Do Moderates Enable The Republican Right ? (1 Viewer)

[The Other Liberal]

Maybe I'm too far left. I consider myself a Liberal center left Democrat not a radical or progressive. At any rate sometimes I think moderates both Democrat and independent lean more conservative than liberal. They are Republican lite and keep Democrats from doing big things. If moderates are so strong and numerous. If they are better than liberals or the left why does the GOP control so many states and wield such power ? Why haven't moderates been able to save the day or mount a comeback. It's not just the south or border states either. Think about Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin too. Some will says it's the fault of liberals and the left for being extreme and out of touch with voters. But what does that have to do with moderates who clearly look and sound Republican on taxes, spending, regulation, social programs, and some social issues like gun control ? Maybe it's all because of Right wing propaganda ? If I'm missing something or just flat out wrong I want to know what others think.

 

[Paul]

I think this discussion has gotten off track. However I will add this : For moderates especially Democrats and Independents it's not about countering Conservative Republicans or a conflict. Moderates seek cooperation. To them compromise and bipartisanship are ends not means. To that extent it's not clear if Moderate Democrats are willing to oppose the right on much of anything. However I might be oversimplifying things.

A system with 100% left wing values ends up nowhere. A system with 100% conservative values is equally destructive. Both personality types bring something of importance to the table.

At least there is a barrier that conservatives are not supposed to cross and that is white nationalism. OTOH, there in no barrier on the left. The more to the left the greater the virtue.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

A system with 100% left wing values ends up nowhere. A system with 100% conservative values is equally destructive. Both personality types bring something of importance to the table.

At least there is a barrier that conservatives are not supposed to cross and that is white nationalism. OTOH, there in no barrier on the left. The more to the left the greater the virtue.

Boy, are you gonna be surprised when you find out what's been happening for the last 10-15 years.

 

[Goatman saint]

Boy, are you gonna be surprised when you find out what's been happening for the last 10-15 years.

No joke.

 

[The Other Liberal]

A system with 100% left wing values ends up nowhere. A system with 100% conservative values is equally destructive. Both personality types bring something of importance to the table.

At least there is a barrier that conservatives are not supposed to cross and that is white nationalism. OTOH, there in no barrier on the left. The more to the left the greater the virtue

Right now we have a system dominated by conservatives. At the same time I fail to see the liberal side of political moderates.

 

[Saintman2884]

In any organization like that, at least they are a way to push back against the right wing which has drug everything so far to the right that even people in this country that are on the left worldwide are still leaning conservative.
Now as far as Omar. She has lived a very different life having been born in Somalia and being of the Islamic faith. Most of her comments that have gotten her in the press, other than bits taken out of context have been skewering Israel, and as someone who wonders why the US is nothing but Israel’s lap dog I can’t always say she is wrong. Poorly worded maybe, but not usually completely wrong.
As far as AOC, she is young. She also been a lightning rod and every Mia speak she has has been blown out of proportion. If you actually ever get to watch her just speak, and listen to the whole piece, she once again is pretty well thought out and makes a lot sense when she speaks and talks about her ideas. Yeah there are a few things that faux news likes to run with, but those are generally taken out of context, or some bone with red meat on it for the base that gets tossed out for public opinion.

Poorly worded? A few of her comments, inferences, insensitive remarks she's made come across as borderline antisemitic tropes, promoting old, discredited myths racist, Social Darwinist Europeans used to attack Jews for centuries, especially the "great Jewish worldwide conspiracy" peddled, recycled and articulated by ME antisemites, extremist and terrorist groups like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious late 19th century forgery written by a Russian Czarist secret police agent in Paris in the 1890's to justify Czarist Russia's then-openly anti-Jewish pogroms and state-sanctioned communal violence. She needs better forking speech writers where she won't be having to explain at numerous press conferences that her remarks "werent taken out of context" and that their not subtle anti-Jewish slurs, or stabs when she's in reality criticizing Isreali policies. How many times does she or her supporters have to keep defending her by strenuously arguing her arguments "are blown out of proportion" or exagerrated, or "taken out of context"?
Plenty of Democrats and Republicans were born in different countries, came from different cultures and don't come across as loony-tune borderline fringe types? Andrew Yang is one such example, Bob Menendez is another. Madeline Albright is another fine, excellent superb example who was an outstanding Sec. of State during Clinton's second presidential term.

People need to realize antisemitism isn't just exclusively a far-right extremist problem historically. Lenin, Trotsky, particularly Stalin, and many other well-known 20th century left-wing intellectuals, polemics, authoritian one-party Communist leaders held, made or promoted exclusionary, antisemitic policies (Jewish Doctors Plot of Stalin, late 70's jailing and imprisoning of dissident Soviet Jews, called refuseniks.) Even famous eminent French 18th century philosopher Voltaire has been accused of making anti-Jewish remarks in some of his writings.

 

[Saintman2884]

Right now we have a system dominated by conservatives. At the same time I fail to see the liberal side of political moderates.

I can give you the names of a few countries, mostly in Latin America, mind you, where left-leaning, idealogical, borderline left-wing authoritarian leaders with cults of personality, or who were extremely charismatic, savvy, fiery idealogues over the past 25 years have turned once-strong, dominant, functional democracies into near-failed states, countries who face deep economic recession, or inflationary problems or have had low-level civil wars or deep, severe unrest ongoing for nearly a decades: Venezuela since 1999 under Hugo Chavez (El Presidente), Argentina under the corrupt, inept, duplicitous Kircheners where an investigation into possible Iranian involvement in a 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural centre in Buenos Aires was somehow railroaded, quietly quashed for years, and how the case's lead prosecutor was found dead, under suspicious circumstances and how some believe he was murdered or assassinated by the Kircheners to prevent details of a sweetheart Iranian oil deal was offered, and accepted, by Argentine government, in exchange for their silence and complicity over covering-up Iran's involvement in the 1994 Buenos Aires bombing of the city's downtown Jewish cultural center. Ecuador, and Bolivia.

All of these countries democratically elected these men and women, and most of them have seen their countries fall apart internally or suffer severe, intense conflict or dissent, especially in Venezuela, a nation now some international law experts and insiders are labeling, "Zimbabwe of South America" because of its extremely high hyperinflation, at a rate that makes the nation's currency, Bolivar, almost worthless and in a much worse state, economically, than what the early post-WWI German Weimar Republic suffered through from 1919-23, being forced to pay ruinous war reparations and admit guilt to starting a world war where in reality Germany was far from being solely responsible for starting WWI(war guilt clause).

 

[Paul]

Right now we have a system dominated by conservatives. At the same time I fail to see the liberal side of political moderates.

For those on the left moderates seem rather conservative.

Conservatives and lefty people have different personality profiles. This has been well studied in psychology.

Ideology and Political Attitudes​

Much of the early political science research on the Big Five has focused on the relationships between these traits and political ideology.4 The most consistent findings from this line of research are an association between Openness to Experience and liberalism and between Conscientiousness and conservatism (Alford & Hibbing 2007; Carney et al. 2008; Gerber et al. 2010c; Gosling et al. 2003; Jost et al. 2003, 2007; McCrae 1996; Mondak 2010; Mondak & Halperin 2008; Riemann et al. 1993; Van Hiel et al. 2000; Van Hiel & Mervielde 2004). Openness to Experience is associated with positive responses to novel stimuli. Thus, researchers posit that individuals high on this trait are more likely to respond favorably to liberal social policies, which often involve acceptance of unconventional behaviors, and liberal economic policies, which may involve a willingness to support proposals that entail new government involvement in the economy. By contrast, individuals high on Conscientiousness tend to be attracted to social norms and achievement striving. These response tendencies likely explain why those high on this trait are more likely to reject the challenges to social norms that often accompany liberal social policies, as well as liberal economic policies, which may be seen as undermining incentives for individual effort.

The Big Five Personality Traits in the Political Arena

Recent political science research on the effects of core personality traits—the Big Five—contributes to our understanding of how people interact with their political environments. This research examines how individual-level variations in broad, stable psychological characteristics affect...

www.annualreviews.org

For those of us that are in the middle it is rather easy to predict the talking points of those in the extreme right and left. The pattern is very repetitive.