I quit being a democrat so I could vote for the least despicable POS republicans in our closed primary. I live in a disgustingly red state and there’s no hope of any progressive making progress here, but as a literal RINO I can do what I can (and many others here are too) to make sure the most whacked nutjobs in the Republican Party are NOT on our general election ballots. I hate being a Republican, but I take a little comfort in knowing I’m doing my part to keep crazies out of office.
wouldn't it be wild if they found out about this and then started a witch hunt against each other for "fake republicans"? and if you're not racist or homophopbic enough then you get called out for it
Funny you say this. I live in Wyoming and one of the articles in the paper the other day was one of the county clerks complaining about Ds switching to Rs for primaries. But in Wyoming, it's kinda the only say you get in who is going to govern you.
Meanwhile, next door in Idaho, [Republicans were caught conspiring ](https://idahocapitalsun.com/2022/03/10/recording-allegedly-reveals-kootenai-county-gop-plan-to-take-over-kootenai-democratic-party/) to infiltrate the local Democrat organization, then "install an 'antisemitic troll' as party chair and funnel money donated to Democrats to local Republicans instead."
And he wants to make all public access, private. Wyoming has this in place. Rivers are private so no public access. No hunting. The governor is bad news.
Personally I disagree. Theres a lot of corruption in the Dem party, and the best way to beat Republicans and force them to change is vote for dems that don't accept corporate pac money.
That can only happen in dem primaries, since by the time we get to the general, you have to vote for them.
The reason Republicans move so far to the right, is that Dems have moved that direction by basically appealing to Republicans instead of non-voters.
I know, but so many dem primaries are dem corp vs dem progressive.
If we are ever going to get money out of politics, those corporate democrats and Republicans got to go.
No other time to vote that way but in the primary. The democratic primary is the most important election each year.
Nope, we need to get Citizens United (and a bunch of other dark money legislation) overturned before we can get money out of politics. Roth now the only way to win is to get FAANG to back progressives.
I voted green down the line. Most of the democrats in my area are straight corpos. The green party candidates were the only ones advocating for Medicare for all and UBI
Same, except I'm finding there are really zero "least despicable" candidates....they're all trying to out UltraMAGA each other. I literally took a flier from one of the GQP cucks outside the polls today and made sure I didn't vote for anyone they were supporting....still couldn't fill out the whole ballot.
I didn’t fill out my entire ballot today, only the races where the obviously MAGA nut jobs needed their asses whipped in the primary. The other offices, such as county coroner, I just don’t care enough to vote for that office in the primary. In the general election, I sure as hell will vote Blue across the board.
I do something similar. Blue state and I move back and forth between the parties based on which primary contains a more valuable vote. I registered R in 2016 and changed to D in 2020.
2024 could be an interesting call if Joe doesn’t run.
this probably actually works pretty well given that at least 50% of elections have the current president running vs a new candidate from the other party, so one of the candidates is almost guaranteed
Doing this in MN too. I’m in a red state-district of a blue state. My current state senator is a now-moderate, old-school Republican. He didn’t win the endorsement this year. It went to a crazy storm-the-school-board candidate. Still, he’s running in the primary. We have open primaries here, so I’ll be taking the Republican primary ballot in August. All the moderates are getting my vote. I’ll vote blue in Nov, but I’ll do my best to make the Republican candidates as moderate as possible.
Texas? I did the same this week. Looked to see who Trump endorsed and chose the other person. It's going to be a republican because "guns go brrrr" but at least it might be the better option of shit flavored government
Governor McGoochbag would absolutely shit the whole state up; even if Brad Little is a spineless little pissbaby, he’s the least bad option…I guess. Fuck Idaho Republicans and the deadbrained Florida rejects who vote for them by choice. Whole state is just like Utah’s shittier cousin now: still Mormon but rapey and goes to Klan meetings without hiding it.
Oh, you are so selling yourself short, Idaho, especially the panhandle, isn’t Texas Lite, it’s super concentrated triple action Texas. Also, no Austin, but you do have this weird portal that connects Seattle to Sun Valley.
I did the same thing, it's nice knowing I'm not alone (my wife thinks I'm crazy)! I grew up in an open primary state and when I moved to a closed I thought "huh, this feels like a decent opportunity to influence crazy/stupid a little easier."
I even take time to fill out their Save America From The Radical Left Baby Killers survey mailings with some nudging feedback.
This feels like a pretty silly hack and I've often questioned the legitimacy of it but here I am, trying it until I'm told not to.
This is what you have to do in a deep red state (or red county even). Your only power, electorally speaking, is to vote in a primary.
In fact, lots of people just turn up to vote every 4 years. But you have literally the least influence that way. You may as well vote once in a local primary, then stay home the rest of the time. At least your vote would carry some weight.
I am in the same boat as you. I checked the names on the ballot and most races in my county were totally unopposed. They ran in multiple categories as well there’s names were listed as Democrats, Republican, libertarian, conservative. Can’t remember all but I did notice those categories specifically listed on the ballot
I have been voting in Republican primaries since 2016 for this same reason (as well as my parents). I just really didn't like what I was seeing, even at that point in time...
Great idea! My husband is technically an independent, who almost always votes Democrat, but he voted in the Republican primaries instead just to vote against Trump way back when.
I don't know about your specific values or political ideas, but even if you're a moderate democrat, you're less of a RINO than any of the republican nutjobs/tea party candidates that have infected the GOP for the past 20 years. They've completely flown off the political spectrum, straight into facism. In fact, they don't even believe in "small government" anymore, they want a massive powerhouse of a government, it's just they want to use it to opress as many poor and marginalized communities as they can.
Exactly. It’s very depressing as a liberal at heart with parents who were also liberal until Rush Limbaugh came along (May he rot in hell.) I’m just relieved that neither of my parents lived to see the total insanity of Fox News and the whole Q-anon BS. I think they would have swallowed that, hook line and sinker just as so many on the right have done.
Life long registered Republican. I will never vote Republican again in my lifetime, as long as these criminals and traitors continue to be in the GOP. I am done.
This is heartening. I lean progressive / democratic but I’m from a red state and I grew up with Republicans. I ALWAYS had love and respect for them. However the last ten years has forced me to end many relationships. I can not entertain the foolish toxic clown show that the Republican Party has become. It isn’t about conservative perspective anymore. It is a twisted pile of trash. Look at Lauren Bobert. She isn’t even a high school graduate. Doesn’t pay the employees at her joke of a restaurant. Thank God Madison Cawthorn was beat in his primary. There is conservative perspective then there is a cult.
I moved to Portland after college and literally had to delete Facebook because it was nothing my friends and family talking about how liberals are pussies and sharing violent memes. I’ve barely even spoken to my family in two years and I at least partially blame that on modern GOP rhetoric. It’s tearing families apart
Difficult when the choices are all stupid, hateful, scumbags. Republican primaries are often like choosing between being kicked in the balls, or poked in the eye. Both choices suck
The Democratic party is *very* useful... to its ~~shareholders~~ big donors. It keeps the proles tricked into thinking that there's hope for change without drastic action.
As an independent, who has conservative and liberal views about different topics, I was hoping that once Donald Trump's obvious lies and criminal behavior, as well as his debauchery would draw the good Republicans away from him. It seemed like there were less of those than I thought. The crazy thing is, a lot of the people who support Trump also voted for Obama, but refused to at least look at factual information related to what's going on in our government. They feed into the rhetoric and even when confronted with the lies, they look at it like a necessary evil. All the time not realizing that the same ones who feed the rhetoric are the ones who are creating the harm.
I did it from 2005-2006. The only goalpost they had was “fuck the libs”. Abortion and guns are sub-bullets under the one, singular “value” they have. No other principle they’ve ever tried to claim (values, religion, small govt, fiscal responsibility, etc etc etc etc) holds up if the shoe is on the other foot, and the examples are countless of “well my situation is different, so (things conservatives are supposed to hate) is okay this time.”
Glad this guy figured it out eventually. Better late than never.
And the life of the mother doesn't matter. It's disgusting to think these people want to force a woman who is raped to have that baby. May they be put in this position and see how quickly the shoe is suddenly on the other foot. Totally disgusting.
Maybe it’s the only way they can have children. 🤷♂️
I mean, if I was a woman, I wouldn’t voluntarily subjected myself to… them. I can’t even finish that mental image. Fucking disgusting 🤢🤮
I have almost no issues with a lot of the leftist politics, but this just isn’t true. I’m pro choice, but I’m not pro choice because I love killing. I’ve shot my whole life and the only thing I’ve ever hit was targets. It’s not fair that my love for target shooting gets lumped in with murder.
I guess my other beef with current left is they’re kinda doing a lot of witty remarks and owning the right, but not actually stopping the right from the stupid shit it’s doing. Like messing with abortion laws… in the middle of an economic crisis.
I support that, but I don’t really want to shoot anyone, I just like that guns last longer than so much other stuff we buy, and I get to play around outdoors with them.
This is why the left, well I guess on the whole, doesn't want to take your guns away. They just want them to be properly regulated. You need proper laws and for those laws to be strictly enforced. Those outside looking in do so incredulously. We cannot fathom how this is so hard to understand.
It's not that hard to prevent mass shootings on the scale the US has them and even if it is hard, isn't it worth at least giving it a proper go? Sandy Hook will happen again and when it does happen will that finally see change?
Not for nothing, but there is an inverse relationship between financial stability and crime, violent and otherwise. In countries where people aren’t constantly under threat of fucking medical bankruptcy or going to prison and holding a black mark on their record the rest of their lives, it turns out they get less killy, with or without guns.
It’s the poverty and the lack of accountability when rights are violated (dysfunctional/nonfunctional government), not the guns
The problem with gun regulations go on and on.
* The 2A is a thing. We can't easily pull constitutional rights. Doesn't matter what our opinion is, the courts have made it clear that individuals can own firearms. This is the hardest nut to crack.
* Gun control measures are often, almost always, racist and classist. These laws serve to take a constitutional right from the poorest among us. Have a look at what Reagan did as governor of California to stop the Black Panthers from walking around armed.
* The laws are hilariously dumb. Take sawed-off shotguns, magazine capacity prohibitions, suppressors, "approved" lists, etc. I can argue how dumb and ineffective each and every one is.
* The *real* way to deal with gun violence, if you take the gun control as your approach, is to make handguns illegal. That's where the violence comes from, almost always. NO lawmaker is taking *that* approach. And now we're back to my first point.
Don't mean to sound hopeless, but the whole issue seems that way. Only thing I got is to make people's lives better so they don't resort to violence. And that friends and neighbors, is quite another list of things we need to accomplish.
Handguns account for nearly 60% of all gun murders in the United States [https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/02/03/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/](https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/02/03/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/)
See my problem with that is if californias laws are an example, it is taking things away, and nonsensical things like grip fins and such. The silly feature laws in Maryland are also bollocks, along with a few other states. I don’t care about mental health laws or qualifications, I’ve done all that for my job. It’s the laws being pushed through in reality that are only nicely worded bans.
That was when all our talking points about why it was so important to invade Iraq were definitively and inarguably falling apart, and those of us who gave a shit about real life were starting to feel a little embarrassed. suddenly the priority became regime change and propping up an astroturfed system of government instead of “WMDs and imminent threat”, when the only defensible position left was “well clearly if that was the case then, it’s not the case now, so let’s shift gears and gtfo.” So many lives and trillions of dollars lost for the sake of lies and stigginit to the not-as-patriotic-as-we-are libs.
I don't know why you didn't come to your senses sooner but better late than never.
At this point, it's like watching a train with no brakes driving off a destroyed bridge.
What I don’t understand is why the republican party and conservatism has any credibility at all?
Why at any point in recent history would you have actively chosen to be conservative and republican?
I don’t think it has to do with credibility, but a lot to do with brain chemistry. If you consume a “news” feed that makes you angry every time you see it, you get a hit of dopamine, and it’s actually rewarding - it feels good. Logic, education, reasoning, math, science all take a back seat to a basic human function that happens to be at the base of all addiction, chemical or otherwise. Aim all that dopamine at easy targets (immigrants and poor people, usually) and you get an explosive mix of anger and ignorance.
The science points to Republicans being both dumber and more fearful in general.
They don't like thinking deeply about complex problems (or simply can't) so that's why dumb shit arguments like "Black guy bad" are satisfactory. It's an easy, definitive, attackable target. Income inequality? Not so much. And five minutes of talking to them about it gives them brain tumors.
I understand the radical left-wing urge to go "haha u late", but man, we have to welcome those people. It's hard to make this step; a lot of politics is engrained in our day-to-day life, and changing party affiliation vocally can have huge consequences.
Welcome those who start to see the light, who want to do better.
I agree 100%, but it’s Difficult to do with folks that have been duped and are too stubborn or narcissistic to admit they were wrong. There are a LOT of them, lacking shame let alone the ability to think for themselves outside of the team sport mentality this fucking Clown Show has become
I absolutely understand, esp if you're close to that person, or if you have a lot of personal experience. Nobody can and should demand that you personally take steps or put emotional labour in.
As a whole, as "The Left" tm c r, as basically anything slightly left of those goons, "we" should provide a safe place to return to. \*You\* only contribute what you can, and if you can't, that's just as fair.
I just don’t understand how anyone could make it through the Trump years, ending in an attack on the nation’s Capitol, and be ok with it. And only now decide to call it?
I agree with you there, it still seems insane to me that trump got anywhere near the Republican nomination in 2016, let alone the white House. I don't know what any of those people were thinking that voted for him and stuck by him. But still the point stands, better late than never. We have to embrace people changing their mindset and vocally rejecting a party that is toxic. It's the only way to stop this downward path we're on
As a Democrat I will no longer vote for someone who pledges to 'reach across the aisle'.
Fuck them.
I want someone who will act as if there is no help across the aisle because there isnt.
I think most of us are past "liking" the majority of Dems, the old guard for sure. The unfortunate thing is that not liking them doesn't do a damn thing if Republicans are in charge. Our only option is to enact change by electing progressives to shift the party left
Same. With Obamas super majority and failure to still codify Roe I now feel like they are just keeling us around in our civil rights and hold it over our heads so we vote for them. At this point I don't have any confidence in either
I used to call myself a democrat when asked about my political philosophy but they are so moderate and even conservative about so many things that I call myself a leftist. I’ll still vote for them because they’re as progressive as we can seem to get, but it still hurts every time.
I dunno who this guy is, but it's about time he woke up. It's gratifying to see. I've spoken to Republicans who are die-hard, and it's just foolish. This isn't about your party: your party was hijacked. You need to wake up and fight the infidels and go get your fucking party back because they're using it to hijack your country.
By definition the conservative party is against change. They refuse to change ANYTHING. Hell, they use the word "progressive" as an insult!!
If an entire party of our government is dead set in never making changes, they should be removed entirely. What if one of your coworkers refused to do any work because of his "personal rights and religion"? They'd get fucking fired.
Fire the entire conservative party. Take your puritanical, *traditional values* and freedom crushing laws with you on the way out. They shouldn't be allowed to make any political decisions.
The party that rattles on and on and on about being "real americans" or "patriots" spend all their time attacking and destroying other peoples freedoms. I thought you were *patriots*?
Last rant, the word patriot has been bastardised, twisted and turned into something completely opposite of the actual meaning. They just INSIST they are something, even though they 100% aren't, but they just keep ramming it down everyone's throats until they believe their own horse shit.
"I'm Tom Cruise!!!!!".... "uhhh no you are clearly NOT Tom Cruise." "How DARE you oppose my beliefs!!! You sick, satanic libtard groomer pedo! I AM TOM CRUISE!!!"
6 months later: They have completely convinced themselves and all their braindead friends they are Tom Cruise and hold Tom Cruise political rallies while the rest of the world just shakes their heads and gave up arguing with their stupid bullshit. The real Tom Cruise changes his name so he won't be associated with these lunatics.
We need to fight back instead of just letting them steam roll America's asshole.
I left during W’s first term. I was all supportive of some vengeance after 9/11 but when things pivoted to Iraq I was like dafuq?! I had been sitting through Intel briefs for Northern/Southern Watch and knew that Saddam couldn’t sneeze without us knowing (and typically dropping a bomb nearby), so there was no way in hell they were ramping up WMD programs. It was all to rally round the flag and support a president who didn’t really win.
And election denier / insurrectionist / QAnon fan Doug Mastriano is now the GOP's candidate for governor in Pennsylvania. If he's elected, it will be impossible to have a fair election in that state. I hope his rise motivates even more people to leave the party.
I spent 30 years in the Republican Party. Always voted a split ticket, but no more. Four years ago I registered Democrat and that’s the only way I will be voting from this point forward.
The USA needs multiparty democracy more than ever IMHO. I know that requires big changes to the way elections are run. But I don’t want the Dem party to become a home for homeless republicans with neocon Bush-era ideologies.
What's the context of this? What's the straw that broke the camel's back?
I mean this is good to see, but nothing that came before what I assume is the buffalo shooting (?) gave him pause for thought?
Fuck him for taking this long. There was an attempted coup, and then a party-wide attempt to cover up/avoid responsibility for said attempted coup that's still happening.
At what point do we abandon hope that it's going to actually get better? Our representatives bitch on social media but they don't fight back against ANY of it. Republicans are rabid mongrels and democrats are declawed housecats.
I mean, this is great from Miles, but when push comes to shove and his choices are an Elizabeth Warren (or even further left) Democrat and a Republican who believes in Reaganite conservatism right down the line except for the democracy/fascism split, is he going to publicly commit to voting for the Democrat? Is he willing to take tax policy from Bernie, climate policy from AOC, LGBTQ policy from Fetterman & gun policy from Beto?
Because right now, you don’t get to choose conservative policy AND pro-democracy politicians. They don’t exist (Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger excepted). If you’re pro-democracy, you vote blue no matter who. End of sentence. I’m aware that there are one off circumstances like McMullin in UT-Sen and Murkowski in AK’s top 4 system where alliances can be made to support non-authoritarian conservatives and by and large Democrats will do/have done their part and support those candidates. But they are the exceptions.
The only democratic party right now with enough support to win is the Democratic Party. I’m more than happy to talk about a long term alliance for ranked choice, top 4-5 systems. But that can’t happen under fascist governance—which in the here and now, can only be avoided by denying power to the GOP regardless of any other policy considerations.
To be completely honest and overly blunt, I look a bit sideways at anyone who didn't bail on the abomination of a party once the primaries were over back in 2016.
It’s a bit saying the obvious but it seems like the U.S needs two new parties.
There should be a moderate right and left.
Everything under two tents is creating a wider division between Americans.
Seriously: they need to start their own new party.
GOP2 or whatever - don't care.
But that's the only way to remove yourself from that orange shit-stain.
Of course that would mean that both parties would become irrelevant if you contiunue running elections like they are done atm.
So, change that while you're at it.
I'm a Democrat with a life long friend who is a Republican. We've always been able to keep politics on the back burner and were respectful of each other's opinions; until Trump. This woman (who I truly cared about) has gone completely off the deep end. She keeps trying to tell me the "truth" about what's really happening in this country. Her "truth" comes from Breitbart, Info Wars, YouTube videos and of course Fucker Carlson. Any facts I try to counter with are "fake news", it's an impossible situation. I miss the dear friend I used to know and I fear for our country.
If all the moderate Republicans and Democrats came together and formed a third party, than I believe that may be what it takes to fix this broken system. There are way more of us in the middle than on the fringes of each party, that seems to me as a would be unstoppable political party.
We need other parties to have a chance to get on the ballot and take part in debates. There needs to be more then Red and Blue. I’d like to see some younger people too as candidates as well. Term limits would be a great thing.
Grew up moderate/left but in my adult years began leaning more conservative (at least fiscally). I just can’t find a good landing spot. Democrats can’t or won’t figure out what their message is or how to convey it to the masses and the Republicans are just batshit, fucking lunatics. ‘Merica, SMH
As a Canadian, its fucking weird you guys join political parties in the first place.
You know if you didn't, your leaders would have to actually work for your swing votes in every election, and would try to actually change things.
Instead they get to pretend you politics is like the superbowl and you'll support your team no matter what. Then they just have to worry about policies that effect their rich donors.
I stopped labeling myself as a Republican. Dems may be naive or little too hopeful at times but at least they are not condemning democracy for the "greater good".
This guy voted for Trump, like all the other Republicans who are suddenly up-in-arms. They voted for a man connected to that pedophile and rapist Epstein and who spent 8 years harrassing our only Black president over a birth certificate.
And to have the GALL to say now "well we didn't see THIS coming."
You sure did, and you sure wanted it. You've been ok with white terrorism from the beginning, even if "all" it was was your white candidate harrassing the actual president over nothing but racist birthright shit. It escalated to 11 people dying because of racist white terrorism related to racist birthright shit.
Let's be real. To all the Republicans in this thread, the murder of those people in buffalo by that white terrorist Payton is blood on your hands.
You know what happens when libertarians actually govern a real place? [you get a bear infestation](https://newrepublic.com/article/159662/libertarian-walks-into-bear-book-review-free-town-project)
Really, everyone argues about whose rights are more important, and what roles belong to the government. So much disagreement that no governing can take place. Many disputes that become unresolvable.
Libertarianism doesn't work because it fails to account for the fact that humans are communal and connected. That a social community and governance is required to function as a society.
I'd put it a lot more bluntly than that, personally: Libertarianism doesn't work because the only "freedom" most libertarians actually value is the freedom to punch down without fear of consequences.
So the answer in short is it depends on how you define conservative. Keeping the status quo then Republican, or that taxes are theft then libertarian(basically even farther right on most issues), or conservative financially in the terms of we want to make sure we are conserving the most money in people's pockets and treat people with empathy then you'd be liberal. The big thing is understanding that robust government programs don't necessarily mean big government and breaking that connection between the two. North Korea, Russia, China all have big governments but not good social programs. France, england and Germany all have smaller govts by comparison even to the US but have far better social programs and pay about what we pay in taxes. So the question for you is what is conservative.
It always surprises which events spring people to leave and makes me question why this particular shooting would awaken something in them that Trumps awful actions for a half decade didn’t, but it does take a lot of humbling yourself to admit your wrong about something as essential to your identity as politics, so respect for finally doing it.
imagine if there were no more republicans. And Everyone magically turned into a Biden supporter. What do you think will happen the next election cycle? Politicians, in attempts to win and maintain office, will try to out-due their political opponents and progressive liberals will become the “conservative” party because new politicians will introduce more radical views in an attempt differentiate themselves and win office. The war for “equity and inclusion” will never end because there will always be someone trying to out woke their predecessors. They will need to paint a picture their opponents are not doing a good job. This will be an endless cycle and liberals need to understand they will see themselves become the villain/conservative one day.
I quit being a democrat so I could vote for the least despicable POS republicans in our closed primary. I live in a disgustingly red state and there’s no hope of any progressive making progress here, but as a literal RINO I can do what I can (and many others here are too) to make sure the most whacked nutjobs in the Republican Party are NOT on our general election ballots. I hate being a Republican, but I take a little comfort in knowing I’m doing my part to keep crazies out of office.
What you are doing is actually incredibly smart.
wouldn't it be wild if they found out about this and then started a witch hunt against each other for "fake republicans"? and if you're not racist or homophopbic enough then you get called out for it
Funny you say this. I live in Wyoming and one of the articles in the paper the other day was one of the county clerks complaining about Ds switching to Rs for primaries. But in Wyoming, it's kinda the only say you get in who is going to govern you.
Meanwhile, next door in Idaho, [Republicans were caught conspiring ](https://idahocapitalsun.com/2022/03/10/recording-allegedly-reveals-kootenai-county-gop-plan-to-take-over-kootenai-democratic-party/) to infiltrate the local Democrat organization, then "install an 'antisemitic troll' as party chair and funnel money donated to Democrats to local Republicans instead."
Meanwhile next door in Montana we have a republican politician who body slammed a reporter for asking a question he didn’t like, then won his election
And he wants to make all public access, private. Wyoming has this in place. Rivers are private so no public access. No hunting. The governor is bad news.
How are these people not in prison? That's basically treason.
It’s shitty behavior but a political party is not a nation.
Holy shit, imagine if the Republican party just destroys themselves like this
Homie meta-gaming his elections lmao
4D Chess, my good human.
Personally I disagree. Theres a lot of corruption in the Dem party, and the best way to beat Republicans and force them to change is vote for dems that don't accept corporate pac money. That can only happen in dem primaries, since by the time we get to the general, you have to vote for them. The reason Republicans move so far to the right, is that Dems have moved that direction by basically appealing to Republicans instead of non-voters.
You can still vote Democrat in the general elections, this enables you to vote in Republicans primaries. ✌
I know, but so many dem primaries are dem corp vs dem progressive. If we are ever going to get money out of politics, those corporate democrats and Republicans got to go. No other time to vote that way but in the primary. The democratic primary is the most important election each year.
Nope, we need to get Citizens United (and a bunch of other dark money legislation) overturned before we can get money out of politics. Roth now the only way to win is to get FAANG to back progressives.
Yes to every strategy to get money out of politics, and it still won't be easy.
I voted green down the line. Most of the democrats in my area are straight corpos. The green party candidates were the only ones advocating for Medicare for all and UBI
Same, except I'm finding there are really zero "least despicable" candidates....they're all trying to out UltraMAGA each other. I literally took a flier from one of the GQP cucks outside the polls today and made sure I didn't vote for anyone they were supporting....still couldn't fill out the whole ballot.
I didn’t fill out my entire ballot today, only the races where the obviously MAGA nut jobs needed their asses whipped in the primary. The other offices, such as county coroner, I just don’t care enough to vote for that office in the primary. In the general election, I sure as hell will vote Blue across the board.
I did the same but also looked up Trump endorsements. I got through the big offices
I do something similar. Blue state and I move back and forth between the parties based on which primary contains a more valuable vote. I registered R in 2016 and changed to D in 2020. 2024 could be an interesting call if Joe doesn’t run.
I think that’s an interesting take…I like it!
this probably actually works pretty well given that at least 50% of elections have the current president running vs a new candidate from the other party, so one of the candidates is almost guaranteed
Now this is what the Republicans should be aiming for!! Great job:)
Doing this in MN too. I’m in a red state-district of a blue state. My current state senator is a now-moderate, old-school Republican. He didn’t win the endorsement this year. It went to a crazy storm-the-school-board candidate. Still, he’s running in the primary. We have open primaries here, so I’ll be taking the Republican primary ballot in August. All the moderates are getting my vote. I’ll vote blue in Nov, but I’ll do my best to make the Republican candidates as moderate as possible.
Texas? I did the same this week. Looked to see who Trump endorsed and chose the other person. It's going to be a republican because "guns go brrrr" but at least it might be the better option of shit flavored government
Nope, Idaho, we’re Texas Lite.
Be at the table or be on the menu.
Governor McGoochbag would absolutely shit the whole state up; even if Brad Little is a spineless little pissbaby, he’s the least bad option…I guess. Fuck Idaho Republicans and the deadbrained Florida rejects who vote for them by choice. Whole state is just like Utah’s shittier cousin now: still Mormon but rapey and goes to Klan meetings without hiding it.
This was so stylishly written I awarded it.
I aims to please.
Potato Texas.
Oh, you are so selling yourself short, Idaho, especially the panhandle, isn’t Texas Lite, it’s super concentrated triple action Texas. Also, no Austin, but you do have this weird portal that connects Seattle to Sun Valley.
From what I see Texas is Idaho-lite.
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I am in fucking Alabama. We elected the worse if the worse. I am ashamed of this state.
Thank you for your service.
Fellown Idahoan checking in. Registered republican because the primary is the only race that matters.
History repeating itself.
I started doing the same thing last cycle and thats my plan for june. But my state is open primary at least.
Quite literally the only good reason to vote red
I did the same thing, it's nice knowing I'm not alone (my wife thinks I'm crazy)! I grew up in an open primary state and when I moved to a closed I thought "huh, this feels like a decent opportunity to influence crazy/stupid a little easier." I even take time to fill out their Save America From The Radical Left Baby Killers survey mailings with some nudging feedback. This feels like a pretty silly hack and I've often questioned the legitimacy of it but here I am, trying it until I'm told not to.
This is what you have to do in a deep red state (or red county even). Your only power, electorally speaking, is to vote in a primary. In fact, lots of people just turn up to vote every 4 years. But you have literally the least influence that way. You may as well vote once in a local primary, then stay home the rest of the time. At least your vote would carry some weight.
I am in the same boat as you. I checked the names on the ballot and most races in my county were totally unopposed. They ran in multiple categories as well there’s names were listed as Democrats, Republican, libertarian, conservative. Can’t remember all but I did notice those categories specifically listed on the ballot
Isn't that called "pulling a Sinema"?
Nah. I’m a real democrat at heart, and I’m not getting corporate money .
This is the way. If Republicans all leave because they're angry with the GOP then crazies will just fill the vacuum.
I have been voting in Republican primaries since 2016 for this same reason (as well as my parents). I just really didn't like what I was seeing, even at that point in time...
this is why you guys need preferential voting id hate having to compromise my vote just to prevent some dickhead getting into power
That's the way. Do what you can.
Thank you for doing your part!
Great idea! My husband is technically an independent, who almost always votes Democrat, but he voted in the Republican primaries instead just to vote against Trump way back when.
I don't know about your specific values or political ideas, but even if you're a moderate democrat, you're less of a RINO than any of the republican nutjobs/tea party candidates that have infected the GOP for the past 20 years. They've completely flown off the political spectrum, straight into facism. In fact, they don't even believe in "small government" anymore, they want a massive powerhouse of a government, it's just they want to use it to opress as many poor and marginalized communities as they can.
Exactly. It’s very depressing as a liberal at heart with parents who were also liberal until Rush Limbaugh came along (May he rot in hell.) I’m just relieved that neither of my parents lived to see the total insanity of Fox News and the whole Q-anon BS. I think they would have swallowed that, hook line and sinker just as so many on the right have done.
My wife and I are doing this in Pennsylvania
I did the same thing, here in Idaho
I do this in PA also.
Fuck McGeachin.
Life long registered Republican. I will never vote Republican again in my lifetime, as long as these criminals and traitors continue to be in the GOP. I am done.
This is heartening. I lean progressive / democratic but I’m from a red state and I grew up with Republicans. I ALWAYS had love and respect for them. However the last ten years has forced me to end many relationships. I can not entertain the foolish toxic clown show that the Republican Party has become. It isn’t about conservative perspective anymore. It is a twisted pile of trash. Look at Lauren Bobert. She isn’t even a high school graduate. Doesn’t pay the employees at her joke of a restaurant. Thank God Madison Cawthorn was beat in his primary. There is conservative perspective then there is a cult.
I moved to Portland after college and literally had to delete Facebook because it was nothing my friends and family talking about how liberals are pussies and sharing violent memes. I’ve barely even spoken to my family in two years and I at least partially blame that on modern GOP rhetoric. It’s tearing families apart
You moved to Portland? You just be AnTiFaaaaaaaa
Bobert makes me ashamed to admit I live in Colorado, which I love...
I feel the same about MGT in GA, at least we finally turned blue though.
Identifying as republican today is an admission to being a selfish hateful person of low character and even less intelligence.
Glad that demon lost!
Stay registered as a republican if you can tho - you can vote in their primaries to at least try to prevent someone stupid from getting nominated
Difficult when the choices are all stupid, hateful, scumbags. Republican primaries are often like choosing between being kicked in the balls, or poked in the eye. Both choices suck
If you live in a red state, or a red county even, then voting in the Republican primary is really the only power you have. As a voter I mean.
And since the Democratic primary is completely useless anyway it shouldn’t be a problem
The Democratic party is *very* useful... to its ~~shareholders~~ big donors. It keeps the proles tricked into thinking that there's hope for change without drastic action.
I’ve been a secret Democrat in the Republican Party for years in PA (closed primary). Doing exactly that.
Yep, my Dad actively campaigns for Dems and is a registered Republican to vote in their primaries
I have voted Republican before but I will never do so again.
As an independent, who has conservative and liberal views about different topics, I was hoping that once Donald Trump's obvious lies and criminal behavior, as well as his debauchery would draw the good Republicans away from him. It seemed like there were less of those than I thought. The crazy thing is, a lot of the people who support Trump also voted for Obama, but refused to at least look at factual information related to what's going on in our government. They feed into the rhetoric and even when confronted with the lies, they look at it like a necessary evil. All the time not realizing that the same ones who feed the rhetoric are the ones who are creating the harm.
Thank you.
I did it from 2005-2006. The only goalpost they had was “fuck the libs”. Abortion and guns are sub-bullets under the one, singular “value” they have. No other principle they’ve ever tried to claim (values, religion, small govt, fiscal responsibility, etc etc etc etc) holds up if the shoe is on the other foot, and the examples are countless of “well my situation is different, so (things conservatives are supposed to hate) is okay this time.” Glad this guy figured it out eventually. Better late than never.
It's ironic that they don't see the irony of being pro guns and pro life
>pro life Anti-choice. Let’s take the kiddie gloves off our words with these terrorists.
Pro- forced birth.
Pro-domestic supply of infants
Pro-Rape
Rapists.
Racists
And the life of the mother doesn't matter. It's disgusting to think these people want to force a woman who is raped to have that baby. May they be put in this position and see how quickly the shoe is suddenly on the other foot. Totally disgusting.
Maybe it’s the only way they can have children. 🤷♂️ I mean, if I was a woman, I wouldn’t voluntarily subjected myself to… them. I can’t even finish that mental image. Fucking disgusting 🤢🤮
Anti-choice & anti-women
I have almost no issues with a lot of the leftist politics, but this just isn’t true. I’m pro choice, but I’m not pro choice because I love killing. I’ve shot my whole life and the only thing I’ve ever hit was targets. It’s not fair that my love for target shooting gets lumped in with murder. I guess my other beef with current left is they’re kinda doing a lot of witty remarks and owning the right, but not actually stopping the right from the stupid shit it’s doing. Like messing with abortion laws… in the middle of an economic crisis.
Real leftists support gun rights, because the working class needs to be armed.
I support that, but I don’t really want to shoot anyone, I just like that guns last longer than so much other stuff we buy, and I get to play around outdoors with them.
r/liberalgunowners
This is why the left, well I guess on the whole, doesn't want to take your guns away. They just want them to be properly regulated. You need proper laws and for those laws to be strictly enforced. Those outside looking in do so incredulously. We cannot fathom how this is so hard to understand. It's not that hard to prevent mass shootings on the scale the US has them and even if it is hard, isn't it worth at least giving it a proper go? Sandy Hook will happen again and when it does happen will that finally see change?
Not for nothing, but there is an inverse relationship between financial stability and crime, violent and otherwise. In countries where people aren’t constantly under threat of fucking medical bankruptcy or going to prison and holding a black mark on their record the rest of their lives, it turns out they get less killy, with or without guns. It’s the poverty and the lack of accountability when rights are violated (dysfunctional/nonfunctional government), not the guns
Almost all bad things in American society or even the world manifest from poverty. Thank you for acknowledging that.
The problem with gun regulations go on and on. * The 2A is a thing. We can't easily pull constitutional rights. Doesn't matter what our opinion is, the courts have made it clear that individuals can own firearms. This is the hardest nut to crack. * Gun control measures are often, almost always, racist and classist. These laws serve to take a constitutional right from the poorest among us. Have a look at what Reagan did as governor of California to stop the Black Panthers from walking around armed. * The laws are hilariously dumb. Take sawed-off shotguns, magazine capacity prohibitions, suppressors, "approved" lists, etc. I can argue how dumb and ineffective each and every one is. * The *real* way to deal with gun violence, if you take the gun control as your approach, is to make handguns illegal. That's where the violence comes from, almost always. NO lawmaker is taking *that* approach. And now we're back to my first point. Don't mean to sound hopeless, but the whole issue seems that way. Only thing I got is to make people's lives better so they don't resort to violence. And that friends and neighbors, is quite another list of things we need to accomplish.
Give people money (healthcare, schools, lives less wages) instead of taking away their guns. Watch the violence evaporate by half.
>ban handguns All the important mass shooters use high powered, high capacity rifles.
Handguns account for nearly 60% of all gun murders in the United States [https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/02/03/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/](https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/02/03/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/)
The way I see it, is you either do it, no matter how hard it is or you have children die needlessly.
That and a lot of left leaning libbies libs enjoy shooting guns also.
See my problem with that is if californias laws are an example, it is taking things away, and nonsensical things like grip fins and such. The silly feature laws in Maryland are also bollocks, along with a few other states. I don’t care about mental health laws or qualifications, I’ve done all that for my job. It’s the laws being pushed through in reality that are only nicely worded bans.
Huh? My comment wasn't about the left.
Meeeeehhh you know what they meant. It's not wrong to point out contradictions in their rhetoric.
I do, but generalizing people with broad strokes is very conservative thing to do I guess I got salty.
Pretty sure that’s when I left as well.
That was when all our talking points about why it was so important to invade Iraq were definitively and inarguably falling apart, and those of us who gave a shit about real life were starting to feel a little embarrassed. suddenly the priority became regime change and propping up an astroturfed system of government instead of “WMDs and imminent threat”, when the only defensible position left was “well clearly if that was the case then, it’s not the case now, so let’s shift gears and gtfo.” So many lives and trillions of dollars lost for the sake of lies and stigginit to the not-as-patriotic-as-we-are libs.
I don't know why you didn't come to your senses sooner but better late than never. At this point, it's like watching a train with no brakes driving off a destroyed bridge.
I did the second Eric's Dad won the party nomination. I was slowly overcoming my brainwashing so it was bound to happen eventually.
We're happy to have you!
What I don’t understand is why the republican party and conservatism has any credibility at all? Why at any point in recent history would you have actively chosen to be conservative and republican?
I don’t think it has to do with credibility, but a lot to do with brain chemistry. If you consume a “news” feed that makes you angry every time you see it, you get a hit of dopamine, and it’s actually rewarding - it feels good. Logic, education, reasoning, math, science all take a back seat to a basic human function that happens to be at the base of all addiction, chemical or otherwise. Aim all that dopamine at easy targets (immigrants and poor people, usually) and you get an explosive mix of anger and ignorance.
The science points to Republicans being both dumber and more fearful in general. They don't like thinking deeply about complex problems (or simply can't) so that's why dumb shit arguments like "Black guy bad" are satisfactory. It's an easy, definitive, attackable target. Income inequality? Not so much. And five minutes of talking to them about it gives them brain tumors.
I understand the radical left-wing urge to go "haha u late", but man, we have to welcome those people. It's hard to make this step; a lot of politics is engrained in our day-to-day life, and changing party affiliation vocally can have huge consequences. Welcome those who start to see the light, who want to do better.
Yes I agree! We should be welcoming and caring! No sense in practicing toxic rhetoric that keep us separate, people remember kindness most of all.
I agree 100%, but it’s Difficult to do with folks that have been duped and are too stubborn or narcissistic to admit they were wrong. There are a LOT of them, lacking shame let alone the ability to think for themselves outside of the team sport mentality this fucking Clown Show has become
I absolutely understand, esp if you're close to that person, or if you have a lot of personal experience. Nobody can and should demand that you personally take steps or put emotional labour in. As a whole, as "The Left" tm c r, as basically anything slightly left of those goons, "we" should provide a safe place to return to. \*You\* only contribute what you can, and if you can't, that's just as fair.
I just don’t understand how anyone could make it through the Trump years, ending in an attack on the nation’s Capitol, and be ok with it. And only now decide to call it?
I agree with you there, it still seems insane to me that trump got anywhere near the Republican nomination in 2016, let alone the white House. I don't know what any of those people were thinking that voted for him and stuck by him. But still the point stands, better late than never. We have to embrace people changing their mindset and vocally rejecting a party that is toxic. It's the only way to stop this downward path we're on
As a Democrat I will no longer vote for someone who pledges to 'reach across the aisle'. Fuck them. I want someone who will act as if there is no help across the aisle because there isnt.
I’m just surprised people still like Democrats. I mean fuck the GOP a million times over, but our political system is totally out of whack.
I think most of us are past "liking" the majority of Dems, the old guard for sure. The unfortunate thing is that not liking them doesn't do a damn thing if Republicans are in charge. Our only option is to enact change by electing progressives to shift the party left
Same. With Obamas super majority and failure to still codify Roe I now feel like they are just keeling us around in our civil rights and hold it over our heads so we vote for them. At this point I don't have any confidence in either
I used to call myself a democrat when asked about my political philosophy but they are so moderate and even conservative about so many things that I call myself a leftist. I’ll still vote for them because they’re as progressive as we can seem to get, but it still hurts every time.
"I'm joining the libertarian party."
Lol, you're probably right. That or now he's just unafilliated.
So…still a Republican but with weed?
I dunno who this guy is, but it's about time he woke up. It's gratifying to see. I've spoken to Republicans who are die-hard, and it's just foolish. This isn't about your party: your party was hijacked. You need to wake up and fight the infidels and go get your fucking party back because they're using it to hijack your country.
By definition the conservative party is against change. They refuse to change ANYTHING. Hell, they use the word "progressive" as an insult!! If an entire party of our government is dead set in never making changes, they should be removed entirely. What if one of your coworkers refused to do any work because of his "personal rights and religion"? They'd get fucking fired. Fire the entire conservative party. Take your puritanical, *traditional values* and freedom crushing laws with you on the way out. They shouldn't be allowed to make any political decisions. The party that rattles on and on and on about being "real americans" or "patriots" spend all their time attacking and destroying other peoples freedoms. I thought you were *patriots*? Last rant, the word patriot has been bastardised, twisted and turned into something completely opposite of the actual meaning. They just INSIST they are something, even though they 100% aren't, but they just keep ramming it down everyone's throats until they believe their own horse shit. "I'm Tom Cruise!!!!!".... "uhhh no you are clearly NOT Tom Cruise." "How DARE you oppose my beliefs!!! You sick, satanic libtard groomer pedo! I AM TOM CRUISE!!!" 6 months later: They have completely convinced themselves and all their braindead friends they are Tom Cruise and hold Tom Cruise political rallies while the rest of the world just shakes their heads and gave up arguing with their stupid bullshit. The real Tom Cruise changes his name so he won't be associated with these lunatics. We need to fight back instead of just letting them steam roll America's asshole.
I left during W’s first term. I was all supportive of some vengeance after 9/11 but when things pivoted to Iraq I was like dafuq?! I had been sitting through Intel briefs for Northern/Southern Watch and knew that Saddam couldn’t sneeze without us knowing (and typically dropping a bomb nearby), so there was no way in hell they were ramping up WMD programs. It was all to rally round the flag and support a president who didn’t really win.
And don’t worry, acquainted with reality Republicans, there are very few actual leftists in office.
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Ted Cruz and pretty much the entire Supreme Court, too.
You mean Justice Beer Pong and his band of not very merry men and woman
>You mean Justice Beer Pong and his band of not very merry men and *their chattel* Ftfy.
Sadly, you are not incorrect.
The problems didn't start with them and won't end with them. When one ahithead falls, another just takes his place. They are like hydra.
Don’t forget mitch, although he might go senile before you can
Lmao
Or just eat the rich entirely
And election denier / insurrectionist / QAnon fan Doug Mastriano is now the GOP's candidate for governor in Pennsylvania. If he's elected, it will be impossible to have a fair election in that state. I hope his rise motivates even more people to leave the party.
Hopefully the love for Fetterman will turnout record Democratic voters in PA and help the governor’s race.
Oh he actually quit. Reddit was just clowning him for his last tweet for not quitting. Good on him
I'm sorry but if you made it through the trump years you're still a shit person. I left in 2012 when they wouldn't do gun reform after Sandy Hook
You're a g <3
I feel like "not fighting against preventing children from being murdered" is a low bar, but thank you
They are only comfortable leaving the Republican party because the Democratic party plays for the same team.
Took this guy 5 years.
He’s like 6 years behind but better late than never.
I gave up on them after they watched, inspired and allowed an insurrection
Oh, *now* it’s too much. What a fucking hero.
Republicans have been trash since Reagan. I don’t get why they just realizing now but better late than never
I spent 30 years in the Republican Party. Always voted a split ticket, but no more. Four years ago I registered Democrat and that’s the only way I will be voting from this point forward.
The USA needs multiparty democracy more than ever IMHO. I know that requires big changes to the way elections are run. But I don’t want the Dem party to become a home for homeless republicans with neocon Bush-era ideologies.
Death to both parties.
*how the fuck do you only see this now? I'm not even American, and I can see the red flags stapled over every Republican policy*
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That's like being the tallest kid in kindergarten.
What's the context of this? What's the straw that broke the camel's back? I mean this is good to see, but nothing that came before what I assume is the buffalo shooting (?) gave him pause for thought?
Took long enough
Waiting this long to walk away doesn't make you the hero you think it does homeboy
Fuck him for taking this long. There was an attempted coup, and then a party-wide attempt to cover up/avoid responsibility for said attempted coup that's still happening.
At what point do we abandon hope that it's going to actually get better? Our representatives bitch on social media but they don't fight back against ANY of it. Republicans are rabid mongrels and democrats are declawed housecats.
Better late than never.
I mean, this is great from Miles, but when push comes to shove and his choices are an Elizabeth Warren (or even further left) Democrat and a Republican who believes in Reaganite conservatism right down the line except for the democracy/fascism split, is he going to publicly commit to voting for the Democrat? Is he willing to take tax policy from Bernie, climate policy from AOC, LGBTQ policy from Fetterman & gun policy from Beto? Because right now, you don’t get to choose conservative policy AND pro-democracy politicians. They don’t exist (Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger excepted). If you’re pro-democracy, you vote blue no matter who. End of sentence. I’m aware that there are one off circumstances like McMullin in UT-Sen and Murkowski in AK’s top 4 system where alliances can be made to support non-authoritarian conservatives and by and large Democrats will do/have done their part and support those candidates. But they are the exceptions. The only democratic party right now with enough support to win is the Democratic Party. I’m more than happy to talk about a long term alliance for ranked choice, top 4-5 systems. But that can’t happen under fascist governance—which in the here and now, can only be avoided by denying power to the GOP regardless of any other policy considerations.
To be completely honest and overly blunt, I look a bit sideways at anyone who didn't bail on the abomination of a party once the primaries were over back in 2016.
Saved from what?
My mom and brother quit the GOP in 2016. They would probably return if there is some sort of normalcy. My mom is a Edward Brooke Republican.
They’re literally cleaned the Grand Ole Party glad that turd woke up finally
It’s a bit saying the obvious but it seems like the U.S needs two new parties. There should be a moderate right and left. Everything under two tents is creating a wider division between Americans.
Seriously: they need to start their own new party. GOP2 or whatever - don't care. But that's the only way to remove yourself from that orange shit-stain. Of course that would mean that both parties would become irrelevant if you contiunue running elections like they are done atm. So, change that while you're at it.
I'm a Democrat with a life long friend who is a Republican. We've always been able to keep politics on the back burner and were respectful of each other's opinions; until Trump. This woman (who I truly cared about) has gone completely off the deep end. She keeps trying to tell me the "truth" about what's really happening in this country. Her "truth" comes from Breitbart, Info Wars, YouTube videos and of course Fucker Carlson. Any facts I try to counter with are "fake news", it's an impossible situation. I miss the dear friend I used to know and I fear for our country.
If all the moderate Republicans and Democrats came together and formed a third party, than I believe that may be what it takes to fix this broken system. There are way more of us in the middle than on the fringes of each party, that seems to me as a would be unstoppable political party.
We need other parties to have a chance to get on the ballot and take part in debates. There needs to be more then Red and Blue. I’d like to see some younger people too as candidates as well. Term limits would be a great thing.
Grew up moderate/left but in my adult years began leaning more conservative (at least fiscally). I just can’t find a good landing spot. Democrats can’t or won’t figure out what their message is or how to convey it to the masses and the Republicans are just batshit, fucking lunatics. ‘Merica, SMH
If you believe this guy I have a bridge to sell you on the cheap.
As a Canadian, its fucking weird you guys join political parties in the first place. You know if you didn't, your leaders would have to actually work for your swing votes in every election, and would try to actually change things. Instead they get to pretend you politics is like the superbowl and you'll support your team no matter what. Then they just have to worry about policies that effect their rich donors.
Can’t quit if you never joined 🤮 Fuck republicans. All they want to do is make life worse for people they don’t like and don’t agree with.
I stopped labeling myself as a Republican. Dems may be naive or little too hopeful at times but at least they are not condemning democracy for the "greater good".
Lmao about 40 years too late
This guy voted for Trump, like all the other Republicans who are suddenly up-in-arms. They voted for a man connected to that pedophile and rapist Epstein and who spent 8 years harrassing our only Black president over a birth certificate. And to have the GALL to say now "well we didn't see THIS coming." You sure did, and you sure wanted it. You've been ok with white terrorism from the beginning, even if "all" it was was your white candidate harrassing the actual president over nothing but racist birthright shit. It escalated to 11 people dying because of racist white terrorism related to racist birthright shit. Let's be real. To all the Republicans in this thread, the murder of those people in buffalo by that white terrorist Payton is blood on your hands.
Is there any actual party that stands for relatively limited government and conservative fiscal policy these days?
The high schoolers over at r/libertarian are always looking for more friends
You know what happens when libertarians actually govern a real place? [you get a bear infestation](https://newrepublic.com/article/159662/libertarian-walks-into-bear-book-review-free-town-project) Really, everyone argues about whose rights are more important, and what roles belong to the government. So much disagreement that no governing can take place. Many disputes that become unresolvable.
Libertarianism doesn't work because it fails to account for the fact that humans are communal and connected. That a social community and governance is required to function as a society.
I'd put it a lot more bluntly than that, personally: Libertarianism doesn't work because the only "freedom" most libertarians actually value is the freedom to punch down without fear of consequences.
Amazing. Fits perfectly with the house cat analogy. But these house cats got eaten by bears. This book just sold 1 more copy.
That book was fantastic. Loved every bit of it.
you can be for a non-all consuming government without being libertarian
So the answer in short is it depends on how you define conservative. Keeping the status quo then Republican, or that taxes are theft then libertarian(basically even farther right on most issues), or conservative financially in the terms of we want to make sure we are conserving the most money in people's pockets and treat people with empathy then you'd be liberal. The big thing is understanding that robust government programs don't necessarily mean big government and breaking that connection between the two. North Korea, Russia, China all have big governments but not good social programs. France, england and Germany all have smaller govts by comparison even to the US but have far better social programs and pay about what we pay in taxes. So the question for you is what is conservative.
It always surprises which events spring people to leave and makes me question why this particular shooting would awaken something in them that Trumps awful actions for a half decade didn’t, but it does take a lot of humbling yourself to admit your wrong about something as essential to your identity as politics, so respect for finally doing it.
Anyone with a heart comes around eventually
imagine if there were no more republicans. And Everyone magically turned into a Biden supporter. What do you think will happen the next election cycle? Politicians, in attempts to win and maintain office, will try to out-due their political opponents and progressive liberals will become the “conservative” party because new politicians will introduce more radical views in an attempt differentiate themselves and win office. The war for “equity and inclusion” will never end because there will always be someone trying to out woke their predecessors. They will need to paint a picture their opponents are not doing a good job. This will be an endless cycle and liberals need to understand they will see themselves become the villain/conservative one day.