I am not a Liberal.

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I am a Conservative.

• I believe that Hurricanes start when warm, moist air from the ocean surface begins to rise rapidly, where it encounters cooler air that causes the warm water vapor to condense and to form storm clouds and drops of rain...

• I believe that CoViD-19 is caused by a coronavirus...

• I believe that crimes and terrorist attacks are caused an imbalance of economic opportunity, extremist beliefs, poverty, lack of opportunity, and a personal disregard for the rights of others......

• I believe that autism is caused by a complex combination of genetic and environmental factors...

• I believe the same for cancer...

• I believe that the federal deficit is caused by protectionism, union privilege, and too much government spending...

• I believe that racism and sexism are caused by fear of being displaced and erased...

• I believe that alcoholism, drug addiction, and suicide are caused by personal choices aggravated by depressive personalities...

• I believe that earthquakes are caused by the release of geologic stresses that build up over time...

• I believe that poor church attendance is caused by the inherent lack of relevancy between doctrines that are thousands of years old and modern-day conditions...




... and I do NOT believe that any of the foregoing is caused by feminism, pre-marital sex, abortion, gay marriage, or Black Lives Matter!!

I don't idenitify with either of the parties.

I assume this is sarcasm because none of this makes sense. None of this seems conservative to me.

"Conservative" is not a political party.  It is a way of thinking.

Haven't you ever noticed that large swathes of the conservative end of the political spectrum seem to believe that there is some kind of "divine" causal connection between natural disasters and gay marriage (for example)?  Have you never heard that some so-called conservative blame natural disasters and everything that's wrong with the world on Liberals?

Sure, I claim to be a conservative; but my form of conservatism has to do with more practical, material connections between causes and effects.

But I'm running on 2 hours of sleep since yesterday, and I'm beginning to make no sense to me, either.

I always assumed that is what being a republican is but my husband says they are two different things.

He's correct.  Conservative/Liberal is an attitude; Democrat/Republican is a political affiliation.

So you are "not like the other conservatives?"

I've always associated intellectual conservatism or "true" conservatism with cynicism or social skepticism. Skepticism of diplomatic relations vs realpolitik, skepticism of social programs or criminal justice reform (like jails in Sweden) vs more draconian policies. If aliens came to Earth and everyone wanted to make peace and communicate conservatives would be the ones telling us to keep our weapons armed not to let our guard down (as opposed to the nuke crazy general stereotype). Or like the renegade morality from Mass Effect, not evil just rough around the edges. IMO it's not a bad counterbalance to liberalism when it's not hijacked by crazies.

I've seen conservatives say they are not like Kaitlin Bennett and that she makes them all look bad and they don 't like her either.

So what are those conservatives like then? Maybe they mean they don't go out and troll people and make them look stupid and twist their words but yet they have the same beliefs as her.

I don't spend time in conservatives spaces so I'm not privy to the diversity within those spaces. Obviously there are differences between say, Alex Jones and Ben Shapiro, in that Shapiro is not crazy and I feel like I could actually have a conversation with him, but he still gets on my nerves. Same for Tucker Carlson, although he's more obnoxious. I can't stand Dennis Prager.

They all just seem so angry and ranty, off the top of my head I can't think of any right-wing public figures that seem reasonable. I wonder if there are any today who have the presence of someone like William F. Buckley Jr. I saw an old video of him debate Noam Chomsky and he seems pretentious but intelligent, not self-righteous or loud.

I have listened to Ben Shapiro and I think he is okay. He seems to make sense of his opinions and he can actually have a discussion.

I have listened to Candance Owens and I have found her annoying because I see she has triggers so she will cut people off when they try to speak. She isn't as opened minded and and tolerant as she thinks when she wants to cut people off and interrupt them. I always see the irony.

I find it good to listen to both sides because there is always propaganda made up and straw mans so it's good to listen to both sides. Though people will admit they will only listen to one side because they critisize people who follow right wing pages and stuff or listen to their stuff and I am like "we need to keep tabs on what people think so we know what is going on out in the world and what people are thinking and what they believe" Watching the news doesn't mean we endorse bad behavior and crimes, same logic applies to listening to right wing stuff and when we follow our president on social media and watch his speeches. Plenty of trans people read TERF stuff and plenty of liberals read conservative stuff so they know what is going on.

If by "Other Conservatives" you mean the homophobic, xenophobic, racist, sexist people who believe that only those of a certain ethnicity should be allowed to vote, own property, and rull over everyone else, then I am not one of them..."Trust, but verify." and "Question everything, especially authority".

If space-aliens dropped by, I would like to be on the diplomatic team, if only to be the person who asks the uncomfortable questions like, "Why did you come here?" and "What do you want from us?" -- nothing overtly hostile, but just enough to let them know we're on our guard.

Never open negotiations from a position of weakness.

How can one be conservative and not be racist, white supremacist, xenophobic, homophobic? Maybe the definition of conservative has changed and the person who claims to be one hasn't updated their label yet.

Because racist, white supremacists, xenophobes and homophobes will latch on to conservative movements and use conservative talking points, but that alone doesn't invalidate conservatives who have a good reason for their opinions, it just highlights the danger that exists in right-wing politics, and the difficulty in distinguishing the two. You can have legitimate arguments about why you are against affirmative action, or why you think this or that welfare program is a bad idea, for economic or logistical reasons or whatever, it just so happens that racists and people who hate the poor have those same opinions but for irrational malicious reasons, and will jump on that train when given the opportunity. I think this is how dogwhistles are born, and how Republicans can simultaneously communicate with both their moderate and extreme supporters.

EDIT: I agree though that in the Trump era "moderate" conservatives are nowhere to be found, maybe idk where to look.

Yeah I guess anyone can use a dog whistle on accident and that will strike a core because of the bad group that would say the exact same thing.

I notice when anyone uses a dog whistle, lot of people will just ignore the rest you say because they only focus on that one sentence. I just shake my head at those people because reading comprehension is their friend. If they can't do that, I don't need to interact with them.

Not to believe this isn't a valid reason not to blame them for this. The main goal of common politics is manipulation and not telling the truth.