Regarding the ultra-rich bit (and sorry about the length, it ended up longer than I thought it would be):

The mere existence of someone that rich is a problem for you and everyone else. I'd suggest you reconsider your admiration.

Take Elon musk. He's currently making roughly $150,000,000 a day just from his assets without lifting a finger.

Now as you allude to, there is no way in hell he can spend that money on living expenses. He's probably not even spending 1% of that income on living a lavish life.

Now what does he do with the other 99%? If it just sits as cash, it will lose value, so he buys a diverse set of assets. You probably initially think of stocks & shares, but that's only a part of it, he will predominantly buy safe assets like property, land, infrastructure & bonds.

You're maybe thinking "so what? Rich people own a lot of stuff"

Well there's kinda only so much stuff to actually buy at that scale. There are not an unlimited number of things you can buy, so naturally, there's often many people who want a given asset. When that happens the prices go up, because supply is lower than demand.

Now day on day, this means Elon gets to outcompete everyone else for any asset he wants, at a rate greater than anyone else on the planet.

The end result of that is him and people like him will keep pushing the prices of everything up until it's entirely unattainable for anyone apart from him and a handful of others to own anything. Imagine the levels of inequality we see in places like Brazil, pushed to an extreme, globally. We're seeing the beginnings of it today with the accelerating decrease in home ownership

But someone may own a house today and think, well he'll never own my house. If the price of food (because if farms are expensive, food is expensive) gets to the point where a normal job doesn't provide enough income to keep you alive, governments have been asset stripped to the bone and forced to end welfare programs, people aren't going to have a choice but to start selling off the last asset they'll ever own via equity release mortgages and similar. Once that property leaves the working and middle class ownership, it's never going to return.

The only way that doesn't happen is if he somehow has most of his wealth removed from his ownership and distributed evenly, something he will never choose to do himself.

Now, for the bonus round, if this is the inevitable conclusion of these people existing unless they decide to lose the vast majority of their wealth and have it evenly distributed across the world. What do you think we should do?

Would you support a high tax on wealth above say $1bn (a number no person can reasonably get to without exploiting a vast number of other people) or something like that, if that was the only way you and your family get to continue to own anything, ever, for the rest of time?

Because I'm afraid we may already be at the point where that's the only effective option other than civil wars across the world, and even a "well armed militia" is going to have a hard time resisting an endless supply of autonomous military drones.

TBH, I'm a tad surprised to see you be so open about this. Your way of thinking is vastly unpopular and our current president, who is the figurehead of that ideology, is less popular than Jimmy Carter, and his candidates are losing elections in districts he won by double digits in 2024, but that's what will happen when you monetize the presidency, seize billions, and make a cost of living crisis infinitely worse through your own personal political decisions.

Given what you've described about yourself, you should be very happy. Your side has established, essentially, the permanence of the issues important to you.

The socialists are coming because the vast majority are not finding happiness in the political reality you've described. The vast majority of Americans are working multiple jobs, 100+ hours a week, and cannot afford a basic standard of living. Homelessness has skyrocketed in recent years. And even better, the few socialists who have been elected are actively making the lives of their constituents better, like Zohran Mamdani. He's proven we can have government services that do good work, like when he hired people en masse to shovel city sidewalks after NYC's historic snow storms this year instead of overpaying a government contractor to do it badly.

Capitalism has evidently failed. The ultra-rich took our money and kept it, withholding the promised investment of trickle-down economics. The DOW has rocketed beyond 50,000 and it doesn't matter in any meaningful way to the poor and working class. The AI industry has promised us all unemployment within the next 5-10 years and nearly everyone elected in 2024 supports that despite the cataclysm that mass unemployment will bring along with it.

You say 'I want to have my place'. None of the values you described will change in any meaningful way simply because we elect a few socialist politicians who do a better job at providing the poor value for their labor and their taxes.

So, what you need to do, is resist the urge to pretend otherwise, and maybe stop consuming network news so much, because there is no Stalin and Mao on the horizon here, and the ultra-rich you admire have made it impossible for us to elect anyone other than capitalists to the presidency.

I'd also suggest reading more history books. For instance, Communist Russia beat the US into space, for one example. It's not as if great things aren't possible under other political ideologies and you seem to think that is the case.

-I admire the ultra-rich; I’d like nothing more than to have a mansion & a supercar & a private jet & more money than I could spend in a thousand lifetimes.

-I hate taxes with every fiber of my being, and consider the IRS an instrument of government oppression.

The simple fact is that we have the ability and resources to take care of everyone, but we can't have it because the greedy ultra-rich fucks destroying democracy and the environment have people like you bamboozled into thinking you have more in common with them than with the left. The left would give you the things you admit are good and the ultra-rich would throw you in a wood chipper if it would make them a dime.

I just want to have a place in the America to come, but not at the cost of those things I hold dear to me.

This is becoming impossible for many people, myself included. Regardless of which side of the system ends up occupying the seats after this, the corporations that run the country will never allow it to go back to where they had to slow profits to hide corruption. Now that they know they can keep it out in the open and massively increase profit generation, you will never see that bell unrung.

My wife and I are stuck here until her dad passes and we no longer need to care for him. Once that occurs, we'll be almost definitely leaving the US for good. Regardless of who wins an election, I will never be unaware of how terrible the majority of the US population is.

You hate the IRS and taxes, yet you and all the other kids on the bases were raised on money collected by the IRS from me and people like me all over the US. I don't love that some of my money went to wars I didn't believe in, but I'm glad some of it went to help people in their greatest need, which is the real reason for government.

You yearn to join the billionaire class, but they only want to exploit normal people like you. They've gouged more money out of you than the IRS, btw. They're corrupting our government as badly as those who exploited socialism and communism for their own ends, and the only reason they haven't killed as many yet is that they've only just begun. They'll never let you be one of them, you aren't evil enough.

You love guns, fine. Don't worry, in this country you'll never be unable to have a gun. Heck, we can't even keep them away from children, criminals, idiots, and the insane. Firearms kill more US kids than any other cause, even automobiles. But under the oppression of the present regime the people who vote left are just as eager to be armed as those on the right. So just do me a favor and lock yours where your nephew can't shoot your girlfriend.

Lots of people love AI, it's not a left/right thing. But it is lazy thinking. If there's conflicting browser results, it's because there's something you should be thinking about, and willing to take a couple minutes checking your assumptions before making your own decision. Especially because AI has been trained on the input of the stupidest person you know just as much as the smartest. Maybe more. So, grain of salt.

Continue to question, and try to "look for the helpers," as Mr Rogers said. Who are they and what are they doing? And in what ways are you able to help those who need help, while still feeling like yourself? Start with that.

There's a lot in here that could be addressed. I have limited time, so I'm going to leave most of it for another person or time.

I am going to address one point though:

-I hate taxes with every fiber of my being, and consider the IRS an instrument of government oppression.

Do you enjoy having communal services/assets, like well maintained roads/bridges/tunnels, regular garbage collection, street lighting, emergency services (911), healthcare (in non-american countries), etc?

Maintaining what we have, expanding infrastructure to create more usable space and improve living standards, upgrading/replacing aging or even failing infrastructure, supporting all those involved (from the govt representatives that make the decisons all the way to the actual workers carrying out the tasks).

If not for taxes, how would any of this get done and paid for? The funds have to come from somewhere.

I would agree we should have a greater degree of transparency; giving us all a better understanding or even control over where exactly our tax dollars get spent. Of course none of us want that money being funneled off into private pockets instead of paying for the things we all collectively need; however taxes are a necessary part of society as we know it. They support the things we all need and use, without making any one individual responsible for or giving them excessive influence over those collective needs.

I wouldn't want some billionaire paying for public services, then turning around and saying 'I'm the one that paid for it, it now needs to be run exactly as I say it should be'. We should all have a say, and distributing the cost across all of us makes us all jointly entitled to that. (Even if that entitlement isn't always respected)

We don't always agree on where/how taxes should be spent; often they're spent on things the broader collective doesn't actually want. That itself is definitely an issue, but it's an issue with our representatives and their motives. It's not taxes themselves that are the problem, but the current structure of how they get utilised.

There should also be a significant effort to correctly tax individuals appropriately based on actual income. I don't think anyone of us would agree that the ultra wealthy should be afforded loopholes to avoid paying proportional taxes like the rest of us. That in itself is outrageous; though again, it's not the taxes that are the problem, but flaws in how they are implemented/collected.

I appreciate that you are flexible enough to change. Some of us get stuck in autopilot.

So…what do I have to do?

You’re doing it. Think. Read. Ask questions. Decide for YOURSELF what you think is right.

I wish you the best!

Lefties like me love guns.

Was a republican until 2016 when i realized what a grifter trunp was and that the republicans have no ability or intention to actually govern.

Come on in. The water’s fine. We can and should do better for our country. But we cant with the rapepublicans in power. Simple as that.

First: hats off to you for being this open and self reflective with yourself. That is the first step and you are already doing the most important part: thinking

As the other comments already addressed a lot of good points, I want to highlight one thing:

In these polarized times, I’ve tried to be a centrist; to take aspects of both sides and combine them into something that represents me. However, I fear that, with the right & the left in America having become so incompatible with one another, that may not be possible anymore.

Looking at the available political options and choosing what fits to you is exactly the right idea of what to do, but don't make "being between the two" your ideal in itself! Only crazy people and liars are agreeing with political parties in every aspect. Saying your always between them is nothing different.

Look at what is offered by the political actors, choose what is important to you and then choose who to support at this moment.

You still seem to be a bit in the mindset of political parties as sport teams to support instead of considering it as a group of political actors that convey certain ideas and you choose what is important to you.

If you currently think party A is doing crazy stuff, then no sense in supporting them. That doesnt mean you need to like everything that party B doesor make supporting them your personality. At that point of time, their political message resonated strongest with you.
As you in the USA sadly have a less than optimal First Past The Post voting system, you have 2 options. In a good world, you would choose what is better for you, in your current situation you need to choose what is less worse. And that's OK (kinda), as harm reduction is not optimal but ignoring the bigger harm is even worse.

And I still need to add: growing up on tax payer money (military) and hating taxes is peak USA.

Honestly I don't think the country can move forward with the republican party. They have lost all connection to conservatism. Pretti was murdered and it was mentioned he had a gun. Legally with an owners card that he did not lay a hand on it. It instead being removed from him by the federal government without cause. I mean common. I think anyone who is legitametly conservative has to look at this and also take a hard look at what happened since reagan and even going back to nixon. Need to look at Eisenhower and before and remember roosevelt. It needs to find its progressive spirit. I really don't think it can do it with the current name honestly. Its just really mucked up that brand.

I can't really say a lot about most of your stances vut, I got good news regarding:

I see what the political left promises & advocates for—no-cost healthcare & education, equality between ethnicities & genders & sexualities, the preservation of the natural world—and I genuinely believe in the good of these things [...] I remember history; I remember what China and Russia and other countries that adopted socialism & communism were like: Stalin, Mao, Ceausescu, Castro, Maduro, and so many others who adopted these policies are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions between them

This to me reads like a leap in judgment. They happen to us all especially when topics are emotional, which politics are at the moment. Yet implimenting a better healthcare system, equality etc. Does not mean that a country will become a left dictatorship.

I live in Germany and we've had these things figured out (kinda) for a long time. Yet the CDU, a right conservative party remained quite strong throughout the years. So much so that their Chancellor Angela Merkel remained in office 16 years i a row. And she is by far nit the only Chancellor that won many consecutive votes for the CDU since WW2 and the end of the third reich.

Now our current administration corrodes these programs and perpatuates prejudices like "Those on governement assistance are lazy amd we can't pay their rent!", "People need to work more!" Etc. And it is truly maddening to see these programs whittled away in a moment in time where people worry about their finances, their future etc. The administration states it's to reduce spending, to secure the wealth and quality of life in Germany. Yet it feels like the opposite. Worse healthcare, education and support services will result in more people relying on these services. More people being estranged and unhappy by politics. More people electing the fascist AfD. Which will continually worsen the quality of life again, fueling voter frustration and blaming scapegoats. Immigrants, commies, LGBTQ people, vegans or whatever.

Yet the fascist party could have been stoppen in it's tracks if the administration just did their goddam job, and ensured people feel safer, more secure. Knew they'd get a job. Maybe even one that pays well. That if they struggled the state would provide a basic income temporarily to allow them to get back on their feet.

This was a little tangential but I felt like a worthwhile argumentation. But If tldr; tyere are always greys. Adopting some left leaning policies does not mean your country will become a left dictatorship like the Udssr under Stalin, China etc. From the outside communism in the US seems to be met with a lot of disproportionate anger and suspicion, which makes sense, given the cold war. But it may also be utilized by bad faith politicians to dismiss the wish for better education, better healthcare and equality by implying these policies were harmful, because they are left leaning.

I think you're really close to internalizing the problem, but you're not quiet there yet (imho).

Today, every political problem is presented to you as a boolean, two options, left and right. That is how they manufacture consent. Don't let you acknowledge the grey in the argument, one policy choice or the other. Zero sum. No room for policy discussion. Pick a team and root for their success, not discourse on how to deliver what everyone wants.

It's presented to you like you have to choose between playing with your pews pews and lower taxes, or treating queers with respect and having free health care. And it's not right and you shouldn't put up with it.

So don't. Don't pick short hand. Don't get married to a party. Celebrate that from time to time youre going to have to realign who you're voting for to match whatever is the most important policy to you at the time.

In the same way you aren't your kahkis or your job, you aren't your party, and thats good.

You still hold many misinformed opinions, but it sounds like you're making progress. Keep at it!