Current Events > I don't understand how a lot of American centrists tend to lean Republican

(+) Yeah! (+)

Democrats are pretty much a centrist party.

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Darmik posted...

Democrats are pretty much a centrist party.

cause the republicans do a better job at selling their kool aid

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Because republicans advertise every democrat as RADICAL LIBERALS while democrats generally don't call out those assholes for what they are nearly as much

Idk

I don't understand how a lot of American centrists tend to lean Republican

Intense and unending media, conformity, and culture.

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Republicans have been conducting a decades-long concerted effort to pull the country to the right

JBaLLEN66 posted...

cause the republicans do a better job at selling their kool aid

Or flip it the other way.

One side is about lowering taxes while the other wants to tax everyone to death
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Depends on where you live and what local issues you're facing. As a homeowner I'm usually looking for a candidate that isn't going to make my property tax skyrocket.

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Cause elephants are cooler than donkeys

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voldothegr8 posted...

One side is about lowering taxes while the other wants to tax everyone to death

Republicans have done a good job of convincing naive people of this, good point

Here's some pertinent reading material TC

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2009/01/26/two-santa-clauses-or-how-republican-party-has-conned-america-thirty-years

voldothegr8 posted...

One side is about lowering taxes while the other wants to tax everyone to death

I'm relying on Google here but from what I can tell Biden is only increasing taxes for individuals who earn more than 400K and corporations?

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a lot of people in the US think that the Democrats are left-wing. so they interpret "centrist" as being between the right-wing party and the slightly farther right-wing party

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Hippocrates posted...

Republicans have done a good job of convincing naive people of this, good point

Here's some pertinent reading material TC

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2009/01/26/two-santa-clauses-or-how-republican-party-has-conned-america-thirty-years

commondreams.org lmao

Darmik posted...

I'm relying on Google here but from what I can tell Biden is only increasing taxes for individuals who earn more than 400K and corporations?

You think I'm strictly speaking about the federal level?
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ShineboxPhil posted...

Cause elephants are cooler than donkeys

also centrists don't lean left or right

then they wouldn't be called centrists

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voldothegr8 posted...

commondreams.org lmao

Oh, sorry if I gave the impression I was responding to you, or that I consider your input worth anything. I was using your stupid post as a springboard to speak to TC

Hippocrates posted...

Oh, sorry if I gave the impression I was responding to you, or that I consider your input worth anything. I was using your stupid post as a springboard to speak to TC

https://i.imgur.com/AsU6Dho.jpg
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I think it's because a lot of the reason people identify as "centrists" is because they are politically disinterested and ill-informed, they think it is an unsavory topic and don't want to alienate people. A lot of them have cozy positions in life because you kind of have to to be able to able to exclude yourself from politics. Given that, I think what drives them further to the right is that people on the left are more likely to challenge their cozy worldview. Take gentrification for example. There's nothing wrong on the surface with wanting to live in a nice neighborhood, and I don't think people who do are demons or anything, but some people just don't want to hear about any negative aspects of something that's just an ordinary innocuous thing to them.

Basically the only true promise that the American right delivers on is "if you join us, we won't make you feel bad about anything", and that's an enticing promise for a lot of people.

Centrist by American standards is not the same thing as centrist by everywhere-else standards.

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GrabASnickers posted...

I think it's because a lot of the reason people identify as "centrists" is because they are politically disinterested and ill-informed, they think it is an unsavory topic and don't want to alienate people. A lot of them have cozy positions in life because you kind of have to to be able to able to exclude yourself from politics. Given that, I think what drives them further to the right is that people on the left are more likely to challenge their cozy worldview. Take gentrification for example. There's nothing wrong on the surface with wanting to live in a nice neighborhood, and I don't think people who do are demons or anything, but some people just don't want to hear about any negative aspects of something that's just an ordinary innocuous thing to them.

Basically the only true promise that the American right delivers on is "if you join us, we won't make you feel bad about anything", and that's an enticing promise for a lot of people.

Good explanation tbh. I suppose wanting the status quo tends to attract you to being conservative regardless of how centrist the left party is.

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Centrists in America are just embarrassed Republicans, or liars.

You're right that the Democrats are an actual centrist party. It infuriates me when modern rhetoric paints them as extremists. They're just capitalists that are nice (or pretend to be nice). Their obsession with centrism is actually proving to be a flaw given how brazen Republicans have become.

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Yeah, could also just say status quo, though I don't think that paints a whole picture since Dems are pretty status quo too.

People in general just don't like to be challenged on what they see as "normal". You see it in how people are resistant to vegetarianism/veganism, or being in favor of spanking kids because they were spanked too. On top of that, many people also don't see things as political, but like with my earlier example, the dynamics of how your neighborhood took shape were definitely a result of politics even if it was outside of any of your own involvement. And centrism in theory is supposed to be the ultimate "things are normal now so let's keep it that way" philosophy.

hockeybub89 posted...

Centrists in America are just embarrassed Republicans, or liars.

You're right that the Democrats are an actual centrist party. It infuriates me when modern rhetoric paints them as extremists. They're just capitalists that are nice (or pretend to be nice). Their obsession with centrism is actually proving to be a flaw given how brazen Republicans have become.

Loudest vs majority.

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GrabASnickers posted...

On top of that, many people also don't see things as political

Current American conservatism sees everything as political. Just existing outside of the status quo makes you a political in their eyes.

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hockeybub89 posted...

Current American conservatism sees everything as political.

I don't disagree, and that's why things are so bad. A lot of things shouldn't be political, but politicians can basically will them into being politicized.

But liberals and conservatives politicize different things, and centrists are here trying to not politicize anything, and I think that ultimately the politicization from liberals annoys them more. Not that I'm saying that's right. Conservatives also have a dastardly way of using their politicization to mask that they've politicized things. They're the only ones that debate that climate change exists, but by denying that it exists they can say stuff like "don't let those liberals tell you there's something wrong with driving that truck, there's no such thing as climate change" and the naive person buys it.

Or covid obviously. Liberals are the ones that want to have all these rules! Even though they follow pretty standard and common pandemic guidelines from medical professionals, they're political now. Conservatives just want everyone to live their lives, liberals wanna impose all these rules on you and make covid political. Not what I believe but what they tell centrists.

Centrists get attacked because we have two delusional political fanbases who froth at the mouth whenever someone doesn't pick a side

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When Americans say they're a centrist, they're saying that they think their beliefs would fall between the two major parties. But consider that most people don't have a good grasp of what the Republican Party actually believes, and laying it out, most people think it's too extreme to be true.


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BignutzisBack posted...

Centrists get attacked because we have two delusional political fanbases who froth at the mouth whenever someone doesn't pick a side

There is also a weird idea from the far left that anything centrist is some sort of "cut the baby in half" position

But yea most of the Dem party is pretty much centrist and i love it

To answer tc, i think part of the problem is that the left fringe of the dems gets way too much attention and it turns people off.

Theres a reason the republicans seem obsessed with AOC and Co - theyre demagogues that turn off anyone who isnt 100% in their camp. They dont want folks to pay attention to Biden, because he is actually reasonable. It helps republicans to create the illusion that AOC is representative of the Democratic platform
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g980 posted...

Theres a reason the republicans seem obsessed with AOC and Co - theyre demagogues that turn off anyone who isnt 100% in their camp. They dont want folks to pay attention to Biden, because he is actually reasonable. It helps republicans to create the illusion that AOC is representative of the Democratic platform

Absolutely, I live in rural Minnesota and even for state political races I was getting flyers that had Ihlian Omar, Bernie, and AOC with ominous communist warnings lmao

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BignutzisBack posted...

Absolutely, I live in rural Minnesota and even for state political races I was getting flyers that had Ihlian Omar, Bernie, and AOC with ominous communist warnings lmao

Yikes

The debates were a really obvious example of this. Trump would argue against stuff like the Green New Deal, Biden would say "that isnt my platform", and Trump would ignore him
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BignutzisBack posted...

Centrists get attacked because we have two delusional political fanbases who froth at the mouth whenever someone doesn't pick a side

Centrists believe in two sides and think the answer is to not form an opinion. You're buying into the extreme bipartisanship of America just as hard as those "teams".

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cause they're not actually centrists. they're moderate conservatives who are embarrassed to call themselves republican because of how extreme republicans tend to be

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I think its more that the left sees anyone with a few ideals that dont fall in line with theirs as far right.

I was getting called a fake democrat all the time when I expressed that I felt we didnt need to disband ICE, but instead make the immigration system far smoother and more accessible.

I kinda think thats whats going on with this topic, actually.

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hockeybub89 posted...

Centrists believe in two sides and think the answer is to not form an opinion. You're buying into the extreme bipartisanship of America just as hard as those "teams".

Uh no

It means not subscribing to one side's stance fully on everything

No part of centrism precludes having opinions
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DarthAragorn posted...

Because republicans advertise every democrat as RADICAL LIBERALS while democrats generally don't call out those assholes for what they are nearly as much

Idk

When they do, they get told they're being decisive and hurting people's feelings
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Centrism in the US doesn't make sense because you have parties that are right and righter. What is supposed to be the "reasonable" middle ground between completely unchecked privatization of healthcare, and general privatization with some patient protective restrictions? The middle ground between "trust the police always did the right thing" and putting on body cams that they don't even turn on half the time or make any difference in legal battles?

Keep in mind that M4A and defunding the police are not mainstream positions in elected Dem ranks. This is why centrists are tiresome. We already have compromise positions all the time! And they fucking suck! That's why M4A and more stringent police reform have a lot of popularity.

Darmik posted...

Democrats are pretty much a centrist party.

But that's the answer. Centrists look between the centrist party and the fascists, and declare the centrists to be too far left. So of course they're leaning toward the fascists.

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Your first mistake is assuming that being politically leaning means you are therefore a part of a political party.

Plenty of liberals, conservatives and centrists that aren't part of any political party, like independents, and still think the main parties are garbage.

DarthAragorn posted...

Because republicans advertise every democrat as RADICAL LIBERALS while democrats generally don't call out those assholes for what they are nearly as much

Idk

Are you kidding? Democrats advertise republicans as RACISTS all the time.

I think it is partly because Democrats often come off as weak. Which makes it hard to respect them.

I would like to reiterate my long-held take that we have words that describe the ideologies held by these self-described centrists, and we should use those words instead of "centrist," which can mean any number of things depending on who, when and where the term is being used.

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Imo "moderate" is someone actually in/near the center or at least relative to the actual parties. Someone like Joe Biden or Mitt Romney.

"Centrist" seems like it's increasingly used by people who just don't want to actually get involved, or to do token both sidesing without actually offering better ideas.

"Independent" is not on a left right scale, it could be either one.

Yea i also want to question the premise of this topic

Some self described centrists might be swindled by republicans but i dont think its the majority

Would be curious if there are any actual studies
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well the left will talk about their plans to fix the problems and improve society but it will take everyone working together to achieve it

where as the right will tell people they dont have to do anything and all the problems are really because of whatever minority they pick to scapegoat that week

its a lot easier to blame others and do nothing than it is to work to improve things

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Centrists on the internet a lot of the time are Republicans trying to trick people into not voting Democrat. Their arguments are usually a big detailed rant about THE LEFT, with an "and Republicans suck too" lazily tacked on.

Raikuro posted...

Centrists on the internet a lot of the time are Republicans trying to trick people into not voting Democrat. Their arguments are usually a big detailed rant about THE LEFT, with an "and Republicans suck too" lazily tacked on.

So accurate. It's always "I'm not a Trump supporter but" followed by eight paragraphs of how the left has gotten too radical

Most centrists just find Republicans less obnoxious than democrats.

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Cause the democrats have gotten more and more extreme

Also wanna say constantly looking down on centrists and calling them right wingers in disguise is probably going to push them farther from the left. Just saying.

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I've never met a centrist that leaned towards Republican. It's always Republicans pretending to be centrists.

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