Well, I just asked you to define your terms to make sure we were on the same wave length. Your definition of conservatism was not far off from what I was thinking. As far as being a liberal, I believe the government has no place in the bedroom or in a woman's uterus and should not dictate who can love whom. I believe that global warming is about to get so out of hand that, if we don't act immediately, the planet will be unsustainable within the next century. I do see the government as an agent for good. I want it to promotes thingslike an absence of racism in hiring and promotion, the end of red-lining, makes sure that religion stays as a private matter and is not an excuse to insult people or attack their rights as full Americans. I also believe we need to raise taxes, otherwise the irresponsible economic plans touted by the Republicans (which I really believe are not admirable but are a coded way of white men wanted to make sure that people of color don't benefit from their money) will kill the economy. Under the republicans, our debts now consumes a huge portion of our GNP and whereas before (i.e. under the Democrats) the size of the debt was manageable, it is no longer. I also believe that as a country of immigrants, we should welcome more immigrants, while continuing to vet them to ensure only people who want to come and work honestly are let in. Lastly, I believe that workers should me able to receive a living wage and I would like to see healthcare move out of the private sector, where it does not work, to the government who, as Medicare has shown, are pretty good at overseeing healthcare.
Your line about the government being an agent of good is where Democrats and Republicans split. I'm gonna ramble so bear with me. Republicans tend to see the government as the man and don't want the government involved in the economy, they don't want taxes, they don't like regulations and in general they want all the economic power in the hands of the civilians. Which is fine, until you look at it realistically and see that if not for regulations, trade laws and taxes, corporations would be able to run roughshod over everyone else, which unfortunately is already a pretty big issue.
When you take power away from the government, at least in a democracy, you're taking away power from yourself and your fellow citizens and handing it over to these corporations like Amazon, Google, Facebook, etc... Who have no reason to care about anything, other than getting you to use or buy their products. The government on the other hand does have a reason, because we the people are the ones who put them in the high position in society they are at, and if they don't do what we want, we can take them out just as easy. And that's the part I wish they would understand. I get it, you can't trust the people in the government because in general people aren't trustworthy, but you should be able to trust their self-interest, which is making sure their constituency is happy so they get to keep their station in life.
If we could get them to understand this you would get rid of some these Republican voters who only vote that way because "i don't trust none of them but at least this one isn't raising my taxes". That would still leave the abortion voters but those are gonna start having less of an impact as more Gen-Z and eventually Gen-Alpha voters come to play.
The other thing that kills me about Republicans, moreso the very religious ones if they constantly whine and ***** about freedom of religion, but have no issue whatsoever trying to take that freedom from others. These theocracies that America has typically went to war with and that you can't stand, that's what you're trying to turn us into and kills me that they cannot or will not see it. Your religion should be left at the door of your home or place of worship. Our Founding Fathers, who they love to quote when talking about gun rights, said the same thing. Separation of Church and State people.
