONAL issues Score is 60% Your ECONOMICS issues Score is 0%
Trump getting nominated and elected has really put a shock to my system of political beliefs. To the point where I'm not sure I would even call myself a conservative anymore. Not if it means I have anything other than total disdain for that FOOL. Forget about him winning the election....I'm still stuck on the fact that "we" actually nominated him. I literally can't believe he even got the nomination. What would William F. Buckley think about all this? EDIT: Well, here are some quotes from William F. Buckley about Mein Trumpf from 16 years ago:
I am on the opposite end of that... I don't take away a woman's right to choose AND I support the death penalty. In act, I am probably one of the few people on this forum that has sat on a capital murder case jury and returned a guilty verdict and execution punishment. What could have been a difficult decision was made very clear cut due to the crime involved and the case presented by the prosecution (in this case, by the State Assistant Attorney General).
I used to think you are a moderate conservative, I am pretty sure you are viewed as a Liberal now on this bbs by the extreme conservatives.
QUIZ 1 I am a center-right moderate social libertarian QUIZ 2 Your best fit is... Young Outsider along with 13% of the public. (Just Right of Center) QUIZ 3 wow this last ones a joke - I didn't agree fully with any of the statements
