Was quite left leaning, but have slowly been turned off by the left.

[RuneDK]

Well yes, but conservatives are just as bad.

The current right is bad yes....but we dont have anyone in the middle really anymore serving us...it's a bunch of extreme lefts/rights.

[unfilteredJW]

That's what happens when you grow up.
Libtards convert to normal people.

Using the term "libtard" after saying people grow up if fucking funny.

[Zelk]

It is true in the UK...

Come on man, you're smarter than this...

[Alydael]

So for most of my life I would have identified as been fairly left leaning and open to moat things. But i have felt in the last few years that the left is just not for me anymore. Special interest groups, identity politics and lack of direction has turned me off. Now I do not identify with the right either and feel I am closer to the center.

I am for universal healthcare and taxes to pay for services and infrastructure. But i do not like how both the right/left continue to make laws to protect us from ourselves. I am also angry about the right and left are invading our privacy.

Have your politcal prefernces changed recently as parties change and become seemingly more extreme?

You sound independent (like me). Miy preferences haven't changed really. I was turned off by both political parties early in my life because:

1) They never unite- they always seek to divide.
2) They fight like children (I expect better from people in leadership positions)
3) Their track record is terrible. We are always involved in wars we never win (oh, sorry- not wars, "conflicts") our education and infrastructure are terrible (think we are 40 something in ed and our infrastructure was rated "d"). Yet they collect record taxes each year and we are trillions in debt to China......
4) They spent billions in a war on poverty= more people impoverished than ever
Billions in a war on drugs= more people using than ever
Billions in a war on terror= ISIS

Yeah, actually- I really don't see the logical argument for keeping either of these parties on...... their record speaks for itself.

[Azadina]

The current right is bad yes....but we dont have anyone in the middle really anymore serving us...it's a bunch of extreme lefts/rights.

Except both major parties are right wing. One just far, far more than the other.

[Mafic]

So for most of my life I would have identified as been fairly left leaning and open to moat things. But i have felt in the last few years that the left is just not for me anymore. Special interest groups, identity politics and lack of direction has turned me off. Now I do not identify with the right either and feel I am closer to the center.

I am for universal healthcare and taxes to pay for services and infrastructure. But i do not like how both the right/left continue to make laws to protect us from ourselves. I am also angry about the right and left are invading our privacy.

Have your politcal prefernces changed recently as parties change and become seemingly more extreme?

You haven't changed, because those are the principles I believe in too.

[Garnier Fructis]

Yeah, Comey in general has been a hilarious Rorschach test in which Democrats and Republicans have alternated and shown not even the slightest shred of integrity about the matter.

Because, as Trump discovered this week, even if people want him gone it still matters how and why that happens. Did Democrats want him gone? Oh, sure. But does that mean Democrats should be happy at the timing of this? Absolutely not, since it was pretty evident why it happened (later confirmed by Trump and his big mouth).

Like, I want Betsy DeVos to be fired. But if I get a whiff that the replacement is Deepak Chopra, I'm going to start rooting for DeVos. Because while I may hate DeVos, the alternative is worse. Same principle here: I wanted Comey gone. But if that means we get Trey fucking Gowdy, then I'd rather we stick with the asshole Comey. A similar analogy pretty much holds for the other aspect, which is the why it happened part.

[bufferunderrun]

So for most of my life I would have identified as been fairly left leaning and open to moat things. But i have felt in the last few years that the left is just not for me anymore. Special interest groups, identity politics and lack of direction has turned me off. Now I do not identify with the right either and feel I am closer to the center.

I am for universal healthcare and taxes to pay for services and infrastructure. But i do not like how both the right/left continue to make laws to protect us from ourselves. I am also angry about the right and left are invading our privacy.

Have your politcal prefernces changed recently as parties change and become seemingly more extreme?

what turned me is the extreme shift the left had in the 1990, they switched from protecting worker rights and a solid anti-capitalistic policy into a sorta of carnival, now the only policies they fight for are gay-rights, unchecked immigration etc.

As for the workers, factories closing everywhere in europe, re-localizations and the only thing the left is able to say is that Globalization is good and "it's the market baby" while going to kiss ass to apple, amazon, uber and the likes.

[JohnBrown1917]

what turned me is the extreme shift the left had in the 1990, they switched from protecting worker rights and a solid anti-capitalistic policy into a sorta of carnival, now the only policies they fight for are gay-rights, unchecked immigration etc.

You're just looking at a different groups, nothing has changed in the way you think it has.

As for the workers, factories closing everywhere in europe, re-localizations and the only thing the left is able to say is that Globalization is good and "it's the market baby" while going to kiss ass to apple, amazon, uber and the likes.

And now you're confusing the left with liberals.

[Maruka]

I agree with OPs sentiment. I consider myself liberal but im slowly leaning more and more to the middle.

[bufferunderrun]

You're just looking at a different groups, nothing has changed in the way you think it has.



And now you're confusing the left with liberals.

what group?

and the left in italy is the major party PD who was the direct descendant of the Communist Party most of the old generation inside that party is peoples who adhered to the communists.

[JohnBrown1917]

what group?

I don't know, you're the one bringing up left wingers than are not left wing.

[JohnBrown1917]

They are about as close as u can get without being the same

You're comparing 2 parties that are both on the right-wing authoritarian part of the scale to 2 sides of the political scale... the sides that everybody in politics falls on.

[Wyrt]

They are about as close as u can get without being the same

No they aren't.

Democrat vs. Republican is Center Right vs. Far Right.

There is no left in American politics at the moment. Justice Democrats are attempting to change that by taking over the Democrat party, but they have no power there yet.

[Felya]

I've never heard of that "saying", it must be something local.

It's a twist on Hillary Clinton's quote about her being liberal at heart and conservative in mind:

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/WhoIs/story?id=3963326

[Felya]

Why is there such a gang mentality in politics by the average american. Left vs right, right vs left. Is independent thinking so lost that we all need to desperately cling to some group in order to survive society?

You can be independent while being on the right and left. Independent isn't synonymous with middle... to answer why then? Well... people like you...

- - - Updated - - -

Regardless of where the left in the US falls on a global , in the US the dems are ely left and the republicans are considered right

They are considered those by party loyalist. People who don't belong to either party, should know better.

[Felya]

No, actually what you just said was my initial point

No, you had no point. You cannot be complaining about there being no independent thought, with full adherence to ideology. To then refuse to acknowledge that neither DNC nor RNC are left of the spectrum. By responding that "dems are left in US", you are refusing any independent thought. You are asking for adherence to party definition, while wondering why you don't see independent thought. There is no point there, unless you are asking fir people to get you a mirror.

Here is a simple question... Can a conservative be opposed to Trump or is it all liberals?

[Azadina]

Regardless of where the left in the US falls on a global level, in the US the dems are widely left and the republicans are considered right

That's just an attempt of trying to whitewash Republicans actual position on the scales. Sorry, but just because they are way far off to the right, doesn't make democrats anything left, but still right wing.

[Deleted]

Priorities change when you gets older. Left leaning people usually do not have responsibilies or proper jobs.

[JohnBrown1917]

Priorities change when you gets older. Left leaning people usually do not have responsibilies or proper jobs.

Generalizations like that are always fun.