this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
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i've never seen centrism so badly misunderstood.
Please enlighten us.
I'll bite. Most of what I see here in this thread against Centrism or Independents is bad strawman arguments consisting of: “There are three types of people: reasonable people who agree with me, crazy fascists, and lily-livered wimps who can’t pick a side (and are also fascists)!”
If someone says that they are “centrist” they are not telling you that they base all of their opinions on being dead center in the middle of any two positions. That would be stupid.
They are telling you that they agree with neither major party on everything, and find that both parties have views that they don’t agree with. It’s pretty easy to come to that conclusion because the US two-party system packs in an almost incoherent mishmash of beliefs into exactly two sides.
There is absolutely no contradiction in being for police reform, and against riots lasting for days. There is no contradiction in being for gun rights, while also wanting massive limits on them. There is no contradiction in wanting functional government services and universal healthcare, and thinking that free markets are effective to an extent. There is no contradiction in wanting a more balanced budget, and government services to be funded properly.
The idea that there are only two (or maybe 2.5 depending on where you live) sides in politics is a strange delusion created by your two party system.
The reason the meme creator is running into situations like this is because they don’t witness the Centrist also vehemently argue with right-wing policies frequently.
They only see them argue with them and therefore have a skewed view of Centrists / Independents and their politics. If you are left wing, and argue for left-wing policies in every case, that means you will also be argued with by somebody who believes political nuance and not just waving a party flag.
Remember, the right wing also shits on centrists because they think they are secretly left-wing since they argue with their stupider points as well.
So no, these people are not secretly right-wing and just don’t have the balls to say it. That is a horrendous take no matter where you fall on the political spectrum and only serves to limit conversation.
Now you go.
conservatism is liberal progression into an enforced tradition.
liberalism is the progression either out of old conservative traditions, or into new ones. if traditionally enforced, this becomes conservative :O
but tell me again about how you're a "conservative" or a "liberal"?
feeling "enlightened" yet?
edit: downvotes with no replies eh? too enlightening i guess
So following this logic:
If in the year 2000 liberals expanded their traditions, then if in the year 2200 liberals still held onto these traditions would this be seen as conservative? So theoretically they're no longer liberal even though the party stayed the same for 200 years?
it's very likely that would be the case assuming that we learn that some of our traditions were mistaken, likely based on limited information. (or assuming that the definition didn't change somehow)
i want clarify that it's not so much that they're "no longer liberal", because if they were following more or less the same defined liberal ideals back in 2000, they certainly were liberals. it's moreso along the line of thought that "what the liberals back then thought was outdated".
It seems to be Lemmy in general when dealing with Centrism or Independents. Despite very little knowledge, they are very excited to tell you the things that you think.
other areas of Lemmy have been alright for me.
here however, they just repeat the brain rot "Enlightened Centrist" meme with absolutely 0 arguments being made. very lame and simple minded "politics" being done over here!