• pjwestin@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    You just argued that Obama wasn’t a conservative based entirely on the fact that he had a, “casual indifference,” towards gay rights, but sure, I’m the idiot.

    • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Yeah. That’s centrist, especially for 20 years ago. Republicans literally want to kill all gays. That’s conservative.

      • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        OK, we’ll just set the hyperbole aside for a second, 'cause I really want an answer on this…why is gay rights your only barometer for what a conservative is? Like, if I want to lower taxes on the wealthy, cut social programs, increase military spending and ban abortion, but I don’t have any problem with gay people, does that mean I’m not a conservative?

        • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          I just picked the first topic that came into my head. There’s really a thousand different examples where Democrats are good or neutral but Republicans are mustache twirling evil.

          • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            OK, here’s the thing; the Republicans are generally mustache twirling bad guys, but the Democrats are rarely good or neutral, especially at the federal level. They have nice rhetoric, but they never live up to it. Clinton gutted welfare, expanded mass incarceration, and ended Glass-Steagall (which directly led to the 2008 housing market crash). Obama abandoned universal healthcare, reneged on his promise to bailout homeowners, and created the largest domestic spying program in human history. Again, even in the topic you came up with, Democrats did literally nothing to advance gay rights, it was the Supreme Court.

            It’s very tempting to boil politics down to a binary, good/evil choice, especially now that at least half of the Republican party is openly supporting facism, but you can’t just assume the Democrats are the good guys. If their voters don’t hold them accountable for their broken promises and inaction, the country will continue to slide into this right-wing hellscape we’re all facing.

            • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              If the voters punish democrats for not immediately bringing utopia, it will ensure a slide into right wing fascism.

              • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                You should punish the Democrats when they act like conservatives. If you don’t, you don’t have ideals, you just like rooting for a team, and you might be happier following sports, not politics.

                • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  But you don’t understand the difference between “not being Leftist” and “being conservative”. There’s a big gulf between those two.

                  • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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                    8 months ago

                    You’re talking in vagueries and I’m dealing in specifics. Address any of the concrete examples I’ve given of the Democrats taking explicitly conservative positions or just stop.