Tired of your con comms being railroaded by a handful of posters? Tired of being banned for downvoting bad posts? Tired of all the thinly veiled fascism? Me. Too. Here in this comm, we return to our roots and remember our nation's values. No more reactionary pearl clutching or fear mongering. No more us vs them. No more authoritarian worship.
Do we really need another conservative community? Yes. After all, this is the only conservative news comm on this server that you can actually post to right now! If this comm looks anything like that one, then I have failed you.
My sincere dream for this comm is to bring back respect to a conservative lifestyle that has been misrepresented since at least the 80s. The Overton Window won't move itself. I'm no libertarian but I do believe someone should be able to protect themselves, find meaningful work, and live a life of dignity. The middle ground is that you shouldn't have to do everything alone. In kindergarten terms: Good people doing good things should be enabled and bad people doing bad things should be stopped.
Society is built on the work we do for each other. You probably didn't build the road you drive to work on, grow the food you eat, sew the clothes you wear, act out the movies you enjoy, or process the materials for the electronic device you're reading this post on. Self sufficiency is an admirable goal but we should not aim to be 8 billion individuals. That being said, the work must be done. I'm a firm believer in "things only get done when somebody takes charge of it" and do believe in the power of elbow grease. You'll find I talk a lot about "happy mediums."
A diversity of opinions/perspectives/priorities strengthens a society in the same way as a diverse ecosystem. As long as who you are and what you do doesn't infringe on other people's rights or safety then don't hold back.
Democracy is how we decide what we stand for. Not some hand wavy call-to-nature bullshit or asking 1 guy what he thinks. All else falls short of freedom. We have lost our way in this regard. I could go on all day about this, but I won't.
I believe in border reform. It's kind of a dick move for us to show up, steal the land from the native Americans, describe ourselves as the greatest country in the world, then bar entry to nearly everybody who wants in. One of the many things I aim to be in life is a Provider and providing for people I don't know is the epitome of success on that front. Now I'm not advocating for an Open Border by any means, but the process should not be as limiting as it is.
You don't have to agree with me on any of these points for us to have a good time here. Respect will be my #1 concern as I moderate this community.
Just found this comm today. I call myself a socialist, but I like political discourse and figuring out why people believe the things they do. I have so much respect for people that take the time to think about why they believe the things they do and it's apparent to me that you do precisely that.
It's easy for me to agree with every point you've made in your post. Relying on your fellow man, justice, diversity, providence, balance, democracy, and border reform I completely agree with. I read your comment about strong institutions over strong government and once again I agree. Generally, a leftist like me should disagree with everything conservatism stands for. So then that begs the question: what makes you call yourself a conservative? If I didn't know the comm I was in, I'd assume you were a fellow leftist from the opinions in your post alone.
I call myself a socialist because I don't believe private ownership is productive for society. By private ownership in this context, I don't mean a man owning his house, I mean a multinational corporation buying up entire neighborhoods. I also think workplace decisions should be made in a democratic fashion. Employees should choose the person to lead them instead of having a boss in place by management that can lord over their employees like a king. Those opinions would make me a socialist.
I guess what I'm asking is what specific opinions do you have that would overall make you lean toward a conservative platform as opposed to a leftist platform? I know it's not necessarily a binary decision, but you know what I mean.
You know, I’ve thought a lot about what it would mean to call myself a Democrat or a leftist or a socialist, and I just don’t think it fits. There are a few opinions I’d have to change to get there.
At the heart of it, I believe change should come from the bottom up, not from the top down. I don’t think the government should be out front trying to steer us. I think it should follow the people’s lead, doing the things we’ve already come together and decided we want. In my perfect world, my own personal Star Trek future, people would organize themselves outside of government into groups that actually know what they’re doing. Groups with real values, real knowledge, that could help shape things in a smart, honest way. I know corruption’s always a risk, but I still believe self-regulation is possible if people are serious about it and don't become complacent.
I have no problems admitting there's overlap here with socialism and the left. Things like giving people more say at work, keeping big corporations from gobbling up everything, and making sure everyone’s treated equally seem important in more than one ideology. But the part I can’t get behind is putting too much power in the hands of the state. I don’t think government should sit at the very top of society calling all the shots. I don’t think there should even be a single “top” like that. I believe in small government, but not in that hardcore libertarian way where the only thing left is the military. I just want power spread out in communities, in families, in workplaces and not all crammed into Washington.
So I think of myself as being on the conservative side. I just think the best change comes slow, local, and from the ground up.