Where can I find centrist discussion?

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

Determining how other people argue their political and publicly oriented decisions is burdensome. I’ve searched for conservative and politicly center message boards so I can read thoughtful posts from each side.

So far, I haven’t found one. All I have been able to get when I search for conservative viewpoint are filled with far-right hate, nonsense talking points and name calling. Quite candidly I would rather not read talking points from either side. Instead, I seek thoughtful conservative and liberal discussion, back and forth.

Finding non-snearing citations in threads has been impossible. Of course, I don’t need a place where one citation after another is from YouTube. I would like to hear how thoughtful people rationally advance their arguments.

Do you know of any site where I can find discussion and not screeching morons?

Trolls R Us redux
What's a centrist?
#2

This appears to be more suited to IMHO. I will move it for you.

To those who’d like to reply please note that the OP is asking for opinions regarding message boards that would suit their stated conditions; this thread should not be used for actual political debate, charged though the OP is.

Thanks

RickJay
Moderator

#3

I have no clue but am equally curious too. Looking for centrist discussion is akin to searching for MH370 in the Indian Ocean these days.

That being said, even when such discussions do exist, they tend to be dominated by a few extremist loud voices on the right and left who shout over the rest of the centrist crowd, unless there are moderators who clamp down really hard to prevent that.

#4

Perhaps a slight tangent, but we used to talk about political moderates, and now it’s all about centrists. Do the words mean different things? Are there boards for moderates that would have different discussions than boards for centrists?

#5

I don’t know of any boards for moderates or centrists. When I got here in 2005, I thought the Straight Dope was pretty good at moderate/centrist discussions but in the intervening years the country has become so much more sharply divided and this board leans to the left quite bit more than it use to.

Part of the problem is the Republican Party has moved very far to the right over the last 40 years. Ejecting the actual moderate and liberal Republicans. The Rockefeller Republicans don’t exist effectively any more.

So now the left is dominated by the Progressive Democrats and the Moderates are overwhelmingly aligned with the Biden side of the Democratic party.

When I joined the board I was a moderate and Green Republican. There is no place left for me in the Republican party.

#6

You might want to have a look at politicsforum.org.

It’s billed as an international message board for discussion across political lines. Based on my limited sampling there are conservatives, liberals and centrists participating without screaming at each other. Seems like it might be less charged with antagonism than the Dope.*

*or another board I had hopes for until I saw that the first two threads were titled “Lie’s, Lie’s, Lie’s” (sic) and “Commander in Thief”.

#7

Alas, I think there’s likely nowhere you’ll find such reasonable discussion from the current “conservative” movement. Ten years ago, I would have labelled myself a reasonable conservative, but even then, I could see the trends towards more unreasonable, more racist, more stupid positions taking over the conservative parties in almost every country.

By now, anyone who was once a reasonable conservative like me has either jumped ship, or drunk the kool aid. I’m retroactively embarrassed that I ever supported some of these people, even as tepidly as I did those ten years ago.

#8

Exactly. Moderate is good. Thanks.

Yep. I found that one during my search, too. Good grief.

#9

That it has.

They do but they’re either blue-dog or third-way democrats. These dems have moved right and thus filled the void of the missing Rockerfeller/William F Buckley republicans.

Oh please.

#10

You might take a look at a couple subReddits.

In r/neutral politics, you can ask a question. The comments have to include a well-sourced link. That helps cut down the screaming.

r/neutral news is a sister sub that includes news that doesn’t veer to one side or the other. But Reddit itself is very left-leaning, so I expect you’d see some of that in those subs as well.

r/neutralpolitics

r/neutralnews

#11

Never mind, we were asked not to talk about politics and my post would take us off topic.

#12

Sadly, I don’t think there is any major ‘voice’ for moderates or centrists anymore. 10-12 years ago, I was comfortable describing myself as a “fiscally conservative democrat or a socially liberal republican” and leave it at that. IMHO the Obama years pushed the Republican party in general into their current incarnation as nay-sayers to the liberal agenda, rather than having one of their own. At which point it was hard to discuss anything - it was all about what you were ‘against’.

Now as others have pointed out, there have been trends of that nature for years, but that’s when I started getting pushed out of any conservative leaning discussion groups that I was in. Prior to that, you could, for example, be on a gun forum, and discuss safety and training legislation and still get a reasoned discourse, but increasingly any sign of compromise was a sign that you were ‘the enemy’.

So the moderates are still lurking there, but they no longer post. And I’m sure that’s true on most boards that have increasingly slanted postership. And yes, as @Brickbat pointed out, most people that have been ejected by the Republicans as RINOs are now the sort of uncomfortable Democrat that is worries about the far left portion of the party. shrug

#13

Agreed. If they want to remove my post, it’s OK with me.

#14

I apologize if I drifted off topic with my post as well, in writing it, I was trying to make the point that I don’t think the moderates have moved to a new forum/site/etc, but that they have self edited themselves out of posting due to increased polarization on the part of both major political parties.

My discussion of the reasons why I felt this had happened is probably far too political, and I apologize if it contributed to the near sidetrack, and again, the mods should feel free to remove it if needed. Again, I apologize for over editorializing.

#15

R/Neutralpolitics on Reddit is definitely moderate, as Heffalump pointed out, however, its discussions unfortunately tend to be extremely specific, arcane and hyper-focused on one specific topic - which may make it not a whole lot of fun to partake in.

#16

In the year of primaries before the last election there was constant discussion between moderate and progressive Democrats here in Politics and Elections. The discussion was mostly about whether the programs were viable and whether progressives would scare off moderates. Few of the moderates actually objected to progressive aims. However, the election showed that the Democrats are largely moderate overall, especially away from the coast.

I think that’s the best anyone can get these days. The moderate wing of the Republican Party has ceased to exist. I’m curious how the OP is defining moderate and what exactly that type of discussion would be.

#17

I personally find the Straight Dope to be relatively moderate compared to most places. It’s why I like it, because I am in a far left bubble and it helps me figure out what normal people think, hah.

I agree with @Velocity that the neutralpolitics subreddit (and there’s another, something like moderate politics or something?) is basically useless because people restrict themselves so much they basically end up saying nothing.

#18

I checked the reddit neutral thing and also felt nothing was being said. I will keep watch it, though. Thanks for the heads-up.

#19

That leads to the question. . if on that neutral politics forum, you feel people are saying nothing, what do you want people to say on a centrist forum?

#20

I was hoping for a little stronger writing maybe, and more conviction. Maybe I want it all.