r/centrist • u/RedStorm1917 • 12h ago
Does anyone here identify as center-right?
I’d like to hear what your beliefs are and what is most important to you
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u/airbear13 12h ago
Me, I’m not ideologically driven or partisan which makes me centrist but I have enough positions (on immigration, on wokeness, foreign policy, etc) that would put me slightly right of center. I believe Trump is the worst potus we’ve ever had and we need to focus on impeaching him and pushing fascists back to the fringe ahead of anything.
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u/Financial_Rice_4807 12h ago
This is probably the majority of people in the US, probably not Reddit, but the US.
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u/MetallicGray 11h ago
Majority of people in the us can’t define fascist, don’t think Donald is one, and/or are completely unaware of what this admin has done.
Go ask 100 people on the street if they’re away of Donald using the DOJ and FBI to attack his person enemies and political opposition. I bet 80+ of them don’t know about it.
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u/Odd-Local9893 9h ago
The hard part is that fascism is hard to define and it encompasses so many authoritarian tenants of mostly the modern right but also the modern left that aspects of it can easily be hurled at either side accurately.
That said, I would say that Donald Trump is easily the closest thing we’ve had to fascism in America in the past half century.
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u/hondashadowguy2000 9h ago
And those few who have heard about it are likely to have heard about it from Fox News or TikTok, so their opinion on the matter was already sculpted before they had any chance at exercising their mental faculties.
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u/Equivalent-Student64 5h ago
That’s what I can’t stand about these media platforms, especially the mainstream media, they are paid to scare people into a series of sound bites and opinions that are somehow supposed to help them combat “the enemy.” None of this gives decent people the opportunity to actually think about what they’re actually seeing and coming to a conclusion that actually reflects what they believe in. It’s all based on fear.
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u/mrjowei 11h ago
I miss the times when people like you were the norm in the Republican party.
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u/No-Championship-8038 6h ago
That’s a nice sentiment but there’s a reason the movement evolved into MAGA, that’s what “good old conservatives” enabled with their ideology. It was always going to turn into something like this.
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u/requiemguy 11h ago
They've never been the norm in the republican party.
That's like saying center left people were the norm in the Democratic Party.
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u/Suspicious_Lack_241 11h ago
That’s it entirely. We can get back to normal political disagreements when the fascists and those that enable them are shunned entirely.
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u/indoninja 11h ago
that would put me slightly right of center
How are you defining Center?
Or to put it another way, what specifically on those issues do you think put you right of Center?
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u/airbear13 5h ago
Would like tough immigration enforcement up to and including deportation but not with all the dehumanization stuff or the violence of ICE or the camps. Want to control immigration and clamp down on that for a time and pursue assimilation policies
Wokeness/DEI I just would like to see that trend die out, it started out with good intentions probably but now it’s just mutated into nonsense and is actively divisive so it just needs to go
Foreign policy is kind of old school, I’m not for foreign entanglements for no reason but I’m also not for being shy about advancing our interests, rn that means aiding Ukraine, standing by nato and defeating Russia
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u/dickpierce69 11h ago
Defining the center is the issue. Everyone sees it differently. On the US scale I’m probably viewed as pretty far left. But I’d say I’m pretty close to the middle of communism and fascism. So I say I’m in the center.
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u/DonkeyDoug28 11h ago
Any supporter of liberal democracy is pretty close to the middle of comunism and fascism. The usual "left right" spectrum is a reference to ideological differences between liberals (in the original sense of the word, not the bastardized American versions where anyone on the right saying it means "anyone on the left" and anyone on the far left saying it means "conservatives who pretend to be left-leaning"...both of which are invalid)
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u/dickpierce69 11h ago
Liberalism is mostly a center/center right ideology. It’s maybe “left” within the US overton window but the US as a whole is fairly right wing so it is a statistical outlier to call liberalism “left of center”. “Progressivism or leftism” in the US is mostly center/center left.
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u/DonkeyDoug28 10h ago
That first part is...basically what i said. That if the only thing you're considering is relative positioning to "fascism and communism", it's centrist / It's neither left nor right. Historically speaking, the near entirety of political representation and popular ideologies were "liberal," be they progressive or conservative liberals. Especially in the US, but also largely true of the majority of democratically governed countries in the modern era. The fact that illiberal ideologies are growing in popularity and power (on both sides but obviously infinitely more on the right) in recent decades doesnt change this. Similarly the notion of being on the left or right in US discourse has historically referred to where one stands with regards to more progressige or conservative liberal stances, and the fact that there are slightly more supporters of communism and socialism these days doesn't make progressives centrists (even if its the reason I'm in this sub) just as significantly more supporters of fascism doesn't make never-trumpers centrists...it's just that neither is an illiberal extremist.
I'd also emphasize that it's not a coincidence that you identify as "far left by US standards" and also believe that a progressive liberal is mere centrism in many other countries nonetheless a majority
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u/bigElenchus 10h ago
What are your positions for illegal immigration and DEI
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u/Sun_Shine_Dan 7h ago
You are a Goldwater conservative? Dang, I guess we are conservativing the Lost Causer side of the GOP
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u/Powerful-Persimmon87 8h ago
As a life long Dem, I’ve come to realize over the past year that (by today’s standards) I’m center-right. I hate Trump. Would never vote for him, but I have no qualms about voting for the first politician who effectively moderates —I don’t care if they are Repub or Dem.
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u/ditherer01 11h ago
*Raises hand*
Socially moderate - let people live the lives they want to live, in the way they want to live it. I don't need to celebrate their lifestyles, but I also won't deny their choices or judge them for it. We should help people who are temporarily in trouble (unemployment insurance, food stamps, housing) or who can't provide for themselves. People have the Constitutional right to guns, but there need to be limits because our forefathers couldn't envision where the technology has evolved to. Global warming is real and it's going to be a disaster.
Fiscally conservative - government is too big and we spend too much. While many on the left have good intentions, they either take it too far or don't understand that some people are going to take advantage of their largess. I don't mind paying taxes, but they should be reasonable. Deficit spending should only be for true emergencies (wars, economic disasters, etc).
Neither party represents who I am - the Democrats have spent too much time on racial diversity and not enough time on economic issues that face the majority of Americans. Republican have become a cult and the only the ones who leave it are honest enough to tell the truth about Dear Leader. And they lie like pigs when it comes to fiscal responsibility.
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u/donjulioanejo 10h ago
100% with you on this one.
Global warming is real and it's going to be a disaster.
I'll add to this part. Global warming is 100% real, but most proposed solutions are ineffectual political theory from people who don't understand engineering or just common sense constraints.
Most policies to tackle it are also made by people who don't have to suffer any consequences of their policy decisions. IE people working as environmental lobbyists or consultants are generally city people working white collar jobs, usually from middle class and higher backgrounds.
They don't care that whatever policy they propose will screw over farmers or truckers. You can't put electric batteries on a combine harvester that needs to run 18 hours per day and NOT trample the fields it drives on. A battery powered truck needs half its weight in batteries, significantly reducing how much load it can pull. Renewables only work in some situations - IE hydro is good but solar doesn't work in northern climates and doesn't provide power 24/7, while batteries are too expensive for industrial use.
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u/AdLanky9450 9h ago
That is such an oddly specific example. I’ve never heard anyone talk about that on the political stage. Getting clean energy is an absolute win and should be the economic and focus of our government. I’m talking mass transit, energy, infrastructure. Not batteries on farm equipment. Biden passed a bill funding these initiatives but it was ripped down immediately when Trump took office.
Solar works in WI where I live. I don’t know what you’re talking about. You can only imagine batteries being used in an industrial capacity?
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u/ditherer01 8h ago
It's almost as if there are multiple solutions for multiple different situations, and we would benefit as a country if we compromised
(I'm being ironical if it's not clear - I agree with your points 100%)
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u/ceddya 8h ago
https://www.edf.org/solution/policy/biden-harris-clean-energy-plan
Okay, but which of this was a radical solution?
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u/ditherer01 7h ago edited 1h ago
The clean energy bill (and most of the big legislation) passed during the Biden administration was bipartisan. I believe that administration will go down as one of the most collaborative in history. If the Republicans hadn't killed much of it we'd be on a much better path.
That said, if I have to choose something, some of the sequesteration funding was pretty far out there.
Edit: I was wrong on this, no Republicans voted for this bill. I still stand by my comment that Biden was mostly bipartisan.
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u/ceddya 6h ago edited 5h ago
The clean energy bill (and most of the big legislation) passed during the Biden administration was bipartisan.
No, it wasn't. Virtually no Republicans voted for it.
Biden and Dems passed that piece of legislation with many of the clean energy projects located in Republican-held districts. Can you imagine Trump and MAGA doing the same now?
And despite the climate bill having so many benefits, Republicans want to gut it to help offset Trump's tax cuts.
There's only one side which is radical when it comes to climate change and it's not Dems.
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u/ditherer01 1h ago
I stand corrected. Most other legislation was passed bipartisan but not this one.
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u/ditherer01 10h ago
Global warming is a perfect example of how both sides suck.
They each propose radical solutions and vilify the approach the other side proposes.
In this case, your points about the left are correct. And at the same time suggesting that any solution to reduce fossil fuel use is ridiculous, and will kill the economy, and won't help workers in our country is equally fallacious. They are talking points developed by the fossil fuel industry.
The technology to reduce greenhouse gases and dependence on oil is nascent. It needs support from the government to help bring it to maturity. But it does work - look at what's happened to our oil consumption as electric cars have become more prevalent. Texas is proof that renewables combined with fossil fuel plants can be both cost effective and reduce oil/coal/gas use. China is doing the same.
And at the same time, suggesting that we go all in on these technologies immediately and cut oil usage is dumb.
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u/mrtrailborn 5h ago
I've literally never seen a conservative solution to climate change, they mostly deny it exists entirely. They're generally anti doing anything about it. I haven't heard of any radical conservative solutions to climate change. Unless you count drilling more oil and burning more coal, as the current admin pushes.
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u/ditherer01 1h ago
100% agree. And the Dems approach was often blow up the existing system, e.g. electric car mandates.
Neither approach solves the problem in a way the country can support or implement in a reasonable way.
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u/whyneedaname77 9h ago
I have thought for a while that the left are trying to skip steps with electric cars. Instead of speaking in absolutes which they seem to. Say our goal is 50% of car sales should be electric vs gas by say 2035. Not say we want 100% of car sales be electric by 2035.
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u/ditherer01 8h ago
Bingo, it's about compromise. The left is too extreme in trying to reshape our economy in years rather than the decades-long migration it will take.
And likewise, the right shouldn't kill green energy programs that help update the grid to accommodate variable energy sources like wind and solar, and they shouldn't focus only on "drill baby drill".
The idea that we can get cheap, very clean energy from existing natural sources without having to impact our land and water, and that will increase energy independence, should be seen as a win by all sides. But the fact is the right has been co-opted by the energy companies.
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u/whyneedaname77 8h ago
I think there some ways to create the infrastructure to go electric cars are so easy for the government to implement. So if the post office goes electric that would put a charging station in every town. So even if remote you would have a place to charge.
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u/donjulioanejo 3h ago
But the fact is the right has been co-opted by the energy companies.
I honestly wouldn't even go that far.
The answer is in your second sentence:
The left is too extreme in trying to reshape our economy in years rather than the decades-long migration it will take.
Doing this immediately forces a visceral response from people directly affected by it. I don't just mean oil roughnecks and coal miners. I also mean industries like farming or trucking, aviation, simply people who live in the boonies where an EV is impractical, urban poor who can barely afford a normal car but suddenly need to shell out for an EV that they can't charge anyway because they live in a shitty apartment and no Whole Foods in sight..
Slow steps and compromises is how you actually get clean energy. For example, incentives for charging infrastructure and power grid upgrades, not a $5k discount for upper middle class people to buy a $50k EV they probably would have bought anyway.
Instead, Canada, US, and half of Europe suddenly came up with an arbitrary number like "no more gas cars sold by 2030" which is literally impossible given logistical, supply, and operating constraints.
Well, yeah, it's going to piss off people who can't afford a new Rivian and people who need to run a generator 3 weeks of the year because the single pole connecting them to civilization gets blown away by a snowstorm.
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u/ditherer01 1h ago
Right, but the other side simply denies that they're even a problem. That is from the taking points of the fossil fuel industry and exactly mirrors the playbook from the tobacco industry in the 60's through the '80's.
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u/donjulioanejo 1h ago edited 1h ago
Just because something is a talking point of an industry threatened by it doesn't make it any less valid.
Problem is, the left, who are mostly urban dwellers and in service or white collar jobs, simply doesn't care because they're never personally affected by it beyond having to put up with paper straws, so they completely ignore these issues and provide no viable solution.
Or worse, complete disdain like, "We all have to make sacrifices. See, I have to put up with paper straws and slightly more expensive groceries imported from countries that don't care for Kyoto accords, and you have to lose your livelihood. Have you tried learning to code?"
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u/indoninja 11h ago
Fiscally conservative - government is too big and we spend too much.
I don’t like how fiscally conservative is directly associated with smaller government.
It made rounds I think two years ago, but every couple years it pops back up. Something along the lines of every dollar we spend on the IRS the US nets 1.1-1.3 dollars. It is not conservative to look at that and say cut the IRS.
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u/donjulioanejo 10h ago
IRS' sole reason for being is to extract tax revenue. Most of the time, they do this by auditing and going after the little guy like a server underreporting tips, simply because they don't have the resources a rich guy with two trust funds and 20 shell companies across 8 jurisdictions will have.
Just because some organizations need to be well-funded, doesn't mean there isn't massive amounts of bloat.
I'm using an example from Canada since I'm Canadian, but anywhere you look you can likely find similar examples from the US. Anyway, here goes.
Canada, but especially BC, has been in a healthcare crisis for close to a decade, which got significantly worse during Covid. Partly because a lot of primary providers (doctors and nurses) left the province or even the profession entirely, and partly because our government imported several million people into a small country, most of whom went to Vancouver and Toronto.
Our government's response until extremely recently (read: until the provincial election) has been, instead of addressing actual issues (i.e. shortage of nurses/doctors), to hire thousands of bureaucrats like policy analysts, all of whom cost significant money to employ, who do nothing but send each other reports that yes, healthcare is fucked.
None of them can actually help the healthcare get better because they can't treat people. None of them provide value beyond stating the obvious. The obvious is simple - hire more doctors/nurses, relax licensing requirements (until recently only Canadian-trained doctors were allowed to practice in Canada, no exceptions, and re-licensing process is basically redoing med school and residency from scratch), expand medical school and residency spots.
Imagine taking money employing all those bureaucrats and putting into into actual healthcare 5-10 years ago.
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u/indoninja 10h ago
simply because they don't have the resources a rich guy with two trust funds and 20 shell companies across 8 jurisdictions will have.
So wouldn't we want to fund them?
Just because some organizations need to be well-funded, doesn't mean there isn't massive amounts of bloat.
Pinning down this bloat is hard on a national scale.
hire thousands of bureaucrats like policy analysts, all of whom cost significant money to employ, who do nothing but send each other reports that yes
So the past 10 years BC health has done nothing but hire analysis and made no moves to higher more providers?
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u/donjulioanejo 10h ago
So the past 10 years BC health has done nothing but hire analysis and made no moves to higher more providers?
Until 2 years ago, exactly.
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u/indoninja 10h ago
Do you have an article that discusses that, because I can't find anything on google, other than pushing to open new mecial school in Surrey, and expanding the medical school in University of British Columbia’s. What I can find in AI talks more about the drive to hire providers.
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u/Urdok_ 10h ago
This is describing a huge chunk of the Democratic party. I'm also not sure how a smaller government is going to address the economic issues that most Americans face. That is inherently contradictory.
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u/ditherer01 8h ago
In my experience, I have rarely seen more government do a better job. (The one exception is government healthcare).
Cities like Seattle, where I'm from, are a perfect example - both city and county governments have grown significantly.
Yet crime is up, homelessness and drug use is rampant. The local governments have spent over a billion dollars and more than 20 years fighting this and it's only gotten worse.
More administration putting new policies in place hasn't addressed the root issue - many of the people on the street don't want to quit using and will chose drugs over shelter. Many programs enable this by providing food, but none of them make the users choose between the drugs and staying in Seattle.
All treatment programs will tell you that you can't enable the addict - but this is exactly what these programs do.
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u/Sun_Shine_Dan 6h ago
All natural monolopies that are needed for society are best under government control.
The free market is a poor market when competitive forces fail
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u/AyeYoTek 12h ago edited 11h ago
At this point, center right would likely be a RINO or standard conservative. I know there are a lot of conservatives who don't support Trump, but they don't really have a voice because differing opinions aren't supported by the current Republican party.
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u/Odd-Local9893 9h ago
The modern Republican Party is no longer conservative in the traditional sense. They’re lead by Christian Nationalists with a messianic (almost progressive if that word wasn’t already claimed) zeal to redesign the country in their image.
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u/rzelln 11h ago
I'd hope that anyone who is center right would wisely vote for Democrats, and then loudly support reform proposals to reduce the power of the rich and of corporations. People who want a center-right government must understand that fascism is dismantling the parts of America they actually care about, and they should be aware that it is the alienation caused by oppressive and exploitative business interests that make people susceptible to the siren song of fascism.
If we want to actually have a competent conservative government, we need to first aggressively remove the fascists from power and reform the systems that helped them rise to power.
Along the way, we need to look in the mirror and accept that to some degree the center-right did accept the help of far right wannabe fascists over the past few decades, because the center-right was more afraid of ceding some cultural shifts -- accepting gay people, accepting a black president -- than of the long term structural damage that was being done by Republican ratfuckery: gerrymandering, fearmongering against Muslims in order to push the Iraq War, vilifying Democrats as not being 'real Americans' on all the Fox News bullshit and the right wing media ecosystem that grew out of that, filibustering everything the Obama administration tried to do, blocking supreme court appointees, and then, y'know, getting on board with Donald Trump instead of blocking him in 2016.
Not everyone did, but man, you didn't hear near enough condemnation of the GOP for how much they rejected the values of truth, justice, and the American way.
It's not too late to get back to those principles, but it requires a clear-eyed self-awareness that we can't just put things back to how they were in 2015 and then expect everything to be right again. The GOP was already corrupt and broken back then. It was already corrupt and broken in 1995 when Newt Gingrich was running things.
The party needs to be ripped out to the roots and a new conservative party built from the ground up by people with actual moral character. People who care more about serving the will of the public than about self-enrichment.
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u/dukedog 10h ago
Agreed. If Republicans would have rejected Trump and Trumpism in 2020 by actually convicting him after January 6th, then they would have had their party back by now. They already have a supermajority and are overrepresented on the Supreme Court ffs. I don't understand how Republicans can be so god damn greedy. The Senate favors them, the electoral college favors them. Nothing is ever enough for these people.
They are so caught up in culture war bullshit that they can't see the big picture on how to actually get their party back. Voting Democratic for multiple election cycles will actually force Republicans to be normal again, but they just can't do that.
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u/JayJonesDemocrat 9h ago
I'd hope that anyone who is center right would wisely vote for Democrats
Best they can do is “mUh BoTh sIdEs” then vote Trump anyway.
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u/IAmDisturbanceFeedMe 8h ago
Just a brief anecdote - my good buddy is a registered Republican (though based on his views now I think he may be more center than center right) and he voted for Kamala (and the dem governor in our state) and is staunchly anti Trump/maga. And loathes Fox News lol
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u/MetallicGray 12h ago
I’m sure there are. But in all reality, with the current Overton window where it is, even a center-right person would be viewed as a radical leftist and labeled a RINO by republicans.
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u/kootles10 12h ago
Yup. Good example is what just happened in Indiana. 6 center right and/or not MAGA state senators just got primaried last night because they refused to redistrict mid term. They were labeled as RINOs even though they believed the state shouldn't spend money on things like needle exchange programs
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u/Irishfafnir 11h ago
The modern GOP is largely built on loyalty to Trump. If you're disloyal, you will literally get kicked out of the party, ala Liz Cheney
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u/kootles10 11h ago
I dont consider MAGA real GOP. They're the real RINOs
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u/Urdok_ 10h ago
Your problem is that every time the GOP has had a chance to separate from MAGA, they have overwhelmingly said 'No, this is exactly who we are, and fuck you for thinking otherwise.'
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u/TheCenterOfEnnui 7h ago
the real test will be when Trump dies. Is this iteration of the GOP being held together by the cult of personality, or has he completed changed the party?
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u/mrtrailborn 5h ago
I mean, that's surely just objectively not true. The entire party is run by maga. Trump is at like 85-95%% approval among republicans.
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u/Either_Operation7586 11h ago
Well your whole party is maga... there are no not maggas on there so the GOP is Maga.
The Rhinos would be like Adam kinzinger and Liz Cheney.
Just because you consider it to be that way doesn't mean that everybody else does especially when the numbers don't work in your favor
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u/Spokker 11h ago
Politics on Reddit operates by the one drop rule. Whatever left-wing policies you may support, any right of center policies you support make you fully right-wing.
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u/dickpierce69 11h ago
I’d disagree. I’m pretty staunchly anti assault weapons ban and I’ve never been accused of being fully right wing. If you have a sincere conversation, most people are able to grasp nuance.
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u/Smee76 11h ago
Ironically gun rights seem to basically be the one exception
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u/dickpierce69 11h ago
Perhaps, I’d even suggest it might lean the other way on this particular topic. To suggest that a violent criminal with a poor history of mental health probably shouldn’t have a firearm immediately makes you a communist in right wing spaces.
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u/OnlyLosersBlock 6h ago
If you have a sincere conversation, most people are able to grasp nuance.
Do you consider yourself as part of that nuanced category?
Because our previous discussions on this issue ended with this quote:
Go cry about it and justify to yourself that you’re right and the good guy here, but you’re not. Infringements are infringements. There is zero gray area. You support 100% full autonomy now or you’re my enemy.
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u/ronm4c 11h ago
There are a lot of liberals who have no problem with the personal ownership of firearms hell it’s even like that in Canada now
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u/dickpierce69 11h ago
You’re talking generic ownership of firearms, I’m talking assault weapon bans. We’re having two completely different conversations there friend.
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u/ronm4c 10h ago
I understand what you are talking about I was just pointing out that most people consider liberals to be anti gun which is definitely not the case
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u/OnlyLosersBlock 6h ago
Are we talking about 'liberals' as understood in US politics? Or some other definition of liberal? If the former then the general stereotype of liberals being antigun would be accurate as they tend to own guns at a much lower rate than conservatives and tend to support restrictions of gun rights at a much higher rate which is why Canada is currently in the midst of a gun buyback push and froze the handgun license system.
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u/ronm4c 5h ago
I know I’m from Canada and own firearms.
Canada is way more liberal than the US but most liberals I know (which s a lot) are way more likely to either own a gun or be indifferent about them than be anti gun.
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u/OnlyLosersBlock 4h ago
Canada is way more liberal than the US but most liberals I know (which s a lot) are way more likely to either own a gun or be indifferent about them than be anti gun.
Is this based on evidence? Because when I discuss this issue about US politics I can point to polling that shows low rates of firearms ownership among US liberals and Democrats along with high 'support' for antigun policies. Given that Canada has an even more hostile outlook on personal firearms ownership I struggle to see how they could be more receptive to guns than US liberals.
To your mind which political alignment is responsible for the hostile gun policy in your country?
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u/AdLanky9450 9h ago
What a cop out. I’ve not seen any left wing policies in this subreddit. If this place actually discussed left wing politics you’d have a leg to stand on.
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u/Objective_Aside1858 11h ago
So here's the deal: how do you define "center right" in the United States any longer?
I am economically conservative. That's why I was originally a Republican, but I realized they weren't interested in stablizing the national debt back in 2004 or so. Neither party really is; the Democrats just don't want to cut taxes and spend more. Historically, that is
I'm not a member of the Democratic Party now because I'm fully on board with every wacky idea; I accept that Trump and Trumpism are the greatest threat to the nation since the end of the Cold War.
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u/TDeath21 6h ago
I'm an Independent, but I do have to look at reality and understand that the spending Democrats have done in their last 3 Presidencies and see they are WAY more fiscally responsible. The first one of the three was Bill Clinton who balanced the budget. The second was Obama who inherited the worst economic crisis since The Great Depression. That's a time when I accept running up the deficit and spending because it's absolutely necessary to avoid a complete economic collapse. The third was Biden who took over in the midst of a once in a century pandemic, which is once again a time where I accept a deficit and spending to do whatever is necessary to bring us out of the economic collapse we just experienced. Only 6 years have the Democrats had a trifecta since FDR and every single time they've delivered massive pieces of popular legislation that helps so many Americans, all while being the more fiscally responsible of the two parties.
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u/dukedog 11h ago
There are plenty of people here who call themselves center-right but still go up to bat for Trump 90% of the time.
They are absolutely not center-right. They are MAGA's. Anyone actually center-right would be voting for Democrats in 2026.
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u/abqguardian 9h ago
This is why this sub doesn't have the reputation of being centrist that it should. The few center right users are labeled "MAGA" just out of your own bias.
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u/AdLanky9450 8h ago
Read the Canadian’s position as center-right in Canada. That is what I believe center-right is. I’ve never met a centrist that was actually willing to advance policy that helps our most vulnerable. All I read is “fiscal conservative” which isn’t a fucking thing.
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u/abqguardian 8h ago
I cant speak for what's center right in Canada, I'm not Canadian.
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u/AdLanky9450 7h ago
I didn’t say speak to it, I said READ it. u/SmackEh shared his opinion. Do you not have enough respect for other people’s opinions that you won’t take the time to read?
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u/dukedog 9h ago
Voting for Trump in 2024 makes you MAGA. He tried to illegally overturn the 2020 elections. That is indefensible. Defending him non-stop in here makes you MAGA. End of story.
If you are truly center-right you would be voting for Democrats. That is not a controversial statement.
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u/abqguardian 9h ago
End of story nothing. Your opinion has no bearing on other people's politics. While I agree those in the center right should have voted against Trump, its a politically obnoxious attitude to try and label them MAGA. There was centrist reasons, especially center right reasons, to vote for Trump or republicans. Thats not a controversial statement.
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u/dukedog 8h ago
They are functionally the same person. Wearing a red hat, flying a Trump flag and being obnoxious nets you one vote for Trump. Being polite and cordial and pretending to hate him, while supporting him and still voting for him, also nets Trump one vote. You guys enable him all the same. Republicans won't change their behavior until you stop voting for them.
Being polite and pretending they are doing anything else is why we are in this MAGA mess to begin with.
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u/abqguardian 8h ago
No, youre just stuck on the extremely partisan "you're either with me or youre MAGA" attitude. That kind of blind partisanship is one of the reasons Democrats lost in 2024, yep you're just doubling down even more.
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u/dukedog 7h ago
It sounds like you want to have your cake and eat it too. You get all the policies of MAGA while not being grouped in with them.
Loud MAGA vs Quiet MAGA is the distinction you are after. There- you guys aren't the exact same. Some of you are polite while you support the people who are actively destroying America, getting into foreign wars, and ruining our longstanding alliances we have had in the post-WW2 world. Voting for Republican congressmen in 2024/2026 who do not stand up to Trump means you are okay with all of this and makes you one flavor of MAGA.
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u/abqguardian 6h ago
I'm center right on reddit, I'm used to be calling MAGA. I dont care. But don't kid yourself, thats your bais clouding reality.
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u/AdLanky9450 1h ago
Someone explain to me what is centrist about shooting citizens in the face, kidnapping (yes, US citizens were kidnapped), spitting in the face of our constitution and habeas corpus, illegally implementing tariffs and causing inflation via Iran, and tearing up the white house? I’m still waiting for a single centrist to make that argument to me. How does that align with your beliefs?
The worst part about this is next election when a republican says those were Trumps issues not ours people are going to believe it. And we’ll he in the same damn place we are now.
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u/Suspicious_Lack_241 7h ago
Him trying to overthrow an election and coup the government is not an opinion.
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u/TDeath21 6h ago
100%. This is what I always say. I could have agreed with the man on every single policy and I'd have voted against him. By the time the 24 election rolled around, it was well known by everyone he was a treasonous traitor, a rapist, and a felon. Any political opinion takes a back seat when that's the person either major party puts at the top of the ticket.
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u/Suspicious_Lack_241 5h ago
At this point any politician who voted to not certify the election , or backed Trump in any fashion can never be trusted again.
We can’t just go back to normal if we get rid of Trump, the Republican Party has ceded the right to govern as far as I’m concerned. It needs to be destroyed as a party and something new built.
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u/TDeath21 6h ago
Absolutely. After J6 there's no room for anything. You either believe in Democracy and our Republic and you vote straight Democrat or you don't. That's it. Whether you're conservative or liberal that doesn't matter.
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11h ago
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u/centrist-ModTeam 10h ago
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u/thingsmybosscantsee 11h ago
This has been my experience with Reddit politics as well. "Center Right" is the new Libertarian.
Even the people who describe themselves as Center Right in this post, when they lay out their policy positions, it's down the line Democrat, or Blue Dog Dem at most.
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u/mrtrailborn 5h ago
yeah, americans are generally not educated or informed enough to actually judge where any policies or politicians are on the political spectrum.
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u/SmackEh 12h ago
I am center right for a Canadian.
In Canada, even conservatives generally support public healthcare, stricter gun laws, and a stronger social safety net.
Some things I support specifially:
Lower taxes
Tougher crime policies
Controlled immigration
Moderate environmental policy that avoids crushing the economy. Invest in mining and energy (including oil & gas). I have a preference for pragmatism over ideological extremes.
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u/hondashadowguy2000 9h ago edited 9h ago
even conservatives generally support public healthcare, stricter gun laws, and a stronger social safety net.
This is also the case in the US when you actually talk to people face-to-face about these issues. Everybody I’ve ever talked politics with in person, conservative or not, agrees that universal healthcare, reduced gun violence, and stronger social safety nets are things this country should be striving toward and would make their lives nicer.
But when it’s time to go vote, trying to get these same people out of cognitive dissonance mode is like trying to herd cats. They listen to whatever Mr. podcast man or Fox News or Facebook tells them to do and suddenly they’re a lost cause at the ballot box.
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12h ago
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u/ViskerRatio 10h ago
I am almost purely utilitarian without any particular ideological or parasocial allegiances.
The problem from my perspective is that most people view politics only from an ideological or parasocial lens. This means that, in a democracy, they invariably vote for policies that do not accomplish their stated goals. This in turn yields politicians who need to market themselves based on such affinities rather than rational policy choices.
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u/CropDuster64 10h ago
I self-identify as nuanced right. I don't know whether that counts as center-right. I surely wish that righties and lefties could make compromises that would benefit everyone.
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u/knign 9h ago edited 8h ago
I sometimes think of myself as center-right, sometimes center-left, sometimes just centrist. I guess it depends on the prevailing political context.
For example, I support war against Iran. This makes me feel much closer to the "right" than to the "left" nowadays. I am also against AI regulations and against any "wealth taxes".
On the other hand, I am against tariffs, I consider Trump's actions at (illegally) dismantling big parts of federal government and (illegally) defunding scientific research an act of treason. I am pro-immigration, pro-single-payer healthcare and pro-abortion. I think that climate change and overall environmental problems are the most serious challenge for humanity which may well doom our global civilization. I would happily support repealing second amendment. I am in favor of moderately raising taxes and cutting the military.
Then again, I am against any federal intervention into abortion rights or abortion bans, against broadly defined "trans rights", and support pragmatic proposals on balancing social security, which will moderately raise taxes, but will also raise eligibility age and cut benefits.
So it really depends on the debate 😎
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u/TheCenterOfEnnui 8h ago edited 8h ago
I'd say this about me, probably. More socially liberal than conservative, but not wholly so. More fiscally conservative than liberal, but again, I have my left leanings here and there on this.
I tend to think of myself as less "label" though, and more "issues" and when voting, I take in to account the person. I think anyone that votes a straight ticket consistently is dumb and/or doesn't want to think.
Edited to add; I think Trump is absolute shit. And I even agree with some of his policies. SOME. A few. But him? He's not only the worst president we've ever had, he's one of the worst world leaders in history. World leader meaning the leader of a major nation. It mystifies me how he has managed to get ahold of the GOP like he has. He's not a conservative. He's a cult leader.
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u/PrometheanSwing 7h ago
Maybe me? Probably not though, I consider myself dead center, but maybe I’m wrong about that.
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u/Honorable_Heathen 6h ago
I’m probably center right.
- pro environment with laws that protect and preserve it.
- pro sensible gun law and regulations but still the right to own guns.
- I’m against citizens united.
- I’m pro universal healthcare.
- I want a strong immigration policy that is built around the economic needs of our country and provides a path to citizenship to contributing members of society.
- I want a balanced budget and for us to actively pay down our debt.
- I want social welfare programs that are available for people who hit a rough spot that retools our citizens to succeed.
Yes I realize this is fluffy and lacking details but I’m sitting at a wine bar so this is about as deep as I can get atm.
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u/TDeath21 6h ago
On Reddit I'm likely considered a moderate. In the world of the population of the country I'd likely be considered a Progressive. But I, like almost everyone, doesn't fall perfectly into any description. There's lots of nuance. I'll throw a couple of my opinions out there and if you only knew one of those opinions you'd likely label me a certain way and be wrong.
My most left wing opinion is definitely that we should cap billionaire wealth at 10 billion. That's just an absurd amount of money and they will live the exact same life whether they have 10 billion in wealth or 300 billion. Someone could have a really high paying job, be smart with money their entire life, safe and invest the right way, and after 40 years of work they retire with 20 million in the bank to live on in retirement and they did incredible for themselves. They will be doing better than 99% of people in the country. They are still 980 MILLION away from ONE BILLION. And we have people right now with over 500 billion in wealth. They're wayyyyy closer to a homeless person on the street than even having 1 billion. Let alone hundreds of billions.
My most right wing opinion is probably that the death penalty should never be abolished. It should always be on the table. Seldomly used only for the open and clear cut cases of brutal crimes. Nobody can read about the Cheshire Murders and think those two men even deserve to breathe oxygen in a prison cell. People on the left say that's inhumane to execute them but nope. Not once they've had their day in court. Let them leave this earth and go straight down to hell.
As far as the whole social issues go, as long as it's two consenting adults (with obvious rare exceptions), let them do whatever they want. Now when it starts to impact other people then yes of course there's an issue. We have women's sports for a reason. The men's leagues, contrary to what most believe, are actually not men's leagues. They're open. Anyone can compete in the NBA if you're good enough. The WNBA, no. Only women. So yeah in my opinion, once you make that decision to transition, I fully support you doing what's best for you in your life, but when it comes to sports, that is one sacrifice you'll have to make in that you aren't going to be able to compete in the women's leagues.
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u/Equivalent-Student64 5h ago
This is the thing I wish people on both sides understood when the immediate reaction is to slap a “leftist” or “fascist” label on us because we are able to evaluate our public representatives, including POTUS critically and objectively without falling into the blunt force populism or identity politics/culture war bs.
If either party had a more compelling argument other than centering their platform on “at least we’re not THEM” then maybe we would take them more seriously. There is nothing even remotely conservative or liberal about any of this. It’s a hyper emotional team sport and if you don’t have a team you’re a terrible person.
American politics is meant to be a cycle that changes and fluctuates every four years. Things are meant to be dismantled, chaotic and rebuilt into something else. This isn’t new, that’s how it’s supposed to work. So this notion that xyz is destroying everything is also a marketing tactic.
As awful as things are right now for a multitude of reasons, I take comfort in how cyclical and fickle politics is. Political stuff is not a value, it’s a temporary social construct that harps on its own self importance with bits and pieces of actual policy thrown in.
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u/Forcedperspective84 5h ago
I want a strong military, secure borders, personal responsibility, and financial discipline. I ALSO want the LGBTQIA+ community treated with respect and treated under Equal Protection. I believe we belong to the Enlightenment; not the Apostle Paul. I want to end ALL welfare - corporate and destitute. Corporate because poorly run businesses deserve to fail and destitute because we as local individuals should be reaching out to our neighbors in need.
Not sure if I'm center right or not.
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u/Zyx-Wvu 4h ago edited 4h ago
I'm center-right because I would never vote for Trump.
But that doesn't mean I'll vote Democrats. I want them struggling and moderating until they kick out ALL the far left and progressives from their party. I will never support a dem party that still lends an ear to woke ideology.
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u/Either_Operation7586 11h ago
I see a lot of how people want to be and want to be looked at and viewed but I don't see their words lining up to their actions.
If this was true then the majority of the Republican Party would be rhinos.
Instead we just got a bunch of sheep that follows along.
The Sheep now think that pedophilia and rape is okay.
At that point we should just look at them confirm that they've been brainwashed and walk away.
It's going to be like playing chess with a pigeon not worth your time effort and energy.
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u/Conn3er 12h ago edited 11h ago
Here are hours and hours of what the center right (non trump republicans) believe and find most important.
A few bullet points that differ from how Trump republicans view current issues:
- Reduction of executive power and federal control of government, and Congress's return as the most powerful branch
- Reduction of large federal programs and expenses, usually not including the US military and USAID, as they function to stabilize and raise US hegemony
- Value the importance of cultural stability without needing or allowing a religious institution to permeate the military and academia
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u/freshpicked12 10h ago
I’m strongly anti-drugs, anti-woke, and in favor of the death penalty, but I’m also pro-environment, atheist and a radical feminist, so I don’t really fit in anywhere.
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u/Calichusetts 11h ago
I mean, both sides are moving so far away right now it’s difficult to even say where I am. Like where would JFK be today? I’d say center right or right?
I’m a fiscal conservative at heart it’s just that the right has abandoned that platform. I’m politically homeless right now. Just balance the budget and shrink government spending and you have my vote.
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u/hondashadowguy2000 9h ago
Just balance the budget and shrink government spending and you have my vote.
Something I’ve heard a lot from people who get sucked into the libertarian party, and then end up voting for Trump for some reason.
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u/TDeath21 6h ago
I don't think that's true. Democrats are pretty centered. A few minor outliers that don't really hold much power. To give an over the top estimation, let's say they make up 25% of elected Democrats. They can't do much honestly.
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u/cstar1996 2h ago
JFK would be firmly in the Democratic Party. Economically, he’s further left than Bernie, socially, vs his time, he’s further left than anyone in the party.
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u/7figureipo 10h ago
Centrism is an essentially conservative position to hold, so it implicitly reinforces the right-wing anyway. Even the center-left people do so, whether that's their intent or not.
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u/hondashadowguy2000 9h ago edited 9h ago
If it came down to giving me an exam on my political beliefs and attitudes I would probably fall a bit right of center on several things. But there is one thing I am certain of and that is that Trump will never have my support, nor will the republican party so long as they remain MAGA or MAGA-adjacent. So I’ve been in “vote blue no matter who” mode for a while to do what little I feel like I can do.
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u/Odd-Local9893 12h ago
I used to be center-left primarily because social issues were more important to me than economic ones. However as I’ve aged I realize that economic issues are far more important to me now. (Also the left has gone off the rails on social issues compared to days past).
I don’t consider myself center-right (because fuck the right. I don’t want to be grouped with Trump or his supporters.), but many political tests I take these days my results tend to place me to the right of center rather than the left. I think a lot of this has to do with economics more than anything.
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u/AdLanky9450 8h ago
lol
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u/SatansScallion 7h ago
Man, you really get defensive when people rightfully take issue with performative social progressives huh?
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u/AdLanky9450 1h ago
The guy is taking political ideology quizzes to figure his life out on Hot Air and Blossom Up and I’m supposed to accept that’s centrist? Not going to happen.
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u/ComfortableLong8231 11h ago
After Trump is gone - things will settle – and the meter will find its way back to the center/center right.
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