Everyone leans a little bit right or left in politics. What’s something that your direction gets wrong and you know it?

[JessicaEarl]

I’ll go first. I’m pretty close to the middle, but I find myself ever so slightly leaning right at least economically. But man, conservatives suck at handling schools. I tried unions and that sucked too, they just took my money and did nothing. But still, the right has no solutions for schools being crappy in the US

[crmoore]

I consider myself notably libertarian, rather than left or right, but I find myself siding with conservatives in many ways. I think the left is has good intention, but often employ their intentions in unreasonable ways.

But I digress, the right often gets transgenderism, or more accurately, social constructs wrong. There's a reason many gay men who are closer to flamboyant than they are manly will typically gravitate towards girls. It's because socially, biology isn't the only consideration as to what someone is.

There was one example (of many) on a show called Survivor recently where it was beneficial for a mildly flamboyant gay man to side with the men in the game, but he laughed at the idea (not derisively) and sided with the women regardless. This man sees himself more akin to women as he does men, and I'm inclined to believe many men see him that way, too. Because socially, it's not as simple as "he's a man." Most men would consider him to be more socially apart of the "female" group than they would they "male" group. There isn't an explicit term for exactly what that makes him, but it's very clear as to what he is socially.

That beint said, more or less anything can be a social construct. And some things in my opinion have more merit than others, but conservatives are often wrong about gender and social construct in that regard.

[JessicaEarl]

I agree with the construct of gender vs sex. I don’t agree with mixing sports tho or treating someone medically like they’re one sex if they’re not (I’m in med school and I see this happen and it can cause serious damage)

[crmoore]

I completely agree.

[OddBeMe]

The left is frightfully apathetic. We dont show up to vote then bitch when Trump installs 3 scotus judges and abortion gets ousted. Show up morons.

[Anonymous]

I was mostly in the middle, but a the radical left-wing group of the democrat party has taken over and this woke thing is completely insane!

I have a question for you. You specifically mentioned that the republicans are really bad at handling schools. How do you feel about how the democrats are handling them now? Over the last several decades, the democrats have managed to replace nearly all the teachers with hyper-woke ones. You literally will not find a teacher in American public schools that is not a woke liberal. This did not happen by accident. The teachers unions are all far-left. If you go on twitter, Facebook, or tiktok right now, you will see these teachers posting videos, bragging about indoctrinating elementary school students and "turning them into future revolutionaries". They are taking these small kids on field trips to gay bars, and bringing drag queens into schools. They are taking them into getting sex changes and teaching them about anal sex. They are teaching kids how to pole dance and how to tip a stripper with dollar bills. This should not be a partisan issue. I know many real , non-woke democrats that are disgusted and horrified at this!

[JessicaEarl]

This is actually a great example of why I asked the question. It’s about avoiding the finger pointing. It’s about learning to understand that there may be flaws in our own thinking. If we can’t accept an area of improvement without saying “but they do it worse” then we’re not ready for any growth.

To answer your question, I loath the critical race theory stuff and I am a POC. But you’re using this question as a chance to attack, I was posing it as an opportunity to display humility and invite mature conversation

[jennifer_bloom]

I believe the ideal relationship is between a biological man and woman so that is what conservatives believe but I believe a mother that does not want a child should be allowed to abort because I’ve heard stories of mothers beating their child’s until their backs were bloody every day because they were angry they had an extra mouth to feed and I’ve heard of guys molesting daughters they did not want to have. If a woman hates children, better she abort than that the child is abused all her life by a mother who hates her.

[JessicaEarl]

That’s interesting. Another topic for another post, but would you rather never exist than have an abusive mom?

[jennifer_bloom]

My aunt saw my mom abusing me and my dad and says my mother should not have given birth to me if she hated me as much as she did. When I was younger, I hated being alive. My life was a living nightmare for 12 years where I was probably better off dead than alive but then God solved my biggest problems.

[JessicaEarl]

That is so terrible and I’m so sorry to hear that. Do you wish you had been aborted?

[jennifer_bloom]

Not now cause life is better but back then, maybe.

[JessicaEarl]

With all due respect, there’s your answer

[normalice]

I lean left but acknowledge the left sucks enormous donkey balls when it comes to messaging. For example the idea that the left fails at the economy is a lie that the left just has done nothing to reign in: the fact is over the last 40 years democrats have created orders of magnitude more jobs and republicans have created orders of magnitude more debt. Those are just the numbers. The stock market does tend to take off (and inevitably crash) under republicans, but 90% of the market is owned by like 3% of the population, so that is by no stretch "the economy." Democrats usually stabilize the market with the slow and steady growth its supposed to be there for. But the right tries to spin this as failure compared to the unstable but large gains made under republicans - the left makes almost no effort to counter this narrative with any messaging of their own, and I find that a tad infuriating.

[JessicaEarl]

Eh I don’t love this answer. Seems like a sneaky way of saying “we have the right opinions we’re just bad a expressing ourselves so you can’t understand what we’re saying”. Is there nothing in those opinions themselves that you think the right does correctly and the left does not?

[normalice]

It's hard to say as I haven't seen anything coming out of right wing leaders that isn't just a scam. At the level of the voters, of course there are a lot of valid points, but it usually ends up being either a slanted way of saying the exact same thing the left says (this is where poor messaging is a problem) or at least agrees with the principles of the left but goes about it wrong because right wing leaders just want their damn tax cuts for the rich and so don't actually want to fix anything that could be handy as a divisive tool..

[normalice]

A good example is the Trans thing. It's the case that men playing women's sports defeats the whole purpose of women having a separate league and feeling acceptance in the locker room is not that purpose. However, this all a red herring because what the left is actually concerned with is that we should put a stop to people beating Trans people to death. Equal protection of the law is the goal. And I think most right wingers would admit they agree with that, eventually. The problem is right wing leaders have spent years trying very hard to get their listeners to insist that all Trans discussions be discussions about bathrooms, sports, pronouns, or now grooming. The right is told to sneer at or at least bow out of discussions about bullying. And, for the most part, they do as they are told. And what is the point of all these trans discussions, by the way? At the national level there isn't even Trans policies, other than maybe hate crime laws. Olympic sports are decided by some unelected international body, having nothing to do with politics. Bathroom assignments are up to private businesses having nothing to do with politics. Pronouns are basically not even used except among friends, which aren't controlled by politics. And as for grooming the idea that public libraries might employ Trans readers is a municipal policy, if that, having nothing to do with national politics. However, getting everyone stirred up talking about these things does provide an apparent reason to let Republicans have power, who in turn will just cut taxes for the rich some more, despite the fact that there aren't any Trans policies they will actually be able to affect if elected

[JessicaEarl]

Only being able to point out weakness in the opponent us normal unfortunately. I invite you to do some critical thinking and to completely disassociate the conservatives from the conversation and think of progressives by themselves. Thinking that “we’ll they do it worse” or distracting yourself with comparisons is a great way to avoid real awareness of one’s own faltering of thought. Try it! It can be really humbling and almost cathartic. Don’t be threatened by the fact that your party isn’t perfect or the protagonist of this story. To ignore what isn’t done well is to say everything is done perfectly and can’t be improved on. So just because the right is upsetting to you doesn’t actually have anything to do with where the left needs to change things. Don’t be purely reactionary!

[normalice]

The problem is I have identified messaging as a weakness of the left, and succumbing to the temptation to believe that since one site has catastrophic flaws so too must the other side is a message, and specifically a message the left has failed to counter. Throughout history in the US there was a lot of validity to a both sides narrative but the current republican party is an anomaly. What issue can one have with a Democratic party that isn't as aggressive as I'd like when the only viable alternative is an end to democracy in the pursuit of unapologetic fascism? Indeed, I even agree to a democratic party that isn't too aggressive, as weilding raw state power for people is just as antithetical to a democracy as fascism is - it is supposed to be wielded first and foremost by the people; only then will they have earned it being for them. That seems to be the ideal the democratic party represents, but it relies on a pretty optimistic view of people taking their civic responsibility seriously. Which would be my main criticism, but again that's a messaging problem as it is the right that is pouring millions of dollars into amplifying the idea that people should abandon their civic responsibilities for various funny, edgy, snarky, hayeful, infuriating, cynical, or otherwise negative reasons, and the left has failed to counter that narrative effectively.

[JessicaEarl]

Okay I think that’s fair!

[MCheetah]

I'm 100% fully in the middle. A Centrist. Although I hate the radical left more for being the hypocritical, fascist, bigoted/woke piece of sh*t hypocrites that they are.

Both sides get many things wrong. The right pretends to be about free speech and expression and limited government, until you mention abortion and suddenly they want Washington to control women's pussies and force people into being parents, even though it's none of their f*cking business and has nothing to do with them.

And the left... Pretty much EVERYTHING the left advocates for, right now. For as idiotic as the right/conservatives can be, I'd call them my friends compared to the far-left/woke crowd, who are usually far worse. At least conservatives are generally nicer and more tolerant and can agree to disagree.

[Emiliamazing]

As always, an opinion worth reading!

[Emiliamazing]

We both are fairly close to the middle, and I tend to vote on both sides of the political aisle. I probably lean a little more left historically, but damn do Democrats like the tax the bejesus out of everybody. I do not like handouts from taxpayer money. The student loan bill is a good example. Just buying votes in my opinion.

[JulianGronkowski]

Oh to meet a woman like you Emilia 🥰

[NathanDavis]

I just don't lean either way...

I'm not partisan, I don't even vote, have never done it

so, having no horse on the race every election... I can always see what both sides get wrong, very wrong, absolutely wrong... and also the few things they get almost right

either way doesn't matter much to me... politicians (of either side) are not for the people, they are there to serve themselves first, second and also third... lol

[jshm2]

Erm... I'm a staunch centrist.

In your case, though, the USA's political landscape is badly fucked and you've got to be a political schizophrenic. The mad right idealising Nazi philosophies and the nutty left idealising crazy cat lady absolutes

[krin_m]

I'm really in the middle and I always want to vote based on the candidate's position on the issues so my votes were normally distributed across the party platforms. Lately I have been so dismayed by the hypocrisy in the Republican party and the blatant support of Trump's lies that my votes have gravitated towards the Democrats (although in some cases very unwillingly).

[Emiliamazing]

The voting fraud claims are ridiculous. Another point I would like to make is regarding age. Why are we electing individuals who are far past retirement age. There are numerous who are probably bordering on senility. We do not need individuals in their 70s or even 80s guiding a country.
I sure hope those parties put up someone worth voting for in 2024. Both sets of our parents have gravitated away from the republican party due to Trump, these are individuals who traditionally would've voted for a monkey in a suit if that's who the Republican Party put on the platform. It's pretty bad.

[krin_m]

@Emiliamazing I couldn't have said it better!

[Massageman]

@Emiliamazing Already have (a monkey in a suit) in the White House.

[Agagagagaga]

@Emiliamazing https://youtu.be/uoMfIkz7v6s

If you believe Biden, a man who barely campaigned, somehow garnered more votes than Obama without anything sus going on, while Trump managed to gain votes among Black and Latino voters yet still lose, I think you’re ridiculous. No, a rube.

But tell me this, why was it okay to say that the 2016 election was fraudulent and illegitimate...

... yet if you say the same thing about 2020 you’re an extremist?

Why it couldn’t be because Liberals are hypocrites with double-standards, could it?

[Emiliamazing]

@Massageman he's worse

[Emiliamazing]

@Agagagagaga I have no desire to even fact check you on your statement of minorities supporting trump. Every media source really can't be trusted. Machines count votes, people supervise (supposedly) the voting process. Trump is a problem in my mind, as are many extremists on both sides of the aisle. Hard/impossible problem to fix if there's voter fraud. Maybe if both parties quit quit nominating extremists and vote buyers (giving away taxpayer money to their base) we wouldn't mind your "voter fraud" so much. Good job changing the subject,.

[Agagagagaga]

@Emiliamazing Of course you don’t. Because you’re committed to a narrative, not the truth.

“ According to surveys conducted by Edison Research and published by The New York Times, Trump has boosted his share of the Black vote by 4 percentage points since 2016, when just 8 percent of Black voters supported him.

The commander-in-chief has also seen his backing among Hispanic and Latino voters jump by 4 points over his first term, with 32 percent telling exit pollsters they backed Trump on Tuesday compared to the 28 percent who said so in 2016.”

www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-increases-share-black-hispanic-vote-1544698

This is a well known fact. But I can see where you would find it inconvenient.

[Emiliamazing]

@Agagagagaga regardless of which minorities he garners support from, doesn't matter to me. What matters is that extremism, on both sides, has led to a depreciation of values in this country. It's ridiculous to think that we have to go through another Civil War (mentally) , to realize that political division is the biggest threat to our country. It isn't one candidate or the other, or what minority voted for who, political extremism is a major problem. I'm done talking with you about the subject, why don't you start your own thread and ask your own questions and you can get all the favorable and unfavorable replies you want regarding political divisiveness, voter fraud, and whatever else you feel like debating.

[Emiliamazing]

This was a good reminder to not say anything in a thread that might ruffle extremist feathers. I'll

[Agagagagaga]

@Emiliamazing Yes. Heaven forbid someone talks back to you and challenges your opinions. 🙄

[Emiliamazing]

@Agagagagaga I'm glad we have had this exchange. You've made some points unrelated to the question, regarding trump's voter fraud claims and who he drew support from in the last election.
However, how trump and his allies handled themselves, is an example of what I brr Ed liege is part of the issue/problem our nation faces. I don't agree with threats and violence from the extreme right (storming the capitol, threats directed at elected/government employees/ officials) nor do I agree with threats and violence from the left (riots, destruction, hate videos).
If our country is going to operate as one nation, we must find a civil, law abiding way to work through the holes in our processes.
I expect you'll reply to this, but I'm thinking we will agree to disagree on some level.

[Friendlybro79]

I lean left in regards to how they see healthcare, free public education, higher tax rates on the wealthy. Also I think there's more than one religion and they should not intermingle into politics. Meaning your religious views can't be dictated to me in the form of policy changes.

[JessicaEarl]

That wasn’t the question though😊 it’s not asking what the other side gets wrong. Are you humble enough to list what your side gets wrong?

[Friendlybro79]

Oh yes I forgot to add that. My apologies. I feel the left has issues within the party being divided by progressives to the majority of moderate corporate Democrats. I don't think corporate Democrats care enough about the people that voted them in. They care more about corporate donations and retaining power.

[TroyDT2]

I'm a libertarian. I don't care if the trans couple protects their marijuana field with a machine gun, as long as they are not assaulting the person or property of another.

And government-run schools are a very, very expensive dumpster fire and should be abolished or at the very least, since less than 1% agree with me on that, be given genuine competition.

[Agagagagaga]

Except I have to see goddamn trans and rainbow flags when I go buy a goddamn cup of coffee. They ain’t keeping to themselves and minding their marijuana crop. They’re out spreading their degeneracy to every facet of society.

[TroyDT2]

@Agagagagaga So do you want to suppress speech with which you disagree? Or would you rather create persuasive counter arguments?

[Agagagagaga]

I think we should stop normalizing what isn’t normal or natural. It’s being not only encouraged, but promoted.

[exitseven]

I used to be a moderate independent but the democrats have gotten so crazy that I am a conservative. If JFK and Martin Luther King were alive today they would be conservatives too.

[JessicaEarl]

I agree with MLK, not so sure about JFK.

[watercolor_lions]

I am a conservative and the Republicans have abused the LGBTQ community for years.

I am not an LGBTQ advocate, but I would never advocate the abuse they've endured.

[Pot8o]

https://www.youtube.com/embed/yuTMWgOduFM

The Left gets common people and solidarity with them wrong.

[joeldalton]

I don't know, school choice is a pretty good solution to crappy schools. Competition is always good. Dismantling the Federal Department of Education is also good. Our school performance has steadily declined since it was established.

[JessicaEarl]

I’m not talking about choice vs assigned schools. I’m just talking about individual schools receiving funding they need. They don’t get enough and I’d rather our money go there than all the other stupid places it goes right now. Give kids fields and equipment and make them feel welcome

[joeldalton]

Have you ever looked at what your state is spending per student?

[misogynistic_pig]

I am of the extreme right and I disagree with marriage and traditionalism, since the man does not obtain any benefit, the man must be emancipated.

[Alex8736]

I lean more towards the right due to the fact of the unfounded accusations by the far left and when the right responds asking the left to be more specific and provide a source you always hear crickets or they censor the actual facts

[Friendlybro79]

Alex I'm genuinely interested in a specific example. Not being sarcastic here or argumentive. Just curious to understand your point better. I'm not doubting you just curious.

[Alex8736]

An example would be "Men can get pregnant". When a Doctor asked "How can someone born as a male get pregnant".

[Friendlybro79]

Ah. Ok so you don't believe in how LGBTQ define themselves. I find that interesting to be a political argument. I never made that about politics and more of even if I agree or disagree about their lifestyle that doesn't really matter. I'm more political on actual politics. That's more social constructs which don't affect me at all. But I do understand that people on the right seem to think this is a big problem. Politics to me are about governing. How people express themselves or how they indentfy themselves have nothing to do about politics really. They're still people that you can disagree with for how they see themselves. Do you have any right leaning political beliefs? I'm really curious because not agreeing with someone's lifestyle is really political but more your comfort level with how they exist in society.

[JPresidente]

We got foreign policy wrong for so many years. Iraq war and the whole Afghanistan thing was a total screw up and too many of our soldiers died for no good reason.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think you know how the education system works in America.

It has absolutely nothing to do with educating people. Nothing.

[Massageman]

Yes, I would certainly say quite a lot less than most people imagine. The "system" doesn't educate: the few remaining decent teachers DO. The system just prevents that from happening most of the time.

[Heolurt]

I dislike politics neither side gets my vote because all sides are filled with assholes and liars. They all say pretty words but mean fuck all.

[SmokinAces2000]

most of the left thinks that there are hella different genders