The way it was phrased didn't indicate that, though. It seemed like she was saying, "I used to be further to the left, but then I decided to become more moderate because it was better for my mental health." Is that a good reason to have the opinions you may have? I don't know, but it was honestly astonishing to me to see that as the thing she chose to highlight about her shift over the years. And for the love of god, center is not neutral. There is no such thing as ideological neutrality.
Lighten up PH. Some of my comment was meant to be humorous. Do you really think that I seriously meant that I hold a position for my mental health! Seriously? I just strongly believe that any type of absolutism is wrong and dangerous. The only way that progress can be made is to take into account the positions of others and then find some compromise where everyone gets at least part of what they want. Nothing in life is perfect.
To me, the center is just a place where left meets right and the two sides come together to work things out. Nobody ever gets everything that they want. Not me and not you. Unfortunately, we seem to be living in an era where tribalism has become extreme and people aren't even listening to each other. I am not the enemy, and I'm not even a moderate. I'm center left, by any historical definition of that concept.
All of the things you're saying are wrong, though, which is why I don't take it lightly. The dismissal of any position that unequivocally rejects the opposition as "absolutism is wrong and dangerous", holding compromise up as a virtue for its own sake, the reduction of all problems to a vague tribalism that could be solved if everyone just gets along. I disagree with it all from bottom to top and think it has ruined the world.
When people advocate racism and oppression, I don't want to listen to them anymore. I don't want to meet them halfway, and I don't want to elect anyone who does. Civility and compromise did not gain us independence, end slavery, give women the right to vote, shorten the work week to 40 hours, nor anything else of lasting consequence in our history. If you want to understand where I'm coming from, you need to understand that people in my ideological wheelhouse want to transform society, not maintain its stability or return it to a prior state. That's the most important thing that has to happen, and harping on about meeting in the middle and making incremental changes is nothing but an obstacle to it, even though when the dust clears everybody who makes those noises pats themselves on the back thinking it was all their doing. I have nothing against you or liberals personally, but unfortunately you're at least as much of an enemy politically as conservatives are.
Nobody is talking about compromising with racists, killers, or any other type of harmful extremists.
And, it's so nice of you to judge me by calling me an enemy. I strongly disagree with your positions, but I don't refer to you as an enemy. I just think you are not being realistic, assuming you still support communism or pure socialism.
Have you ever seriously studied the impact of communism or pure socialism with an open mind? It might look good on paper, but it's never worked out very well. It's always lead to more poverty, less innovation, and corruption by the leaders. I was a socialist during my late teens because I didn't know any better. I had this utopian dream where we would all have a nice middle class life style, decent paying jobs etc. That's not what happens in communist or socialist countries. What happens is such systems stifle creativity and new ideas. Free speech is attacked. The leaders become corrupt, while the people suffer in poverty. I'm not referring to countries which mix elements of capitalism and socialism, which are often places where people are happier and don't have to worry about their basic needs. But, there are still some extremely wealthy people in those countries. Why should I care, as long as other people have their basic needs?
I support well regulated capitalism with an excellent social safety net, and more progressive taxes. The extreme wealth inequality that we currently have in the world, not just in the US, is immoral and harmful imo. But, if Bernie makes a million from his book, I don't care, anymore than I would care if my neighbor has twice the amount of wealth that I have. I abhor unnecessary wars and excessive wasteful military spending. I want the minimum wage to be raised and SS and Medicare/Medicaid to remain solvent. Most importantly, I want a cleaner environment and an emphasis on transitioning to cleaner sources of energy. I want racial and sexual equality. I want UHC, but there are many ways of doing that. But, I also realize that everything that I want is unlikely to happen, at least not in my lifetime. I will at least hope that we make some progress. Right now, our biggest problem is the man in the WH.
I spent my entire working life advocating for people who were often poor and in need of help, but as a professional nurse it was always extremely important to me, not to ever judge my patients, not even when they were conservatives or religious fanatics. I was there to care for them when they were powerless and dependent. That doesn't make me any better than you, but may I ask you, other than insulting people who disagree with your politics, what exactly have you done to make the lives of anyone better? None of us can change the world in significant ways, but most of us can do little things for people that help make their day a little better. Insulting people that you disagree with on the internet certainly doesn't qualify as an accomplishment. Why attack people who disagree with you? It certainly doesn't change minds. Being unable to understand that we all must compromise every single day of our lives might help you understand why your views seem extremist to most of us.
Being center left allows me to move further to the left or closer to the center without having a nervous breakdown.
