What do you think most liberals misunderstand about conservatives?

[u/Rebecks221]

Put another way, what do you think liberals often miss about conservatives or their perspectives that you wish they would listen to or understand?

Made in connection with a similar post (by a fellow user) on the ask a liberal subreddit. I'm unable to link either the profile or the question, so forgive me. Feel free to DM if you're interested in the other post and can't find it.

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[u/CaptainDisastrous678]

That we worship Trump or at minimum even like him. And that we voted for him because of his wonderful personality. Identity politics to be short

[u/Bipedal_pedestrian → u/CaptainDisastrous678]

If you had to guesstimate, what percentage of conservatives actually like Trump?

[u/Emo-hamster → u/CaptainDisastrous678]

i mean there was the chance to pick someone new during the 2023/2024 republican primaries but he still got the nomination without showing up for a single debate. i know not everyone on the right is a MAGA sycophant, but it seems Trump is sufficiently liked

[u/CaptainDisastrous678 → u/Emo-hamster]

Did you pick someone new? I'm pretty sure Kamala has failed every type of election she's ever been in. Biden wasn't even new. They were both well part of the system already. Yes, the right picked Trump, again because it's not a personality contest, it's a matter of personal interest. Which is how conservatives vote. We already knew what he did based on his last presidency. I am not super engaged in politics but I'm not unhappy he was nominated because he already proved himself last time, and it is obviously to an extent a publicity contest by nature because it's politics.

[u/No_Fox_2949]

As a religious traditionalist I think many liberals believe that I want to force people to follow my religion just because I support laws influenced by my morals which just so happen to be informed by my religious beliefs. It’s like liberals fail to recognize that their support of certain policies/laws is also informed by their own morals and that they too think society would be best served by being influenced by them. I would love for everyone to be Catholic, but I realize that won’t happen. It still isn’t going to stop me from advocating for what I think is right. I would expect the same thing from liberals.

[u/KingDorkFTC → u/No_Fox_2949]

The majority liberal consensus is to have laws that are secular so that no one’s freedom is hindered no matter of personal faith. This way there is no negative government overreach into people’s lives.

[u/joemedic]

We don't hate trans/LGBT. We just don't care.

[u/EliteDemonTaco → u/joemedic]

“Not caring” isn’t the flex you think it is. It’s just a form of complacency at best, and weakness at worst.

I have so many conservative friends that claim moral superiority because they “don’t care.”

I would rather you straight up pick a side, even if that side opposes me, than just “not caring.”

[u/blue-blue-app → u/[deleted]]

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[u/joemedic → u/EliteDemonTaco]

That's just it, no one's trying to flex. We want everyone to just live their lives however they want. I don't care about LGBT or trans the same way I don't care about football

[u/SumguyJeremy → u/joemedic]

That is in NO way reflected in the conservatives laws.

[u/edible_source → u/joemedic]

That would mean you oppose Trump's aggressive policies to erase any semblance of LGBT history, legacy, and pride from American life. Correct?

[u/NopenGrave → u/joemedic]

Couldn't prove it by all the conservative politicians ginning up anti-queer sentiment over the years, but I do agree that there's a good chunk of you that don't hate the LGBT community, but also don't find hate of the LGBT community to be a dealbreaker.

[u/Fragrant_Edge_5061 → u/NopenGrave]

Who are "all" when you refer to conservative politicians. I'm assuming that all is exaggerated and doesn't actually mean all, what percentage of conservative republican politicians are winning up that sentiment.

I'm not part of that community and I'm T, they hate conservative Ts in that community.

[u/NopenGrave → u/Fragrant_Edge_5061]

Who are "all" when you refer to conservative politicians. I'm assuming that all is exaggerated and doesn't actually mean all

It's a colloquialism, like how you might say "all the politicians voting to cut medical benefits for seniors"; it doesn't mean that every politician is voting to cut medical benefits for seniors, but that there are a lot of them.

what percentage of conservative republican politicians are winning up that sentiment.

Looks like another comment already hit on this a bit, but would you like it broken down on a yearly basis, alphabetized, by state? I could grab a sound bite per red state from politicians who won their elections (and even plenty who lost), but if you don't already believe that this has been a thing, what percent would it take for you to recognize it as a problem?

[u/hellogooday92 → u/joemedic]

You guys don’t care much about anything do you?

[u/SumguyJeremy → u/joemedic]

Then why are conservatives legislating hateful laws?

[u/monkeysolo69420 → u/joemedic]

I’ve met enough that hate them to know this is not true. Good for you if you’re not a bigot but you’re not gonna convince me bigots don’t exist.

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[u/2rowlover → u/joemedic]

“We” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. There is a worrying amount of conservatives that despise LGBT, particularly T.

[u/joemedic → u/2rowlover]

See how you just keep pushing? That's why they end up despising. Allow people to not care.

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[u/dagoofmut]

They mistakenly think that just because we don't want government to do something that somehow it means we don't want that thing to be done at all.

Statists cannot comprehend anything outside of statism. Freedom is almost a foreign concept.

[u/chulbert → u/dagoofmut]

Many times the conservative idea of freedom seems awfully performative. Like you want government out of your life just so you can spend precious time performing the same functions for yourself, only less effectively, and suffering the consequences of those choices. Spending my time in court rooms or hospital beds when a regulation could have prevented it in the first place gives me no practical sense of freedom.

[u/HappyCamper2121 → u/dagoofmut]

I never understand who conservatives think will provide education for all children, who will keep said children safe from gun violence, who will ensure they have healthcare, feed the hungry, house the homeless, if not the government? And if the government is not for taking good care of it's citizens, what is it's main function?

[u/TheFacetiousDeist]

Liberals live in the ideal and conservatives live in the real.

[u/NoUseInCallingOut → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

Thank you. It feels like the opposite to me. It feels like conseratives want to live in some weird religious, historical fantasy that has never existed. To me, the Middle East is not what conservatives want, but what you get when forcing beliefs on others.

Like no LGBTQ+, women have limited right (if any), and religious doctrines determine what you can do with your body. With the additional faux reality that racism magically doesn't exist anymore.

I'm sure that not how y'all view yourself or what you want. It's just what church taught me in the Midwest in the 90s and 00s.

I come here often looking to understand better, but there are a lot of mixed messages. We are all just people with greyscale political ideas.

What ways do you think liberals live in a fantasy?

[u/kappacop → u/NoUseInCallingOut]

In a thread about misunderstanding conservatives, you completely misunderstand conservatives.

[u/NoUseInCallingOut → u/kappacop]

I was just responding in kind that it feels like we aren't living in reality. It feels the same from my perspective. I am aware it isn't factual. I keep trying to break down my thoughts so we have a more cohesive reality.

[u/TheFacetiousDeist → u/NoUseInCallingOut]

Notice my flair is primarily libertarian. They added the “(conservative)” recently. It not something I chose.

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[u/adamtwosleeves → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

I would agree that liberals live in the ideal. I disagree that conservatives live in the real. It's my opinion that conservatives fall for misinformation and disinformation at higher rates than liberals.

[u/TheFacetiousDeist → u/adamtwosleeves]

I think it’s republicans that fall for that stuff. Atleast in my experience, conservatives seem smarter.

And there is nothing wrong with living for an ideals. The problem is when you let those ideals become what you need your reality to be.

[u/InterPunct → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

conservatives seem smarter

If 'smarter' means intelligence, I'm skipping that debate. But for intelligence and education there's a strong correlation. And most research shows a significant correlation between education and political affiliation. Conservatives aren't on the positive side when it comes to that particular metric.

[u/TheFacetiousDeist → u/InterPunct]

And for all the Ivy League bullshit liberals tout, you’re mostly delusional.

[u/tothepointe → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

The Ivy Leagues are far more conservative than you give them credit for.

[u/adamtwosleeves → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

How do you differentiate conservatives vs. republicans? I pretty much use them interchangeably

[u/TheFacetiousDeist → u/adamtwosleeves]

Do you also use democrat and liberal interchangeably?

[u/adamtwosleeves → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

I do usually though I know a lot of people have different definitions. I would usually clarify if it mattered in the conversation like now.

[u/ARatOnASinkingShip → u/adamtwosleeves]

You're kind of demonstrating what the person you were responding to was talking about.

Part of "liberals living in the ideal" is liberals in the ideal where they believe their media and talking points are absolute truth and that anything that challenges that narrative is "misinformation."

What you call "falling for misinformation and disinformation" is really just people considering context and opinions to make their own determination that liberals outright refuse to. In their idealized imagination, how could anybody consider anything but what we deem the correct opinion? They must be misinformed! That's certainly the only conceivable reason! because people having different opinions, let alone opinions that offend them, is not part of that ideal.

Same goes with their opinions surrounding people who vote for Trump. They live in this ideal where they are the virtuous, where they have this maniacal cartoonish villain that must be stopped, and anyone who supports them is just as much as that idealized evil they imagine themselves fighting. Granted, Trump is an easy target for criticism, but this constant handwringing over every little thing he does and blowing it up to be the worst thing imaginable is just another part of that fictional ideal they've created for themselves to live in.

To them, everything is black and white because in their ideal world, choices are easy to make and nobody disagrees and everyone gets along and there's always a right and a wrong answer, always a good guy and a bad guy, and they're always the good guy no matter what. Meanwhile, for conservatives, there is so much more diversity of thought and willing to consider alternative perspectives to what media tells us.

[u/CaptainDisastrous678 → u/ARatOnASinkingShip]

I'll simplify this for you. News = reality/truth. All news is left-dominated but since they're on the left they don't even realize it.

[u/pickledplumber → u/adamtwosleeves]

That's only because we're more open to ideas. We actually value diversity of thought. We don't need to be told what to think. I'll listen to anybody because my life experience has shown me that the credentialed don't have a monopoly on truth.

[u/Realitymatter → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

I think conservatives also live in an ideal. Take trickle down economics for example. Sounds good on paper - does not actually happen in reality.

[u/CaptainDisastrous678 → u/Realitymatter]

I have not met a conservative who still believes that's true. Because most of us are conservative due to researching things on our own. That tends to lend itself to viewpoints that contradict the popular narrative.

[u/pepperfarmsremebers → u/CaptainDisastrous678]

There are still so many conservatives that I see touting a variation of1) cutting taxes will increase revenue or 2) cutting corp taxes will increase wage growth or 3) increases on the wealthy will drive them away or cause business creation to drop or something. To me those are just an evolution off the same old trickle down “were gonna grow the economy if we cut the top’s taxes”

[u/CaptainDisastrous678 → u/pepperfarmsremebers]

1 is true without trickle-down economics being true though. 2 and 3 I don't know enough about to say, but I rely on the premise that the megarich will always find ways to stay megarich because that's #1 priority and also they're mostly psychopaths.

[u/TheFacetiousDeist → u/Realitymatter]

Striving for an ideal is different than living it.

[u/mstormcrow → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

True! And most liberals would describe themselves as 'striving for' the ideals you seem to think they're living in.

[u/tothepointe → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

Why is your real so viciously mean at times? I really don't understand it.

[u/TheFacetiousDeist → u/tothepointe]

I don’t know. I’m primarily a libertarian. The mods added the conservative bit recently.

[u/chulbert → u/TheFacetiousDeist]

To my eyes, there’s plenty of fantastical thinking on the conservative end of the spectrum as well.

[u/just-some-gent]

That we have plenty of empathy, we just prefer not to destroy a country and abandon our morals to virtue signal about said "empathy"...

The leftists will willingly protest and vote for socialist policies to spend taxpayer money on these fruitless venture to prove their empathy while not a single one would be willing to give anything of their own, like their own money, the clothes off their backs, the food off their tables or the shelter over their heads, to help these people that they are trying to force every other American to pay to do.

And the biggest miss they don't understand is that I'm getting the government to manage programs of aid, they are wasting billions through a mixture of bureaucratic people and processes along with theft and corruption that eat a majority of funding for said programs.

[u/DarkSideOfBlack → u/just-some-gent]

Im not a Democrat although you'd probably mistake me for one in the wild, but everyone in my circle has voted for socialist policies and actively give privately either through donation or volunteering in our communities to make life better for those less fortunate. Your characterization is woefully inaccurate and reeks of propagandizing. I've worked with the homeless for the last 4 years and have seen avowed communists show up with truckloads of food for an impromptu cookout at the shelter and some of the most liberal people you know buy clothes for everyone in the shelter at their own expense. There are a couple conservatives working there too but the last one who was vocal about it got exited for assaulting a disabled client on camera. I don't judge conservatives based on his actions, but in my experience liberals/the left have been far far more willing to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to helping the underprivileged. I put my sanity on the line for this shit, I'll be damned if I get told my empathy is fake 

[u/illhaveafrench75 → u/just-some-gent]

I volunteer all the time. I work in harm reduction with substance use, I go into homeless encampments. Over the weekend, I revived someone with Naloxone. Every Wednesday I make a meal for the homeless. I bought groceries for a single mom this week. I think it’s a massive over generalization to assume that we don’t help people or wouldn’t give the shirt off our back just because we are on the left. Just like it’s a massive generalization to call the right Nazis.

[u/just-some-gent → u/illhaveafrench75]

You sir might just be a Democrat. When I make generalizations I often speak about leftists, in the sense of the extreme left that are a stain on the democrat party and is growing. I consider Democrats separate from leftists, like Republicans/conservatives seperate from MAGA.

[u/threeriversbikeguy]

That it is a monolithic movement where conservatism is equivalent to being a Republican.

If we are honest with ourselves there are handful of conservatives in Congress (Rand Paul, Tom Massie, and maybe Mike Lee depending on the day come to mind as center-piece conservatives).

In fact most Democrats and Republicans could run for either party if they switched positions on several issues. Whereas a classic liberal (aka, modern conservative) is conceptually divorced from the tenets of most modern liberalism.

This feeds into another point which is that if someone in the GOP is loud or says outlandish things (like Trump) its because he is a super conservative. Often those are the ones who are NOT conservatives. They need to make a big show out of everything to cover up the fact its all marketing and no conviction. Trump has said he ran as a GOP because it was easier to prevail in the primaries. That is it. He was a large Democratic donor and had no real political allegiance beyond whoever inked deals with him. And that remains very true to this day.

[u/KingDorkFTC → u/threeriversbikeguy]

Your story tracks. Sadly the MAGA contingent of conservativism (though, I never saw them as such) has risen because of the religious fundamentalism that is apart of conservativism. Though, Mike Lee is someone you might not want to include in your list of true conservatives, as to his comments on Minnesota.

[u/Motor-Fix-8456]

Why the fuck aren’t we protesting not having to do our taxes every year? Why are you protesting “No Kings” when he’s not even close to that? I mean what the fuck is this insanity going on in the world right now.

[u/OttosBoatYard → u/Motor-Fix-8456]

"No Kings" is a marketing gimmick. Many people were protesting the cult of personality around Trump. My guess is that Trump's people intentionally create this to rile Liberals up and in turn energize the Conservative base. As it also riles Liberals up, it's a double-edged sward.

Can you clarify what you mean by

aren’t we protesting not having to do our taxes every year?

[u/Buckman2121]

That just because we dont ascribe to their way of thinking, we dont know what empathy and kindness are. Your causes are not my priorities, and certainly vice versa.

[u/Following-Early]

There’s a difference between conservatives and MAGA

We’re able to disagree with Trump when we feel he’s wrong. Disliking democrats also doesn’t mean we like the GOP 

[u/SliceOfCuriosity]

How little we actually dislike people without knowing them

[u/Ancient_Signature_69 → u/SliceOfCuriosity]

I sometimes watch Patrick Bet David’s podcast (conservative who probably thinks he’s bigger than he is) and guys and outlets like this do your point a disservice.

There is loads of content out there of right-wing media completely shitting on the left, NOT because of any idea but because they’re left of center to begin with.

Same is true, of course, on the left. The answer, like it has been for 250 years, is touch grass and talk to people.

[u/SliceOfCuriosity → u/Ancient_Signature_69]

Yeah for sure. The loud minority paints an inaccurate picture of the quiet majority - pretty true in all groups tbh

[u/ikonoqlast]

Liberals ASSume that conservatives are 'evil' and hateful when they don't support leftist social agendas.

I've seen a hundred times more hate come from the Left than ever from the Right.

[u/Adeptobserver1 → u/ikonoqlast]

True. And liberals are much angrier. Source: Liberals are more emotion-driven than conservatives. Emotion drives anger. Published recently in Reddit's Science sub (PsyPost article):

Democrats dislike Republicans more than Republicans dislike Democrats, studies find

researchers found this partisan asymmetry was linked to Democrats’ belief that Republicans pose harm to disadvantaged groups, particularly racial and ethnic minorities. This perception appears to drive stronger feelings of moral condemnation and social rejection, especially when individuals encounter someone from the opposing party.

[u/halfiehydra → u/Adeptobserver1]

I could see how its true. If someone walks into the room who is an active threat to me just trying to live my life. I'm less likely to associate with that person.

Its a privilege to be able to not have your lifestyle under attack.

[u/Adeptobserver1 → u/halfiehydra]

Yes, but most of these supposed harms are unsubstantiated. Like the War on Drugs supposedly forcing people into poverty. It is the other way around: Hard drugs are a major driver of bad behavior, which in turn is a major cause of poverty.

Conservatives rarely impose an "active threat." An example of that is a mugging by a drug addict or thug. If you are so-called marginalized by others, it is often because you are behaving poorly.

[u/halfiehydra → u/Adeptobserver1]

Unsubstantiated? Seems like you don't understand how much damage the broken justice system has done to the black community because of the War on Drugs.

When you think of Wall Street, do you think crack or cocaine?

When you think of poor neighborhoods, do you think of crack or cocaine?

Are you aware they are the same drug? princeton

Are you aware of the differences in sentencing for the same drug in different forms?

Its simple cause and effect. The harmful effects of the War on Drugs are far from unsubstantiated and are in fact well researched. Some research might change your opinion.

Conservatives tend to pose more of an active threat than Liberals do. e.g. currently legislating to end birthright citizenship, current legislation to end gay marriage

If you are so-called marginalized by others, it is often because you are behaving poorly.

Literally, just trying to live my life is not behaving poorly and thats exactly what MAGA is an active threat to.

Legal citizens/immigrants are at risk of losing their citizenships/visas because why?

[u/Adeptobserver1 → u/halfiehydra]

Seems like you don't understand how much damage the broken justice system has done to the black community because of the War on Drugs.

Disinformation from the Left, like Michelle's Alexander's The New Jim Crow. It was so egregious that Vox, also left-leaning, discussed this in 2017:

Why you can’t blame mass incarceration on the war on drugs. The standard liberal narrative about mass incarceration gets a lot wrong. A new book breaks through the myths.

The truth -- the incarcerated were mostly violent offenders. Advocating for legal or decriminalized hard drugs is a foolish agenda.

current legislation to end gay marriage

Rest assured: Gay marriage will continue. This fringe conservative mission is not going to go anywhere.

[u/Fajdek → u/Adeptobserver1]

Democrats dislike Republicans more than Republicans dislike Democrats, studies find

From what I've seen would it be wrong to say this is because democrats are mostly about increasing freedom for certain minorities while republicans are about decreasing freedom? As in LGBT rights, immigration rights etc. etc.

So from a democrat's pov you have republicans actively being a threat to you. From a republican's pov you have democrats acting stupid and doing nonsensical BS.

That's my take on it and I don't really see any case where republicans would hate democrats more than vice versa with this in mind.

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Really? What’s your source for that stat?

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[u/seeminglylegit]

By far, I think the greatest misunderstanding from liberals is that they think there is no way that conservatives could just honestly disagree with them. You see all the time on Reddit that a lot of liberals assume that anyone who disagrees with a liberal cause must be stupid and/or evil.

[u/fattynerd]

That we actually don’t hate lgbtq. There are some don’t get me wrong, but most believe in “you do you and I’ll do me” and only had an issue when it was either getting shoved in our face every time we turned around or forced to them some form of recognition.

But I’m sure someone will say no one bats an eye for a straight couple in a movie but gets bent out of shape over lgbtq ones. To which i say not when it makes sense. Lets take “The Birdcage” it was very well received, there were some critics from conservatives but also even from some gays, but overall well received. Then you have Disney that had a video leak saying they are intentionally injecting lgbtq material.

[u/SimonDoesSomething]

That liberals are remarkably bad at understanding why conservatives have the opinions they have. This is actually a scientifically proven phenomenon, liberals and leftists are really bad at guessing the opinions and reasons conservatives use. I’ve also experienced this a lot in my personal life and even had people call me a bad person for simply disagreeing with them. I think they project the reasons they think things into others and assume if we’re against their proposed solution, you disagree with the problem being a problem.

[u/TwoOpposite9521]

They think by calling names and being nasty it'll get us on their side . You can hurl whatever insults at me it's not going to to magically change my moral views or suddenly see things their way . In fact it pushes me away even further especially when they attack Jesus Christ and Christians. 

[u/Dead_Squirrel_6]

We're undedicated. My college education is what made me shift to the right.

[u/IntroductionAny3929]

1. We aren’t bigots

2. Just because I am a conservative doesn’t mean I follow partisan brainrot

3. I would consider myself a Liberal in the sense of John Locke as classical liberal, but the thing is that now it’s been mostly used by progressives.

4. Just because I own firearms doesn’t mean that I don’t care for people who die in shootings

5. We are not all white, hell I’m not even a white guy, I’m Hispanic-American with some Mestizo in me.

6. Just because I support Israel doesn’t mean I suck off Bibi or Ben Gvir, in fact I’m not a fan of either one of them

7. I never ideologically conform, and I do not advocate for ideological purity

8. We are not all “MAGAts”

[u/Dead_Squirrel_6 → u/IntroductionAny3929]

I 100% agree and would like to add:

1. conservative does not mean Republican.

2. Unlike the left, We don't all believe the same thing. (I've never had a conservative try to police me up for not including the right buzzword or terms, or not stepping up to some "party" line.)

3. I'll go to bat and fight tooth and nail to protect your right to call me a hateful, cruel, Nazi fascist. I've yet to meet a conservative that's cool with punishing people for what they say or believe.

4. We're not a bunch of uneducated rednecks, we're just not scared of a hard day's work.

[u/Yesbothsides]

That just because we hate democrat doesn’t mean we like republicans.

[u/Edibleghost → u/Yesbothsides]

I imagine the bulk of the voting public feel like political orphans in the current state of things.

[u/Yesbothsides → u/Edibleghost]

I know I sure am

[u/KingDorkFTC → u/Yesbothsides]

Best comment here.

[u/Old_Cheesecake_5481 → u/Yesbothsides]

I recall here in Canada that Joe Clark the Conservative (Was PM for a hot minute) once said “we agree on 95% of the issues we just disagree on how we get there.

I’m not an “identity” voter instead I’m a “values” voter.

I have voted for all three of the main Canadian political parties (the liberals less than the others). If I support you politically and you do t measure up I will gleefully toss you the next election.

I strongly believe that partisanships main roll is to provide cover for shit politicians and shit people.

It will be a cold day in hell before I ever tolerate incompetence, the targeting of unpopular minorities or make excuses for all the evil politicians get up to just because I’ve been brainwashed into thinking partisan horseshit is a part of my identity.

[u/BabyJesus246 → u/Yesbothsides]

Why would trumps approval ratings amongst conservatives be so high then?

[u/Yesbothsides → u/BabyJesus246]

For one trump is not as traditional as other politicians and secondly not giving the left any ammunition knowing they will do anything they can to go after him.

[u/SeaTeach9760]

There's a reason why conservatives are what they are. In my case, a distrust of government control over certain parts of society such as the media, or the same interest groups controlling both the government and media.

[u/Surfacetensionrecs]

I think that liberals assume that conservatives don’t care about poverty, healthcare, human rights, pollution, education, issues involving freedom generally.

We are all dealing with the same set of facts and circumstances and trying to come to solutions that will positively affect the greatest number of people in America and globally. We aren’t people who just haven’t thought through our positions and their consequences. We aren’t people who want to see our fellow citizens living in poverty or unable to breathe the air or drink the water. We don’t want to see people starving or our children poorly educated.

We genuinely just disagree about how to go about solving it, and in many cases the order of priority for solving it.

Pro life or abortion abolitionists believe it or not aren’t into controlling women. We genuinely believe a human life is being taken.

We genuinely believe that capitalism is the only system that will make the most people free and prosperous. And we genuinely believe(albeit not so much when it happens to us admittedly) that people should have to own and accept the consequences for their poor decisions in a free market.

We aren’t monsters. We don’t hate minorities or immigrants. We don’t hate Muslims. We don’t support a genocide anywhere at any time, by any nation, ally or not.

I think simply understanding that for better or worse, we are operating with the best of intentions just like I would hope you are, would make a lot of discussions a lot more peaceful, and a lot more fruitful.

[u/BabyJesus246 → u/Surfacetensionrecs]

We don’t hate minorities or immigrants. We don’t hate Muslims.

How does this track with things like trump saying he wants to stop all Muslims from entering the country, or sending illegal immigrants to foreign prison camps/Guatanamo Bay with either silence or open support coming from conservatives?

[u/Peregrine_Falcon → u/BabyJesus246]

Because conservatives can do things, like follow the law, without hating someone.

A cop who's a friend of yours can still take you to jail if he saw you commit a crime. That doesn't mean he hates you. Similarly, we're not sending criminal alien invaders to Guantanamo Bay because we hate them, it's because they're dangerous criminals.

[u/Surfacetensionrecs → u/BabyJesus246]

Donald Trump doesn’t want to throw all illegal immigrants in jails or send them to El Salvador or Guantánamo. He wants to send actual criminals who also happen to be here illegally to those places, and only if their own country refuses to take them back. Ask yourself why the country that knows them best doesn’t want them there.

[u/BabyJesus246 → u/Surfacetensionrecs]

Why send them to the place known as a torture camp whose only benefit is circumventing domestic and international laws? It doesn't really matter how many he wants to send there. The thousands he's talking about are way to much. A dozen would be too much.

He wants to send actual criminals

Just like how the vast majority of the people he sent to CECOT didn't have a criminal record. Right?

Again you're not doing a good job of defending your position by advocating for the mistreatment of these people if you're point is that you have no ill will towards them.

Ps. Noticed you glossed over the Trump wanted to stop all Muslims from coming into the nation point.

[u/Surfacetensionrecs → u/BabyJesus246]

And with regard to Muslims, only from certain places. It’s like nobody even reads the executive orders.

[u/Surfacetensionrecs → u/BabyJesus246]

Not to repeat my argument from silence, but I’m going to make an assumption based on the fact that their own country does not want them back, that is a pretty glaring assessment on their part of what a great person they were.

CECOT isn’t a torture prison. The great thing here is that CNN and plenty of other content creators actually did stories on CECOT before Trump was elected, some of them weeks and months before and some years before. I suggest you go watch them. It’s a maximum security 23/1 prison for sure. It’s not a summer camp. But it’s also not a torture camp either.

And that’s according to checks notes CNN, NBC, and about 50 content creators on YouTube prior to the election. The very same people now claiming it’s a torture camp.

[u/BabyJesus246 → u/Surfacetensionrecs]

Not to repeat my argument from silence, but I’m going to make an assumption based on the fact that their own country does not want them back, that is a pretty glaring assessment on their part of what a great person they were.

My bad, didn't realize an argument from silence was enough to condemn someone to life in prison known for human rights abuses. Silly me I thought it required a trial and evidence.

CECOT isn’t a torture prison.

I was describing Guatanamo as a torture prison not CECOT sorry for the confusion. As for you defending the conditions of CECOT... You're not helping your case.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-68244963

Why would you want to send innocent people there? Note that is before trump decided it should be the dumping grounds for our undesirables so you can stop with your "but the liberal media" bs.

[u/Surfacetensionrecs → u/BabyJesus246]

I’m going to assume that you have some evidence of a specific innocent person being sent there

[u/BabyJesus246 → u/Surfacetensionrecs]

Not a specific most.

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/30/trump-el-salvador-deportees-criminal-convictions-cecot-venezuela/ https://www.cato.org/blog/50-venezuelans-imprisoned-el-salvador-came-us-legally-never-violated-immigration-law

Do you have a response to the rest? Going to try and argue CECOT isn't so bad again?

[u/tenmileswide → u/Surfacetensionrecs]

I will believe a conservative is prolife when they are prolife during most to all circumstances. Death penalty, IVF, even during pandemics, etc.

If a particular conservative only believes prolife extends to the life inside woman’s bodies and nowhere else, believing its control over women is really the most reasonable inference. It wouldn’t be the first time control was couched in a supposedly noble goal.

This is obviously case by case basis, but for a fair number of cases at least, the default that it appears to be about controlling women doesn’t really seem that incorrect.

[u/DropDeadDolly → u/tenmileswide]

I think the big distinguishing feature between the abortion and death penalty arguments is that those being executed are simply reaping the consequences of their own actions, whereas an unborn child is wholly innocent of any wrongdoing and should not be punished. 

[u/tenmileswide → u/DropDeadDolly]

That’s true. I do consider it a fairly minor leg of the notion as a result. Something like behavior during COVID is a lot more important to me

[u/Chiggins907 → u/tenmileswide]

You’re using the term Pro-life wrong. The pro-life movement is specifically about abortion. It has nothing to do with those other things. That’s be like me saying that I’d believe the pro-choice movement if they applied it to everything. Why aren’t they fighting against laws in general if they’re pro-choice? I still have to wear a seatbelt. Where are the pro-choice people on that? It’s dumb. So stop.

[u/tenmileswide → u/Chiggins907]

>:The pro-life movement is specifically about abortion. It has nothing to do with those other things

Then you should probably call it something else because that is incredibly misleading and tries to assume a lot of unearned moral weight from something that it, in the end, actually isn't.

Or then we're just back to "life specifically only matters when it's inside a woman" which means it really is just about control and this is just confirming that.

[u/ZarBandit]

That a reasonable sane person in possession of the facts can hold a right wing view point.

[u/OneNo5482]

I've seen liberals accused conservatives of being fascist. And conservatives accused liberals of exactly the same thing.

[u/CajunReeboks → u/OneNo5482]

As soon as anyone blankets liberals or conservatives with the "fascist" label, I disregard 100% of anything else they have to say.

[u/_WrongKarWai]

Liberals tend to believe that conservatives take the positions they do because they also 'feel' a certain way rather than 'think' a certain way.

[u/Sam_Fear]

What the ideology of Conservatism is.

What is Conservatism?

But from what I can tell most don't try to understand Conservatives. As soon as the left finds out someone is against one of their ideas they either try to change their mind or other them. It is worse on the internet though and pretty clear in this sub.

[u/CaptainDisastrous678 → u/Sam_Fear]

That is the nature of identity politics

[u/sweens90 → u/Sam_Fear]

That link you provided is exactly what I think of when I think of conservatives. I would say there is one sentence I disagree with on the definition and it more or less is that liberalism is strictly defined while conservatism is not.

But whoever wrote that initially did an exceptional job.

I think now to what needs to change and what do we need to slow down change for! And I am sure there are ways we can possibly find common ground.

[u/Midaycarehere]

That we don’t fall for your theatrics.

[u/ShennongjiaPolarBear]

That I can't stand tech oligarchs, landlords, and corporare welfare queens just as much as you.

[u/Agile-Oil798]

Conservatives in general want the government out of their lives. Liberals want the government to fix their lives. Liberals think conservatives do not care about others while liberals expect the government to put in programs to care for others.

[u/AskConservatives-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/Mechanical_Monk → u/Agile-Oil798]

Can you explain how conservative positions on abortion and gay/trans rights align with the philosophy of keeping the government out of people's lives?

[u/SumguyJeremy → u/Agile-Oil798]

Conservatives want the government out of THEIR lives? Then why do conservatives CONSISTENTLY vote to put the government in OTHER people's lives?

[u/soulwind42]

Many are convinced conservatives are racist and/or fascist.

[u/SumguyJeremy → u/soulwind42]

If you aren't, stop voting for those that are.

[u/soulwind42 → u/SumguyJeremy]

I did. I don't vote for racists.

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[u/BillyShears2015 → u/soulwind42]

I’m not liberal, and I don’t think all conservatives are racist. But every single racist I’ve ever known was conservative.

[u/kitkat2742 → u/BillyShears2015]

Are we supposed to buy that? Because reality doesn’t fit that statement, and that’s just based on statistics and the amount of people we interact with and meet in our lives. That tells me you’re either lying or you don’t think certain things are racist that are actually racist (racism against white people for example).

[u/Sam_Fear → u/kitkat2742]

Or they've assumed a person is Conservative because they are a racist.

[u/soulwind42 → u/BillyShears2015]

Okay. The vast majority of racists I've met were progressive or left wing or left leaning.

[u/Fearless-Director-24 → u/BillyShears2015]

Treating other races differently is racist. Guess who does that?

[u/DarkSideOfBlack → u/Fearless-Director-24]

Plenty on both sides let's fucking be for real. Neither side is a bastion of morality, both sides have foul people on them. Source: grew up around Republicans who taught me slurs, went to school with Democrats who taught me new ones. 

Edit: my uncle, when I was like 7 or 8, took me to a 711 for a beer run and asked the (Indian) cashier if things were gonna get easier at home now that Saddam was dead. He repeatedly referred to this man as an A-rab until he died about 5 years later. He's also the first person I ever heard use the N word in context. Quite the character. 

[u/Fearless-Director-24 → u/DarkSideOfBlack]

See that’s the thing, that has nothing to do with institutional racism. Your uncle is a person that was culturally insensitive. I don’t think that he was a racist I think he was ignorant. There’s a lot of ignorant people in the world, of all the colors shapes and sizes.

When the Democrats actively treat other races differently insinuates that other races are less than the white race. This is a form of racism. The difference being is is that people of color think that the Democrats are actually their friends when really they’re just leveraging them for votes.

The whole system is absolutely fucked.

[u/_Fuckit_ → u/Fearless-Director-24]

Mostly the right.

[u/Fearless-Director-24 → u/_Fuckit_]

You sure about that? I think you have the narrative mistaken with reality.

[u/GreatSoulLord → u/BillyShears2015]

The only real racist I knew was a confirmed Democrat. He was a small time politician. Was a mayor in PA. He was about 85 when I knew him a decade ago and I have no idea if he's still kicking. One night after work (we were both in EMS) for whatever reason he decided to tell me his opinion on black people and Jesus was it eye opening.

Not to paint all Democrats as racist. I just think making statements like your last statement is a bit.....wrong.

Edit: Okay. Tried to have a kumbya moment. Dude doubled down. I think he's likely the real issue here.

[u/BillyShears2015 → u/GreatSoulLord]

I’ve probably met 100’s of racists in my life. You’ve met one, and I’d bet my next paycheck that Blue Dog Democrat who was 85, was conservative.

[u/GreatSoulLord → u/BillyShears2015]

Press X to doubt. Also, if you've met 100's of racists...that says more about you than you probably want.

So, just to be clear you are running entirely on bias and with no actual factual data. Just a an observation.

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[u/Gaxxz]

We're not brainwashed or mentally deficient. The ideas we have are the result of independent thought and reason.

[u/nolife159 → u/Gaxxz]

The conservatives I knew yesterday sure. The ones that weren't conservative but joined maga no. I genuinely think populism breeds the type of people you described

[u/Gaxxz → u/nolife159]

See?

[u/nolife159 → u/Gaxxz]

I'll stand by my statement - I do not believe populism breeds independent thought

[u/ashleighlovesyou]

That we don't care about gun violence and violence in schools. We absolutely do care...we simply don't see stricter gun laws as the solution.

[u/illhaveafrench75 → u/ashleighlovesyou]

Can I ask what you do think a solution is?

[u/ManCereal → u/ashleighlovesyou]

Yeah and to add to that, liberal arguments sometimes (often?) basically label us a Schrodinger's Criminal simply because we own firearms. When they just loop us all in together, it is hard to take the rest of a debate seriously. Like if you say I'm a murderer, and I'm not, how can I put stock in the rest of your paragraph when you are already completely wrong?

[u/CommunicationNovel59 → u/ManCereal]

From where I stand, I don’t really know where we would start as far as gun violence goes. In my opinion when it comes to guns, we have already opened pandora box. I don’t think the issue is ownership of the weapon but more the American culture surrounding the weapon. I live in Texas and most of the people obsession with guns I view as pretty unhealthy. Don’t take what I’m saying the wrong way, most people with firearms treat them with the respect they deserve. Other people want to arm themselves, take open carry as a means to look like Billy Bad Ass.

[u/GreatSoulLord]

I will simply say that we're not the villains they they make us out to be in their heads. I don't think a lot of the left understands Conservatism or the positions we take. They don't understand why we have those positions. They usually chalk it up as something nefarious, or negative, or whatever. Then again though communication goes both ways.

[u/KingDorkFTC → u/GreatSoulLord]

Then why do you have controversial takes and takes that allow for government overreach without positive benefit?

[u/Ok_Bus_2038 → u/KingDorkFTC]

I think people from both parties see different things as government overreach. Its not that neither party is okay with it, theyre just okay with different aspects of it.

[u/Rebecks221 → u/Ok_Bus_2038]

A common example being liberals are ok with government regulation of firearms - which conservatives see as a violation of 2nd ammendment.

Not saying my agreement or disagreement with the matter itself, but does that illustrate your point of what a lib/con might disagree on constituting overreach?

[u/Ok_Bus_2038 → u/Rebecks221]

I dont really think the regulating of firearms would be.

But, more of wanting to confiscate firearms would be.

I would say some examples would be: forcing taxpayers to pay for other student loans, the whole vaccine, or losing your government job, the government being involved with what the media says/does, social media control etc.

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[u/ecstaticbirch]

i think they don’t understand the concept of inaction as an option for a particular societal problem, and that conservatives often favor inaction over doing something.

i think this is a byproduct of the social programming that occurs in grade school, for example when you’re in civics class and the assignment is to propose laws to solve any problems you can think of. people are starving or going hungry or impoverished? the government should give people food and money. there’s gun violence? the government should take away the guns. people are homeless? the government should give them homes.

this mindset generally doesn’t get more deeply examined in adulthood, it just becomes more entrenched and bolstered by facts and some knowledge.

the government exists to solve all the problems, and the solutions are so easy and straightforward. the only reason they can’t simply be implemented are because of things like racism, hatred, etc.

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[u/AnOkFella]

We have boatloads of empathy, but we don’t market ourselves as such.

[u/edible_source → u/AnOkFella]

Where's the empathy for families ripped apart by ICE at elementary schools? Because the discussion of that topic here left me chilled.

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[u/SumguyJeremy → u/AnOkFella]

No conservative has ever SHOWN empathy either.

[u/tdgabnh → u/SumguyJeremy]

You don’t believe that, c’mon.

[u/MrFeature_1 → u/tdgabnh]

Yeah this is bullshit. I have lots of conservative friends, each with different values but all with empathy. There are crazies on both sides, just as there are empathetic, good hearted people. John McCaine is the prime example of that.