this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2023
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E.g. abortion rights, anti-LGBTQ, contempt for atheism, Christian nationalism, etc.

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[–] [email protected] 165 points 1 year ago (11 children)

I can only speak for my friends who fit your criteria: they’re single issue voters (like many Americans) and they’re afraid the Dems are coming for their guns.

[–] [email protected] 96 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The dilemma being that anyone who acts this way probably shouldn't own guns.

Placing gun ownership over all other personal freedoms is an unhealthy obsession.

People who think they need weapons in case are not so different than those who think the rapture will occur in their lifetime.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

single issue voters are fucking willfully braindead. Selfish short-sighted fuckers doing the opposite of their civic duty

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (9 children)

They are unfortunately correct. I can’t count how many failed attempts I’ve made to try to convince many of my liberal peers that trying to kill the 2nd Amendment or functionally prevent people from buying guns is doing more harm to our collective efforts than good by alienating independents who are otherwise liberal-leaning, but staunchly support 2A. Many liberals have terrible views about gun violence in general IMO, and a serious lack of comprehension of the problem. Conservatives aren’t much better, unfortunately, and they’re three times as stubborn, so here we are.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (12 children)

Many liberals have terrible views about gun violence in general IMO, and a serious lack of comprehension of the problem.

Could you elaborate that a bit?

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[–] [email protected] 97 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Some users have come to this thread to answer this question honesty and openly. Without cussing or name calling or anything.

I think it’s shameful for people to be downvoting them. Downvote something for being off topic, or for being violent or hateful that’s fine. But for having an opinion that’s different from yours in a thread specifically asking for that?

There are always going to be people who you disagree with. On every topic.That kind of behavior will only push people away.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I agree.

I asked this question because I really want to try to understand people who are different than me and hold other opinions than me. Broaden my horizon. Maybe help people question their own reasonings.

So, I asked a question on a topic I don't understand. I hope people will answer honestly and that people who disagree will avoid persecuting that honesty.

We all need to find common ground somewhere.

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 year ago (19 children)

They happen to align with my values. I was raised Christian, and I only became agnostic in college, so that probably plays into it.

For example, abortion, I think murder is abohherent, baby murder especially so. I don't know when the right to life begins, so I err on the side of caution, at the earliest point, at conception.

Im not anti-lgbtq.

I dont hold contempt for atheism, I dont like /r/atheism

Christian nationalism is weird one because no one seems to know what that actually means. And hell, freedom of religion is one of the most important rights, right next to free speech.

I hope that helps.

[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 year ago (30 children)

Banning abortion doesn't stop abortion, it just shifts it to a black market where women are far more likely to die.

What does demonstrably reduce abortion to effectively insignificant levels is better sex education and easy access to contraceptives.

Prohibition has never worked. Education always has.

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 year ago (20 children)

Honest question. How do you reconcile your claim about not being anti-lgbt when the GOP is very vocally and openly pushing anti-lgbt messaging and legislation.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You know that someone can agree with most things in a platform and hate other things about it right?

The fact that they said they’re not anti-lgbt instead of saying they’re pro-lgbt implies that lgbt issues in general are lower on their list of priorities. They may not agree with the anti lgbt stuff but it isn’t important to them anyway.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (10 children)

I'm aware of that first part, but I'm not quite sure how it's possible to make a moral argument that basic human rights shouldn't be towards the very top of your list. The unfortunate reality of the matter is that even in the off chance your local R isn't completely awful, the policies that will be implemented on a national level if they manage to take control of the presidency again are. Voting for an R is a tacit endorsement of those policies.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

Thank you for your response.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

think murder is abohherent, baby murder especially so. I don't know when the right to life begins, so I err on the side of caution

Why stop there? You have no idea, right? So why do you masturbate or use condoms? You're killing millions of potential babies!

If you don't know, you should err on the side of caution for the rights of the people who you do know are real.

Or maybe you should just stay out of it, because as you say, you don't know. Leave it to the scientists and doctors who DO know and who almost universally support abortion access.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Why stop there? You have no idea, right? So why do you masturbate or use condoms? You're killing millions of potential babies!

Not the guy you're responding to, but you have a point. Coincidentally, most religions are also against both, so at least you can't accuse them of being inconsistent on the issue of reproduction.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

I'm on team "glad you responded" but I still wanna respond to 2 things you said.

First, a lot of anti-abortion people want the abortion conversation to end at "this is murder", but how do you address the bodily autonomy argument? Even if I accept any and all abortions as the full death of a complete person, why are women compelled to donate their bodies to save another person? I don't support forced organ donations to save lives, and by that logic I also do not support forced pregnancies. Any opinion on that perspective?

Christian nationalism isn't complicated in what it is, it is just the desire/push/beliefs from the people that want a nation with an explicitly christian government, a christian theocracy. If it completely took over everything, freedom of religion would be dead, everything would be christian. To try and rephrase it bluntly, Christian nationalism is the desire for and work towards a Christian nation. Some people take it seriously, some people don't, some people outright support it, others deny it even is a real concept.

Edit to add: if you aren't anti-lgbtq, will you call your representatives that you vote for and emphatically tell them so? The difference in opinions between conservatives and their politicians about lgbtq is something I hear from most conservatives I've talked to, but it makes me sad to see they don't really care beyond saying "I'm not anti-lgbtq". If you vote for an anti-lgbtq politician because of other policies they support, please at least tell them you don't agree with their anti-lgbtq stance. It is literally the least amount of help I can think of to ask for.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

Unfortunately, many Republican elected representatives are, to varying degrees, anti-LGBT and do support Christian encroachment into non-religious people's lives.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I used to consider myself republican, and I think I'm still closer to republican than democrat. I prefer small government, which is at least sometimes a republican ideal. I am also against identity politics of any kind, so I am against affirmative action. I am in favor of gun rights, with regulations that allow for appropriate tracking of who has guns where, how they are stored, how they are transported etc. However, regulations that prevent particular people from owning guns or ban any particular weapons should be very conservative. Even felons should regain gun rights after an appropriate period of time. Only ridiculously dangerous weapons, like nukes, should be outright banned. Stuff like full auto weapons should be legal, but restricted to only be stored at a gun range or something. As far as LGBT goes, I don't think the government should have anything to do with them. Let them do what they want, let people react how they want (as long as it isn't violent of course, which is already illegal under other laws). I've never been really sure about abortion. My gut reaction is to just let people do what they want, but I struggle to logically justify it as anything but murder. Not to mention the impracticality of banning it.

I wouldn't really call myself a republican anymore though. This is largely because of the religious aspects. I don't know if republicans have actually become more authoritarian or if my perception has just changed, but either way they don't seem to prioritize the same things as me anymore. Things like right to repair, net neutrality, and E2EE are important to me, but they don't align with that at all. The party also keeps embracing identity politics, just with different identities than their opposition. Religion should be a non-factor from a governmental perspective. It doesn't need any special protections, just to be ignored.

If I had to call myself something, I guess I would be a 'libertarian socialist', however much of an oxymoron that seems to be. For instance, I like the idea of UBI, largely because it would allow almost all welfare/social programs to be eliminated (including social security). Doing so would reduce government control, because they no longer have an ability to tweak who gets what, since everyone gets the same amount.

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