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SSSoooooo I have a question of perspective.
When I was religious, I was fanatically obsessively religious. Therefore, my politics were extremely conservative.
Since leaving religion, my politics have changed fairly dramatically. If Mark Levin or Rush Limbaugh were to read of my current set of political beliefs, they would accuse me of being a liberal. Ok, whatever.
I still feel somewhat like a conservative. When I logically compare the functionality of basic conservative values with basic liberal values, it is easy and plain to see that most of the basic conservative values have more tangible, visible benefits to society. Liberal ideology is destructive, illogical, and if implemented without any restraint, would destroy our society and country. And based on the stated perspectives of current liberal leaders, this is exactly what liberals want.
Yes, I do have a problem with several conservative view points, because of their foundation and consequence to the nation as a whole.
Since becoming a full bore agnostic, and slowly inching my way to full atheism, I have noticed something that greatly confuses me. A large portion of atheists are far left american/ america hating liberals.
Many of us have reached this point of no belief in god due to deep research, and a lot of logical analytics. Pure logic is what led me to where I am. But liberal ideas just don't stand up to logic. Logic will break down and destroy many liberal talking points......
Has anyone else noticed this and wondered about it? Has anybody here logically researched and analyzed this?

charliemmann 4 Sep 28
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1

You saw what so many fail to recognize what is without a doubt wrong with the American Democratic Process and how the Southern Christian Leadership votes the Bible Belt and will only follow what their supposed religious or demonic organization to which they belong dictates. People the likes of Jimmy Swaggert, Joel Olsteen are in the same class as Rush who could not pass English 101.

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I'm not only an atheist but I'm also a recovering Republican. I've always believed in conservative fiscal policies and liberal human rights policies.

Ronald Reagan woke me up to the fact that there's nothing conservative about the Republican party anymore. Every Republican majority and president since then has increased the deficit more than there Democratic predecessors and put their boots on the neck of working people while saying they're doing something different.

I have hopes that your logical tendencies will encourage you to broaden your sources of information.

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I feel your pain and wonderment. However, I feel you may be looking at liberals through a great conservative haze! (Just as can happen the other way around!) 100% Far right OR far left would destroy America! I wouldn't want to live in either world! I feel the best way is to have a moderate approach to both or either.

For instance I believe in the 2nd Amendment but I also believe in a woman's right to choose. This does not mean I feel everyone should have access to firearms or that women should use abortion as a method of birth control.

As far as social programs go... I believe in a helping hand but not allowing it to become a way of life! There are several dichotomous beliefs I have and... I am okay with that! 😉

1

Great post.

I'm astounded that Socialist/Collectivist experiments have been tried over and over again since 1917, and each time they have been disastrous, but the people on this site who are too rational and intelligent to believe the religious nonsense buy into the Socialist/Collectivist nonsense.

BD66 Level 8 Sep 29, 2019

Well, if the experiments involved people who had No idea of the diametrically opposing theories of Socialist vs. Collectivism (Communism), I am not surprised at the failures. Maybe you should read up a bit?
On the other hand, any of the Scandavian counties, today, anyone?

@AnneWimsey There are some Americans who are unbelievably ignorant of the differences between Liberalism, Socialism and Communism. They bandy terms about and spout the most ridiculous nonsense without any practical knowledge of any systems of government other than their own. Social Democracy such as they have in the Scandinavian countries is the best working example of liberal values and good governance,

@OwlInASack Every time there is an experiment that involves Capitalism vs. Socialism/Collectivism:

South Korea vs. North Korea
West Germany vs. East Germany
Taiwan & Hong Kong & Singapore vs. PRC

you get prosperity and a comfortable standard of living on the Capitalism side.
You get a police state, poverty, famine and state-sponsored murder on the Socialism/Collectivism side.

You have to literally stick your head in the sand and ignore 20th century history to come to any other conclusion.

@OwlInASack
North Korea, East Germany, and the PRC were not Socialist/Collectivist?
People weren't risking their lives to get out of North Korea and East Germany?
30,000,000 to 45,000,000 people didn't die in the Great Leap Forward?
1,000,000 to 2,000,000 people didn't die in the Cultural Revolution?

@Marionville those Scandinavian countries are NOTHING like the United states. They do not have as many people, they do not have as much geography to cover, they do not have the level or scope of immigration that we have, and they do not have the natural resources that the United States does.
To compare the United States governance with the governance of Scandinavian countries is like comparing baking a cake to building a spaceship.
There is NO comparison.
This proves my point that liberals just do not get logic, and they don't see facts accurately

@charliemmann I never said they were anything like the USA, I am aware of the disparity between the population numbers. There can be no doubt that it’s easier implement any system when it involves a smaller population. I am merely pointing out that social democracy can and does work, and that in the USA the meaning of both Socialism and Liberalism have been wrongly defined. A mixture of capitalism with socially democratic governance is the ideal...and as it’s practiced in Scandinavia is a very successful system. I take issue with your final sentence, I am using logic and stating facts, that you fail to grasp them is not my problem but yours.

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You are yet another person who does not actually know the correct meaning of the word liberal, and consequently are suffering from a confusion of ideas. Far left and liberal are poles apart, but you are conflating the two. Once again I will spell out the definition of liberal and Liberalism. Being liberal means having a willingness to respect or accept behaviour or opinions which differ from one’s own; to be open to new ideas. Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on liberty, consent of the governed, and equality before the law. Can you tell me any of these ideals which you find objectionable? The reason most atheists would agree with this philosophy, is because it is rational, logical and, above all egalitarian.

Your answer, I love. What your answer misses, not so much.

So please explain to me, with detail, what political ideas that are coming from Democrat leadership that you believe are GOOD ideas.

@charliemmann being able to earn a living wage with the only thing you have to sell, your time? Healthcare that doesn't make you bankrupt because you got sick? The right to live your life as You wish? I got more, but I'll start with thaese.....

@charliemmann I am not referring to anything about the merits of the US Democrats and their policies, I’m not familiar enough with American politics to do so. What I was doing was pointing out that your conflating “liberal” with “far-left” is contrary to the meaning of being liberal. I am sure you are correct in all respects in your observations regarding the political stance of both the parties in the USA, but calling anyone on the left a “liberal” is a US misconception, and does the cause of liberalism no good whatsoever. We in the UK do have a middle party...the Liberal Democrats who are actually liberals, but as far as I can observe you only have left and right parties in the USA.

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"Therefore, my politics were extremely conservative" Huh...what would Jesus do? Ignore the hungry & homeless? Try to control groups that do not look like him? (You do know he looked very Semitic, right?) Imprison asylum seekers & rip their infants from their arms? I wish someone would explain this to me......

We are a nation of laws. Every person in this country, citizen or not, is expected to follow those laws.
This expectations is what gives us freedom and liberty.
Our traffic laws are a great example. Everyone is expected to follow our traffic laws equally, fornthe most part. If an electronic red light stops working, we have a law that informs everyone what to do when they reach that intersection.
This law does not care what color you are, what religion you are, what sexual orientation or gender you are.
Your emotion-filled response lacks understanding and logic.
Thanks for proving why the liberal mindset should not be in the United States.

@charliemmann so, explainto me the HUGE disparity in arrests & sentencing based solely on color.......

3

"When I was religious, I was fanatically obsessively religious. Therefore, my politics were extremely conservative."

There are an awful lot of religious people who are not conservative. I wonder why you think seem to think otherwise.

"A large portion of atheists are far left american/ america hating liberals."

Most liberals I know love America. I wonder what you are basing your statement on.

Look at the majority of the Liberals that you see on the TV every day. Look at the majority of liberals that you hear about in the news everyday. Look at how liberals treat conservatives on college campuses. Look how conservative voices are silenced, and their first amendment rights are trampled.
Liberals now require a safe space, where they do not have to hear ideas that conflicted with their own.....
And anyone who does not agree with a liberal is a horrible evil human being that is a racist, misogynist, and so on, and so forth......
Liberals in Congress actually want the economy to fail, just to keep Trump from getting re-elected again. Several of them have said so, word for word.
TOO MANY Liberals support extremely late term abortion, and even live birth abortions.
anyone that can support doing that to a human being, is extremely scary, and probably hates being alive themselves.

@charliemmann These are very generalized statements and I doubt that numbers you are suggesting are accurate. For instance, MOST people are not in favor of late term abortions. I am sorry to say this but it sounds as though you may be getting some of your information from unreliable sources.

I'd feel much better if you had presented some reliable statistics. Please don't tell me what you think I believe.

1

Leftists in America are not "far left." In fact, most are center-left. Even Bernie Sanders, the most left-leaning of the candidates, is only center-left. American politics is so heavily skewed to the right it just seems like center-leftists are more radical and extreme than they are. Also, leftists don't want to destroy America. We want a Scandinavian-style system, which is proven to work.

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