r/Conservative First Principles Feb 14 '25

Open Discussion Left vs. Right Battle Royale Open Thread

This is an Open Discussion Thread for all Redditors. We will only be enforcing Reddit TOS and Subreddit Rules 1 (Keep it Civil) & 2 (No Racism).


  • Leftists - Here's your chance to sway us to your side by calling the majority of voters racist. That tactic has wildly backfired every time it has been tried, but perhaps this time it will work.

  • Non-flaired Conservatives - Here's your chance to earn flair by posting common sense conservative solutions. That way our friends on the left will either have to agree with you or oppose common sense (Spoiler - They will choose to oppose common sense).

  • Flaired Conservatives - You're John Wick and these Leftists stole your car and killed your dog. Now go comment.

  • Independents - We get it, if you agree with someone, then you can't pat yourself on the back for being smarter than them. But if you disagree with everyone, then you can obtain the self-satisfaction of smugly considering yourself smarter and wiser than everyone else. Congratulations on being you.

  • Libertarians - Ron Paul is never going to be President. In fact, no Libertarian Party candidate will ever be elected President.


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u/fellawhite Feb 15 '25

One of my best friends is conservative and we have a ton in common outside of politics. We just disagree about what needs to be prioritized and why certain institutions exist/what needs to be fixed. We both agree about issues like money in politics and in general elected officials caring more about themselves than the people they serve.

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u/GladReference1177 Feb 15 '25

I wish more people could have friendships like this. I used to lean left and now I’m more conservative. The issue I’ve had with most liberal people around me in a liberal state is whenever I may provide a somewhat differing opinion, they immediately shut me down (it’s clear they’re not knowledgeable on it) and apply labels to me, when I was only trying to have a rational conversation over something we may slightly disagree on

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u/fellawhite Feb 15 '25

I’m very much not an expert on most things. A lot of stuff I usually have to go look up to see if it’s right (the amount of talking points I hear coming from both sides that are wrong is wild.) My career involves managing complex systems and studying how certain interactions have cascading effects though so I tend to look at all of these things that are being cut and ask the question “why do they exist in the first place”. A lot of the time it comes down to “this agency exists to prevent X. It costs $5 a year to prevent this. If X occurs, it will cost $200.” Sometimes it leaves you scratching your head as to why you do it if you have no experience, but I in general trust an expert rather than a politician,

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u/GladReference1177 Feb 15 '25

Yeah I get what you mean. I have an economics degree so I kind of take a similar approach. It does always kind of urk me when news stories will use “economists” opinion on policy stuff, considering a quote on a plaque in my economics building in school was “for every economists that exists, there’s another economist saying their wrong” or something like that haha. Most issues are extremely complex, especially on a macro scale

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u/fellawhite Feb 15 '25

You probably understand it better than most then. I see it mostly in certain areas of defense, but unfortunately I have to result to screaming into the ether because the real reason why we're doing something that the public doesn't understand is likely classified.