# Why have conservatives left this message board? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [April 14, 2025, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016 "2025-04-14T01:14:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/81 "2025-04-14T16:50:53Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > You got that right. Hell, how many times have my always trenchant, pertinent, and perspicacious observations gone unrewarded by a single “QFT”? It doesn’t _feel_ welcoming. And yet (unlike the radical reactionaries who self-identify as “conservatives,”) I soldier on. That is very different than, “We don’t want yer kind 'round here boy” For effect, read in a redneck drawl with 5 others in the background just out of focus. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/82 "2025-04-14T16:53:20Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I used to be pretty conservative (1980s Reagan type), now I’m a mix of centrist+far-left. Huh. Would you mind sharing what are some of the “far left” positions you espouse? > [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > I doubt whether there were many opponents of the OTA here. Please explicate the TLA. They metabolize carbon, and insist on relying on breathable oxygen to survive. Are you going to characterize those properties as _wrong_? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/83 "2025-04-14T17:01:04Z")
When I quote something from here, I don’t call this a “leftist” board, I call it a board full of smart people. And thanks to those those smart people, with their secret weapons (logic and cites), I’m MUCH less conservative than when I got here. So maybe some of our conservatives aren’t leaving, they’re being turned … . > [@John\_DiFool](#): > > I think it would be refreshing to have an _authentic_ libertarian here… I thought I was one before I got here, but I ran into logical fallacies pretty quickly. I went to a self-styled Libertarian college (Hillsdale), and there were people there who were so enamored of privatization that they honestly believed that America would be stronger if, when you woke up to flames in your house, you paused and thought “Y’know, Chuck’s Fire Department™ has some good reviews, but Fink’s Fire-B-Gone® is having a two-for-one sale…” ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/84 "2025-04-14T17:08:56Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Hmm. What set of beliefs would qualify? The tl;dr version would be decrying onerous taxes and regulations, but also favoring abortion rights and legalization of weed, religious freedom, trans rights. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/85 "2025-04-14T17:10:46Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > My own thoughts is that the mod warnings are unfair, with those who _tote the line_ given passes for their misbehavior, while those who don’t are slapped down hard. [PSA]_Toe_ the line.[/PSA] > [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > > [@kanicbird](#): > > > > My own thoughts is that the mod warnings are unfair, with those who tote the line given passes for their misbehavior, while those who don’t are slapped down hard. > > Having read those warnings, you thoughts are clearly wrong. He cited _warnings_? Where? > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > > [@Dinsdale](#): > > > > (I just looked up “99er” - you mean you are unemployed? How is that relevant?) > > I’m pretty sure it’s because they joined in 1999. I’m in 100% agreement with a **Der\_Trihs** post? Somebody log the date and time! > [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Yes I recall @Liberal (whose original handle was indeed **Libertarian** ), but he has been gone from here for more than a decade now. _pfffft._ Quitter. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/86 "2025-04-14T17:13:08Z")
I posted this list in another thread: I can give you Russell Kirk’s answer from The Kirk Center [Ten Conservative Principles | The Russell Kirk Center](https://kirkcenter.org/conservatism/ten-conservative-principles/) **First, the conservative believes that there exists an enduring moral order.** **That order is made for man, and man is made for it: human nature is a constant, and moral truths are permanent.** **Second, the conservative adheres to custom, convention, and continuity** **Third, conservatives believe in what may be called the principle of prescription.** **Fourth, conservatives are guided by their principle of prudence.** **Fifth, conservatives pay attention to the principle of variety** **Sixth, conservatives are chastened by their principle of imperfectability** **Seventh, conservatives are persuaded that freedom and property are closely linked.** **Eighth, conservatives uphold voluntary community, quite as they oppose involuntary collectivism.** **Ninth, the conservative perceives the need for prudent restraints upon power and upon human passions.** **Tenth, the thinking conservative understands that permanence and change must be recognized and reconciled in a vigorous society.** Can anyone connect the supposed “conservatives” that left or were kicked out to the principles listed above? I certainly can’t. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/87 "2025-04-14T17:14:41Z")
You noticed that too? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/88 "2025-04-14T17:24:54Z")
That list reflects the Democratic Party today a lot more than Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/89 "2025-04-14T17:31:30Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > The tl;dr version would be decrying onerous taxes and regulations, but also favoring abortion rights and legalization of weed, religious freedom, trans rights. By that definition I’m a libertarian. Are you sure you want me to set the standard? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/90 "2025-04-14T17:32:41Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Being in a small minority can’t be fun, nor is knowing that everything you post and link to has to be impeccably constructed or you’ll get slammed by the overwhelming majority. Yes, I imagine it can be pretty demanding. It’s part of why I always appreciated **Bricker** ’s participation. He clearly used the pushback he got here as a tool to hone his own rhetorical skills (even if he was wrong most of the time), and he was generous with esoteric knowledge. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > > > Truth is its own defense. > > And facts are facts and evidence is evidence. > Got any? Are you two still at it? Geez, get a room! ---
**Author:** ![Boudicca90](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boudicca90/32/16818_2.png) [@Boudicca90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boudicca90)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/91 "2025-04-14T17:35:39Z")
I think the attitudes of conservatives in this thread show why they don’t last long here. The views they support end up harming and victimizing others but when confronted about that, they act like they are the ones who were harmed or victimized. And they can’t even come up with evidence to support their claims, relying on everyone to just trust them. Calling them snowflakes was very accurate. As much as some people on this board seem to dislike **Der\_Trihs** , they are right with their assessment of conservatives and the danger they represent to this country. They are trying to take away my civil rights, and that makes them my enemy. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/92 "2025-04-14T17:35:42Z")
I’m well aware of the Libertarian experiment. I was living in NH at the time. What follows is. of course, just my opinion/observations having lived up that way for 20 years. Note that I’m using libertarian in a very vague sense. The same way I’d describe myself, and not full-on let’s privatize Fire Departments and the FDA Libertarianism: Vermont has a lot of hippies. These are people who want to see all people treated with kindness and respect. It’s also a place that values individualism and gun rights. They’re the blue version of libertarian. But they do like being left to smoke their weed and be free from hassle. New Hampshire loves guns and hates taxes with a passion. It’s the redder version of NE Those keep the state from ever going too far Democrat. However, as I recall, NH was the first state where the legislature voted in favor of SSM without a precipitating court case. It’s also tied for least religious state in the union, so none of the current Republican Evangelical Nuttery carries sway there, and I think their hearts are right but their brains are left. So their governors and US Senators are as likely to be Democrat as Republican. But you know, in another thread I think it was you who asked me to define principled conservatism, and I’d say that NH is at least somewhat what I would say. There’s no cruelty, gun laws are lax but they don’t have much gun crime, NH definitely manages its finances well and keeps taxes low, admittedly with limited services available. I am biased. I was born in MA, moved to NH because I was young and could afford a house there, came back to MA for work, but my heart (and hopefully my retired ass) will always be in NH. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/93 "2025-04-14T17:38:12Z")
> [@Boudicca90](#): > > As much as some people on this board seem to dislike **Der\_Trihs** , they are right with their assessment of conservatives and the danger they represent to this country. They are trying to take away my civil rights, and that makes them my enemy. The problem is that we’re aware of the rest of **Der\_Tris’s** posting history and the bizarrely negative paranoia exhibited. So any skepticism should be understandable. A blind squirrel might find a nut now and then, but that doesn’t mean you should forget that it’s blind. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/94 "2025-04-14T17:38:57Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > Over time, people learned what techniques work, as well as what it’s like to be on the receiving end of them. Unfortunately, it’s much easier to score a cheap “win” by dogpiling and invalidating someone than by directly engaging them in debate. It also really sucks to be dogpiled. It also sucks to be ignored, under certain circumstances. On this board, I’ve had a few positions that were either ignored or dismissed as unimportant, only for years later people to come out with these positions as if they’d just thought of them. But that takes too long for a payout to be viscerally annoying. What’s worse was the once or twice when I posted a considered opinion that was contrary to the general feeling in the thread, only to be not only completely ignored, but, later on in the thread, someone used my very specific example to argue the exact opposite point that I was making, without refuting or even referring to my post. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/95 "2025-04-14T17:39:40Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > > [@Czarcasm](#): > > > > And none of them were able to leave a last word on why they left? > > Great googly-moogles, are you suggesting that _more_ flouncing-away posts would have been a _good_ thing? Really, now! And **Czarcasm** , come on, would you (and others around here) have really just let them have the “last” word? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/96 "2025-04-14T17:41:41Z")
If it _ever_ happens, we’ll find out, won’t we? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/97 "2025-04-14T17:44:54Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > > [@John\_DiFool](#): > > > > The tl;dr version would be decrying onerous taxes and regulations, but also favoring abortion rights and legalization of weed, religious freedom, trans rights. > > By that definition I’m a libertarian. Are you sure you want me to set the standard? Do you feel up to it, and are you volunteering? TIA. > [@Boudicca90](#): > > As much as some people on this board seem to dislike **Der\_Trihs** , they are right with their assessment of conservatives and the danger they represent to this country. They are trying to take away my civil rights, and that makes them my enemy. I wouldn’t characterize myself as _disliking_ **Der\_Trihs**. I consider the way he uses the word _conservative_ to be overbroad (and therefore wrong), and I don’t respect it, but I think of _dislike_ as too strong a word. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/98 "2025-04-14T17:57:18Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I wouldn’t characterize myself as _disliking_ **Der\_Trihs**. I think he (he/him, right?) is great, and I certainly agree with his political positions 90%+ of the time. But he can be just a _wee_ bit OTT at times. Un petit peu. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/99 "2025-04-14T18:00:29Z")
_ **REALLY** _?🤯 ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016/100 "2025-04-14T18:00:37Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Are you two still at it? I’m done with it. Got him on iggy so I don’t even see his replies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-conservatives-left-this-message-board/1017016.md?page=6)