skulblaka , 9 months ago

Similar to the other poster you're replying to, I am also American, and my statement will be colored by that experience. Fair warning.

I don't think you're a bad person. And that's quite a statement, because there are a great many American conservatives that I can say with no reservations are objectively bad people. I think you teeter on the edge with the "traditional family" thing, because that's extremely often a dog whistle for people that want to exterminate LGBT and trans folks, but at least based on your statements here it doesn't seem like you're in that camp.

I think you want to look elsewhere for your community, because conservatism as a movement, as a whole cares very little about what you care about (minding one's own business, ensuring basic human rights regardless of ethnicity or other factors, personal reward for personal achievement) and cares very much about things you don't seem to be on board with (repressive religious law, disenfranchisement or even outright kidnapping and murder of LGBT, racism, defrauding voters and government offices in order to line ones own pockets, ensuring deaths of vulnerable mothers via slashing legality of birth control or abortion methods) - just to name a few.

Conservatism, as a whole, is primarily rooted around having an in-group that can be pandered to and having an out-group that can be blamed. They are largely uninterested in proper governance and entirely uninterested in human rights. Every move that is made, is made in service of consolidating power at the cost of human life. In the words of respected political scientist Francis Wilhoit, "Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect." This pattern can be observed over hundreds or thousands of years of human history.

If you want to find yourself on the right side of history the time is now. Leave the conservative circles behind and find one that actually espouses the ideas you care about. I doubt you'd find common ground in the sort of American Liberal circles that I find myself at home in, but there are options. There are as many political ideologies as there are people. But the more you attach yourself to one, the more they will in turn rub off on you.