This thread in IMHO is sparking all kinds of political discussions all over the board so I thought I’d start a thread for everyone to discuss their views on the political part of the question.
I put it in the Pit because there have already been several mod actions in IMHO. It might work in P&E but my guess is that it wouldn’t last long there.
Some of the other discussions that were spawned by this thread were
and this discussion
So. . . what’s a centrist? Do centrists exist? If they exist, where can they be found?
They exist. They believe in the oldstated values of the GOP, but had to leave when the GOP became the party of evil. They are mostly in hiding, their former brethren being as evil and bloodthirsty as they are.
Self-described centrists come in a variety of flavors:
The ones that take the label so that anyone to the left of them can be called “far left” and, when asked who is to the far right of them, either will not answer or will name some legendary dictator…or vice-versa.
The professional fence sitter who will jump through hoops to show that if one side does something bad, the other side did something equally bad.
The rare person who is more concerned about what is said and done, and less about who said it or what political affiliation that person identifies with.
I’ll share what I shared earlier: centrists are people who like to strike a pose of rationalism and contrarianism. They hold conflicting positions that, in a normal person, would cause so much cognitive dissonance that their heads would explode. They’re happy to take endless everloving shit from both sides, because they take it as validation that they’re better than both sides. They’ll happily watch half the political spectrum run over a cliff, and dutifully shift their position closer to the cliff so they can stay in the center.
Also this. They’re old-GOP types, but now that the GOP is radioactive, they’ve struck the “centrist” pose to avoid backlash while waiting for the mythical moderate GOP to return.
Look carefully at centrists to see who they hold responsible for rhetorical excess, or not being in touch with everyday people, or failing to meet in the middle and compromise. It’s always the left. Always. That’s because the laziest resolution to their cognitive dissonance would be for the left to shift more rightward, so the “center” need make no adjustments whatsoever. The center critiques the substance of the left, but only the aesthetics of the right.
I don’t label moderates as centrists, but centrists and rightists overwhelmingly ape a “moderate” posture to appear reasonable. It’s always about the charade of appearing to be the most reasonable and rational. (I myself am guilty of this at times).
I’m maybe one? I’m not sure, I don’t like the term “centrist” though. It sounds like someone determined to stay in the middle and that’s not me. I don’t consciously avoid being left or right, that’s just where I seem to fall. I usually just call myself a “moderate” when a label is necessary.
I was conservative but the old school conservative, which doesn’t seem to exist anymore. Then I considered myself center-right and now if I’m honest, I’m probably center-left. As the left keeps doing stuff and advocating things that make more sense I can’t help it.
My dad’s pretty conservative, a little too much (some real conservative and some Trump conservative) and I can still find common ground with him on some things but we aren’t really on the same page anymore.
I know this board is way left of me a lot of the time but I still agree with most of the posters and I don’t feel uncomfortable here.
This sounds pretty good and what I would guess most people who consider themselves centrists to be defined as. How can you tell if they fall into another category?
Is someone “centrist” if they favor radicals on both sides?
I favor universal single-payer healthcare, high taxes on the rich, am very environmentalist, and want almost all guns confiscated. I also oppose abortion, PC, affirmative action, am ultra-hawkish neocon, and oppose the multiple-genders-or-identifying-as-trans stuff.
How they respond to bad things done by either side-Do they say “That is bad!”, or do they consistently say “Yes, that is bad…and it is just as bad when(never if) the other side does it!”
That list is mind-bending. I’ve been staring at it for a long time, reading it over and over. It just seems like there should be some internal contradiction in it, but I can’t find it. It’s like a puzzle.
I think of myself as centerist/ moderate. Mainly because when I was in the oilfield or hanging around my wife’s mining industry friends they all think of me as the flaming liberal in the group. When I hang out with my leftist friends I am their crazy republican friend (I was actually used on a friends resume to show she could work and respect people on the far right).
I tend much more to libertarian in that I want the government leaving people alone as much as possible which means I’m socially liberal and fiscally conservative. I’ve also come to believe that UBI and universal health care are a minimist government intervention but I don’t want much done about guns and I’m pro death penalty, suicide and abortion.
I think I get what you mean when you say you oppose abortion, in terms of governmental policies; I think we’re on opposite sides, but I believe I know what you want the law to be. But what, exactly, do you have in mind when you say you “oppose the multiple-genders-or-identifying-as-trans stuff”?