We have to agree where we ARE before we stand a chance to agree about what we do from here.
this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2025
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lol. Keep telling yourself that. I'll keep seeing the same news stories about the same right wing politicians trying to take the rights away from the same people while spouting the same lies. Then, I'll hear the same family members and old high school acquaintances repeating it all as though it were the literal gospel. The only time the conservative kid is volunteering to go get the ball is when they think that a minority might go get it instead.
I’m saying individual people can change. They can learn and grow.
You can stay mad at the conservatives of today, but you must let them “defect” when they’ve matured enough to do so.
Otherwise there’s no point to any of this.
I don't want defectors. I can't rely on defectors. They've had years--decades--to get their shit together, and they have chosen this path against better moral judgment. They are not welcome. I do not want them. As I said in another thread in this, I'm done with second chances, because their are on their hundredth and show no signs of self-correction. The straggler that jumps sides is worthless to me, because I can believe that they will do it again when it is convenient. At least the die-hards have conviction, even if it's wrong.
Maybe you have had decades. Plenty of people just turned 18 and voted for the first time this year. As an above commenter pointed out, “conservatives” aren’t a monolith. They’re individual people, of all ages and backgrounds.
You’re not going to win by trying to convince a politician to change parties. Instead, you focus on the individual voters who put those politicians in office. And seeing “fuck em, they can stay conservative” rhetoric like yours doesn’t really help win hearts or minds.
Are you telling me that you can be old enough to vote, but not old enough to understand the moral implications of your actions? Maybe they aren't a monolith, but they also aren't a microcosm. They don't exist outside of the larger reality and then are suddenly thrust into it when they have a change of heart. As someone who grew up in a racist family from central Florida, I know exactly what it means to leave all that behind to be a better person. It doesn't start when it's convenient. It starts when you realize it won't be, because it starts with realization. The realization that you aren't doing the right thing. The realization that your actions affect others. The realization that a lot of the things you've known your whole life have been wrong. We are a lot more connected now than we were when I was learning all of this. There is no excuse for ignorance. The truth is right there. They are free to come to that realization whenever they want, but they aren't going to make any friends if they sit on their hands and wait for someone to carry them out of the hole. If they voted, they knew what they were voting for, and I won't accept any other made up reality to help them justify their actions.
But don’t you see? Some conservatives haven’t even been alive for decades. Some don’t even truly understand why they were handed that banner in the first place.
I’m not saying there shouldn’t be accountability. I have friends and relatives I’ve had to place in various stages of social probation due to their politics, but for each I’ve had to consider what redemption and rehabilitation would look like. If there is in fact no redemption for any of them, where would I draw that indelible line?
Though I’ve not voted Republican, I’ve often been wrong in my life about many things, so I’m certain I would need to include myself in that group or irredeemables. Honestly, who would survive the culling of those who’ve been wrong? Would you?
Where do you draw the line? Let's start at telling others what they can do with their bodies. Let's start at denying US Citizens the right to be in the country. Shit, pick something off of the Project 2025 list and draw that line.
I've been wrong about things in my life, too. For instance, I ordered Taco Bell a few days ago and it wasn't great. I didn't suddenly feel like abolishing gay rights, though. I'm being glib. It's OK to be wrong. You have to admit it, and then SPEND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE REPAIRING THE DAMAGE YOU'VE DONE. All this "uwu, sowwy" bullshit that comes out of the mouths of the "reformed" is worth less than what I left in the bowl after the Taco Bell. Actions are all I care about. Fix your mistake, fuck your apology.
That is a viable path to redemption. In fact I think spending one’s life repairing damage done is only the minimum expectation.
Also to be clear, I’m talking about common voters, rank-and-file conservatives. Public figures on the other hand, especially those active in the current administration, must be imprisoned, and many of them for life, if only to demonstrate to the world the severity of their crimes against the republic and its people.