In regards to what tango said, to be quite truthful, I understand liberals and the way they think. I'm not ok with most of it. I understand them enough to know I really dislike their mindset. I know us Christians would like us all to hold hands and sing Kumbaya, but we're not all going to get along with everybody, including other Christians, and including liberal Christians. I don't think that's necessarily a "bad" thing. It just is. Hi, Brian! I'm Aaron. I'm probably one of the most "difficult" members on this forum. How so? Well, I'm very blunt. I don't pussyfoot around. And I call things as I see it. Oh, and I'm not very politically correct. I can't stand the whole PC thing. It's so, how shall I put it? Ah, yes. Phony. Anyhoo, I've read some of your posts here. You have an interesting whit and sense of humor. I totally respect that. Welcome.
Well, yes I was. Good memory! It was actually Warrior4God. A lot of the folks here I know from there, as they use the same names and they stuck in my memory but I don't recall you, no offense. Were you BrianW there?
Sigh...Probably not in a real, ahem, positive manner. LOL! If I offended you there I apologize. I've mellowed a LITTLE bit, but not by much. I'm still, well, Aaron.
With respect, talking of the "liberal mindset" as if it were uniform across everyone who identifies as liberal isn't necessarily helpful. Just like the people who might be collectively called "conservatives" have a huge range of opinions on just about every topic imaginable, so the people who collectively get called "liberals" have a lot of variation between them. It's the same with any other group who happen to share one particular attribute, whether that group is described as "Christian", "Muslim", "atheist", "black", "white", "American", "European", "gay", "straight" etc. To be honest most of the most unhelpful comments I've come across discussing, well, just about anything start from the perspective that because persons A and B share one attribute it logically follows that, however abhorrent the views or actions of B, A must agree with all of them because they share that one attribute. It makes as much sense as assuming that everybody here agrees 100% with the nutjobs at Westboro Baptist "Church" because they say they are Christians and we say we are Christians.
As a conservative I can and do have friends that classify themselves liberals and we even talk about politics quite a bit. But these are all older cats like me and we understand that God, family and country come before ideology and we can only succeed and prosper as communities, states and a nation if we work together for the good of all. We all look at the new progressive moment that has become such a large part of the democratic base and a smaller segment of...whatever they should be called, alt-right maybe? What ever you call them, we see these people and it scares the dickens out of us. They've been converted, inverted and programmed into a "think as we think or you don't really deserve to live" mindset that if allowed to continue will either tear our country right apart or see one of them, most likely the progressives since there are so many more of them, get power and never let it go. If that's happens America will be changed into a completely different place that I certainly wouldn't want to live in anymore. Because progressive is simply another name for socialist and these people are hard core in a crazy way and have taken socialism into a wild new direction. The alt-right aren't any better. They're just as scary but in a Stormtrooper kind of way. So I can partially agree with both of you guys on this. Edit: Oh and, just because... I cried when they shot Medgar Evers Tears ran down my spine I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy As though i'd lost a father of mine But Malcolm x got what was coming He got what he asked for this time So love me, love me, love me, i'm a liberal I go to civil rights rallies And i put down the old d.a.r. I love Harry and Sidney and Sammy I hope every colored boy becomes a star But don't talk about revolution That's going a little bit too far So love me, love me, love me, i'm a liberal I cheered when Humphrey was chosen My faith in the system restored I'm glad the commies were thrown out Of the a.f.l. c.i.o. board I love Puerto ricans and negros As long as they don't move next door So love me, love me, love me, i'm a liberal The people of old Mississippi Should all hang their heads in shame I can't understand how their minds work What's the matter don't they watch Les Crain? But if you ask me to bus my children I hope the cops take down your name So love me, love me, love me, i'm a liberal I read new republic and nation I've learned to take every view You know, I've memorized Lerner and golden I feel like i'm almost a Jew But when it comes to times like Korea There's no one more red, white and blue So love me, love me, love me, i'm a liberal I vote for the democtratic party They want the u.n. to be strong I go to all the Pete Seeger concerts He sure gets me singing those songs I'll send all the money you ask for But don't ask me to come on along So love me, love me, love me, i'm a liberal Once i was young and impulsive I wore every conceivable pin Even went to the socialist meetings Learned all the old union hymns But i've grown older and wiser And that's why i'm turning you in So love me, love me, love me, i'm a liberal
Liberalism can be disagreeable on issues (e.g., on abortion), but in terms of world view I'm a fairly liberal Conservative, and expect the trend to continue; I suspect there are fairly conservative Liberals as well. I'd suggest the words 'liberal' and 'conservative' as they're commonly used, are used poorly. My 'liberalism' - and this holds true of Liberals - isn't the same as the 'Progressivism' / Leftism / Socialism / Marxism / Fascism / Communism that younger people are gravitating towards under the guise of the moral good (and expressed as such, of course, because re-definition is the name of the game: stop racism! stop cultural appropriation! stop hate! These views - as they have always been - are genuinely dangerous to both Conservatives, and Liberals, and it's not helpful to conflate them with being Liberal, or as indications of Liberalism. I'm inclined to agree with Brian: unless something changes, the West is heading in an authoritarian direction, and it will be one of the great tragedies in history.
Well, I won't go down without a fight. I will NOT become "politically correct." I will NOT be afraid to express my conservative views. I will NOT be afraid to call perversion what it is rather than "alternative lifestyles." I will NOT be afraid to express that the "progressive agenda" is demonic in nature. If society wants to shut me up somebody better damn well be willing to put a bullet in my head. That's the ONLY way I will shut up.
Nah. I prefer to be straight forward about it. No point in playing games or being "clever." I am who I am. If I become too much for society to handle they'll just need to eliminate me. And that's fine with me. I do enjoy life, to a degree, but I don't cherish my physical earthly existence enough to keep it at all costs.
I'm broadly conservative (although I'd primarily identify as libertarian, in that I think the government could do a much better job if it spent more time butting out and less time butting in). I often wonder just how many people truly believe that anyone with a different opinion is somehow subhuman and how many of them are merely emboldened by the relative anonymity of social media and the sense that most of the people they associate with in real life would express agreement online, even if not in person and especially not in person to someone with a differing viewpoint. Personally I look at maps that show county-by-county (and constituency-by-constituency in the UK) how people voted and can only conclude it's a perfect illustration of why government should be as small and as local as possible for any given task. Essentially it's little more than a presentation that urban areas tend to lean left and rural areas tend to lean right. With elections split more-or-less down the middle with each major party getting maybe 40% of the vote, give or take a bit, we're clearly long past a point where everybody can be happy. In that situation, and given that approximately half of the people who vote on any given issue don't get the outcome they wanted, perhaps the answer is to look to minimize the level of unhappiness with elections rather than the futility of trying to maximize happiness. Maximizing happiness seems to do little more than endlessly appeal to the party faithful on the winning side, while minimizing unhappiness would be to limit the power of the incoming government to trample the lives of the substantial numbers of people who voted for the other guy. Since democracy has often been described as two wolves and a sheep voting on who is for dinner, the idea is essentially to protect the sheep.
I've spoken with plenty of young people who consider themselves as "Progressive" and sometimes it's like trying to communicate with an alien race. Just trying to convey that Che Guevara was a child murdering monster and not the "revolutionary hero" he's been popped up to be is a monumental task. Teaching them to question every thing they see and hear and not be tunnel vision with a locked down mind is a task of seemingly Sisyphean proportions. I don't know what it's like in other parts of the world but yes, here in America there is a very large population of those who believe that those who do not agree with them are evil and need to be either assimilated ( not a joke) or subjugated. And if that fails? Purged from society one way or another. It is not just an internet thing. These people really do think this way. And they even turn on others in their own "groups" all of the time. Sometimes with deadly consequences.
I hear you. America has been changing and not in a good way for the most part. I don't view President Trump as a "messiah," but I genuinely applaud much of what he's been trying to do to inflict major damage to the "progressive agenda" in this country. The sad thing is I often doubt he'll be able to accomplish much as many in Congress don't have a spine and refuse to give him the help he needs to get things done. Despite all the snotty comments some people make, Trump is a President and not a "dictator" that can just do what he wants. Congress often has to approve things he wants to do. Some in Congress may PERSONALLY agree with Trump...but because they don't want to be labeled as things like "racists" and "xenophobes," they won't go along with things he wants to do. They're afraid of "offending" some of their constituents, so they do nothing. like I said, no spine.
I'm as conservative as you can get but I must say... yes, Trump made some promises when running that would be great if actually gets them accomplished. At the same time I can't believe a word that comes out of the mans mouth. He's a proven liar and of low character bro. As long as he gets good judges appointed I'll take anything else as gravy. We survived 8 years of Bush Jr, 8 years of Obama...** cough *though we're still paying for both of those horrible administrations messes -- *cough* I guess we can survive 4 years of Trump. Maybe. And maybe he'll prove me wrong and turn out to be a decent president. It's wayyyyy too early to tell yet but things aren't looking so good for The Donald. But what did he expect when he said all politicians were bought and paid for crooks and when he got in office he was going to "Drain the swamp!" He declared war and now he's got to battle it out. Good luck to him. I hope he does drain of the swamp of both RINOs and Moonbats. I'm not holding my breath but I'd like to see it because that's one thing he's right about: Most politicians are bought and paid for by corporations, foreign interests and their lobbyists.