Most Liberals Are Conservative (And Most Conservatives Are Liberal)

When I talk bad about liberals, I should really say moonbats.  I can't stand moonbats.  Code Pink is full of hate-filled, socialist-loving, BDS-afflicted shrews.  IVAW is mostly made up from people who were either screw-ups in the military and have a grudge because they kept being slapped down, people who were never in the military, and maybe 5% who were good soldiers and now have sincere moral objections to the war.  Good on that 5% and I support them even though I don’t agree with them.  Why they associate with the other 95% I don't know.  There are many more examples and listing them would take hours.

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I talked about how being liberal used to be a good thing.  High ideals, compassion, generosity, and responsibility are commendable traits and were associated with being liberal.  The term has now been hijacked by moonbats and that's a shame because most people who consider themselves liberal try to live by those values I mentioned.  They believe the world is a good place and if we all try hard enough, we can make the entire world a great place for humanity.  They want to conserve the environment, conserve our resources, conserve our values and reputation, and conserve our rights.

Unsurprisingly (except to the moonbats), conservatives want these things also.  Most conservatives will tell you that if you don't conserve the environment, it won't remain fit for human use.  If you don't conserve resources, demand exceeds supply and then only the rich will be able to afford things.  If you don't conserve your values and reputation, you can't look at yourself and your country with pride.  If you don't conserve your rights, evil people will take them from you.

Many people who call themselves liberal are anti-abortion, pro-2nd amendment, patriotic, racist, religiously extreme, and many other things frequently associated with the conservative stereotype.  Many people who call themselves conservative are atheist, pro-choice, anti-gun, anti-American, and many other things frequently associated with the liberal stereotype.   I know liberal and conservative people who are racists... I don't like them because I don’t like racists.  I know liberal and conservative people who are anti-American... I don't like them because I love America and believe in our country.  The rest of those issues, or just about any other issue, I can discuss rationally with both liberals and conservatives who are willing to do the same. 

As an example, I strongly believe in an individual right to bear arms, but I can respect the honest reservations of someone who believes that gun-control is necessary.  Nobody sane would disagree that elementary school children should not be able to buy or carry weapons.  Few people would object to restrictions on firearms in courthouses or on someone owning a mortar or hand-grenade.  I think college students should be able to carry handguns while somebody else may disagree.  Debate on where to draw the line is healthy and necessary for a free society.

What I'm trying to say is that most people, whether they self-identify as liberal or conservative, have pretty similar views and respect the views of others.  A commentator I met over at Patterico's named aphrael is far to the left on the political spectrum compared to me.  I respect his views as much as I do any conservative I know because of his honesty in making his points, the sincerity of his beliefs, and the respect he gives to differing opinions.  I believe he is representative of self-identifying liberals and the moonbats are the fringe.

Wingnuts are the conservative equivalent of moonbats.  They no more represent conservative thought than Cindy Sheehan does.  The problem is that these fringe elements, both moonbats and wingnuts, are so vocal (and so salaciously entertaining that the MSM can't resist highlighting them) they smear "their" movement by association.  It becomes very easy to dismiss all liberals as moonbats and all conservatives as wingnuts.  Go to Dkos, DU, or Liberal Avenger and see how you are treated if you say you're a conservative.  There are conservative sites that won't tolerate liberals either (it's harder for me to identify them by name because I usually get treated well, maybe asking aphrael would be better.)

It's gotten to where people with nearly identical views reflexively disagree because of these labels.  They make assumptions that because someone is an atheist, they want to see as many abortions done as possible... or that if they are evangelical, they want to turn our country into a fascist theocracy.  We need to stop doing this and listen to each other.  When I talk negatively about wingnuts, I usually don’t think of them as conservatives and am unpleasantly surprised when they are described as such.  I shouldn’t be, but I am.  When I say negative things about moonbats, I frequently call them liberals in error.  I don't want to do that anymore because in a lot of ways, I'm just as much a liberal as many who call themselves that... and they're just as much a conservative as I am.

 I should have added aphrael to the blogroll before.  I have now corrected that and encourage you to check out his site.  He’s not as active as I’m trying to be, but he’s certainly worth reading when he does post.

Posted by: Stashiu3 at 00:49:00 | No Comments | Add Comment
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