General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: What I've learned about conservatives in the last few months [View all]Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)[img][/img]
My assumptions are based on my experiences. I make that pretty clear in my post.
Allow me to explain something to you. You say you have conservatives around you. Well, what you're telling me is that these people are, by definition people who think gay men and women should be forbidden to marry the people they love. You are telling me that these people, by definition believe that federal aid programs such as TANF, CHIP, and WIC (you know, 'welfare') should be thrown away, leaving a few million needy Americans out in the cold. You are telling me that these people, by definition value corporate profit over human life. You are telling me that these people, by definition would rather we blow out the brains of a few hundred thousand people somewhere in the world to get an oil fix, than invest that money from the military budget into alternative energy research instead. You are telling me that these people, by definition hold that a woman has absolutely zero right to reproductive self-determination. You are telling me that these people, by definition believe that workers should have absolutely no rights; no minimum wage, no organization, no OSHA, no tort suits, none of that.
I'm not stringing out the more fringe-y beliefs of conservatives here. I'm not even touching on some of the more mainstream ones that follow conservatives around, such as those involving torture, immigration, the confederacy, all that. No, I'm simply telling you the core beliefs that define conservativism. Beliefs that are integral to the proclamation of "I am a conservative." Even at the core, the nucleus of this belief system, the defining trait is brutality.
Maybe your community doesn't actually fit the descriptor you've given it. It wouldn't surprise me; there's so much effort out there to define liberals as terrorist-loving, NAMBLA-funding, urban elitists that there's probably a lot of people who are not at all conservative, but self-identify as such because of all the bullshit out there about the left.