But but but...I thought you were a true conservative? Wasn't a constitutional amendment banning abortion, oppose gay marriage, and support student lead school prayer all in the 2000 Republican platform???
As noted I said most of it but social issues have always been a sticky issue and certainly contributed to my choice to abandon the "Conservative" label. Believe it or not, some people think for themselves and do not fit into the slot politics likes them to fit into. In this case the Republican party has abandoned the things I found attractive (fiscal and societal) so there is no longer ANY reason to lend support. Added to this would be someone like Trump making Conservatism a very negative word now associated or even exchanged for Trumpism.
No one should engage in political thinking until they've had a look at the ideas -- one key idea, really -- of one Alfred Korzybski. With respect to current American politics, you'll see how inherently obfuscating it is to decide if this or that person, this or that political position, "is" or "is not" "liberal" or "conservative". I think the word 'conservative' is best used to describe a certain psychological disposition when faced with social change, and especially social change that is driven by the idea of perfectible human nature. If you see all people as basically good and kind and rational, but perhaps prevented from expressing their true good natures by 'society' -- i.e. by powerful forces in society which profit from keeping them in ignorance -- then the basic stance of conservatism will not appeal to you. If you think you have an analysis of society that -- implemented by a strong state -- will radically transform the world for the better, then you won't really understand the conservative approach to politics. If you think that society is basically easy to analyze using the tools of reason -- seeing it as basically the people vs the oligarchs for example -- you won't find the conservative disposition -- with its deep preference for small-step-at-a-time progress, suspicion of grand schemes of social improvement, and pessimistic attitude towards human nature-- congenial. This is independent of whether conservatives are selfish or not, whether their 'real' motivation is to defend a privileged position in society, or not, whether they are poorly-educated or not, whether they have over-active amygdalas or not. And so conservatism should also not be automatically, necessarily tied to any particular political position floating free of actual context: strong state, limited state; free speech, restricted speech; nationalized railways, or not; single-payer health care or free-market health care; you can legitimately be 'conservative' in this original sense and hold either or neither of any of these positions. And in particular it shouldn't be tied to any special political party. Political parties are expressions of perceived interest, and may or may not, at any particular time, embody a conservative approach to the world. A disposition -- certainly the conservative disposition -- doesn't actually automatically generate any particular program. You can be of the conservative disposition and support, or oppose, a particular war, for example. Or support, or oppose, strong government actions to extend civil rights to a previously-excluded group in society. (And I suppose this also extends to the liberal disposition.) American politics, and the world, is undergoing profound changes. Who knows what political re-alignments, alliances, coalitions, will emerge in the future?
You made the 2000 Republican Platform your Bible, not me. As far as I can tell, you don't have any clear beliefs. You just want to adopt the ones that make you look cool.
Thank you for sharing. I also hold both Liberal and Conservative views. Anti-Liberal: I strongly oppose misandry, which comes 90% from Liberal sources. Misandry is -- Considering men to be oppressors -- Blaming all men for crimes of some men -- Silencing men who speak up about discrimination they experience Liberal: -- I support Welfare State -- abandoning people who can not support themselves is inhumane -- I support gun restrictions -- at least 533,000 people in USA alone died by guns in 1999-2015 -- I support humane Penal System -- I support high taxes on the very rich -- I believe in equality of all people, thus USA should have more Liberal Immigration policy