I'm not just a centrist, I'm a conservative! I agree with Adam Smith, the father of Capitalism.
For instance, I agree with him that monopolies must be regulated or they will corrupt the government:
It is to sell the one as dear, and to buy the other as cheap as possible, and consequently to exclude, as much as possible, all rivals from the particular market where they keep their shop. The genius of the administration, therefore, so far as concerns the trade of the company, is the same as that of the direc- tion. It tends to make government subservient to the interest of monopoly, and consequently to stunt the natural growth of some parts, at least, of the surplus produce of the country, to what is barely sufficient for answering the demand of the company
...
They will employ the whole authority of government, and pervert the administration of Justice, in order to harass and ruin those who interfere with them in any branch of commerce, which by means of agents, either concealed, or at least not pub- licly avowed, they may choose to carry on.
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I also agree with him that landlords are parasites and need to be heavily taxed:
As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed and demand a rent even for its natural produce.
A tax upon ground-rents would not raise the rents of houses. It would fall altogether upon the owner of the ground-rent, who acts always as a monopolist, and exacts the greatest rent which can be got for the use of his ground.
If you call yourself a captalist but don't even believe in what Adam Smith said, are you really even a capitalist?
I like the method of pushing the left further left through extreme demands.
Legalize abortions until age 5!
Mandatory puberty suppressors for all teens!
Reparations for anyone except white straight abled males!
Make Israel a world culture site whose government is run by the UN!
Behead all billionaires!
100% inheritance tax!
No religious education for those under 18!
Socialized medicine for all people and their pets!
I've been doing that for years. I've been claiming to be a conservative and supporting things like universal healthcare. I even give it capitalist flair by saying that ensuring everyone has more money means I can then take that money by selling them shit they don't need. How the hell am I supposed to sell my useless crap if everyone's spending their money on rent?!
Ditto with stuff like housing the unhoused. I don't want filthy drug addicts strewn about the streets taking up my park benches and constantly asking me for 'bus money'! Get them houses so I don't have to see them anymore! Also god I hate kids, especially when they're just hanging around on the street being annoying and intimidating. Build some youth centres so they have somewhere to go and get them away from me!
Altruism through selfishness etc etc etc.
Sorry to bring the news but…the rest of the world have been calling US Democrats right-wing and Republicans far-right for decades.
My dad used to joke that the US is the country of freedom, where you can choose between the right and the right.
"There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation"
When Pierre Trudeau said that in the 1960s, it was a thing that many conservatives believed. Who'd think it was possible that in 2025 we'd be wanting the conservatives to be like the conservatives from the 1960s.
The right does this and it seems to work for them.
Or abandon the political labeling system entirely and make it socially outdated by learning to confront someone labeling themselves by responding to them with something along the lines of: "Why would you allow someone else to tell you what it is you believe in? You don't get to decide what being a conservative/liberal means. Someone else decides that. You aren't part of it. So why would you let whoever that is tell you what you should think?"
Change the meaning of what it means to even use the labels and the weapon of using the labels to divide us no longer functions.
It has been dismantled, and they will have to come up with something else.
And just because they will eventually invent a new weapon, does not make it pointless. This is just the never ending metaphorical arms race we are all living in, but it gets easier once you see it for what it is.
I've noticed women on bumble do this. Put moderate as their political affiliation, and list black lives matter and LGBTQ+ and such as their causes. Before this post I would think "elected moderates aren't doing anything for your causes at best," but my perspective as I swipe left on them anyway is a little different now
there are enough idiots in this world for this to actually work
I mean that is literally how it shifted so hard to the right lol
This is kind of how I try to describe cooperatives to some people. It works if you think of freedom and autonomy as conservative ideas which cooperatives bring without central planning socialism, while still being socialist. Also been pleading my leftist circles for years to try to appeal to a wider audience in a similar way. If only we recognize that we've all been lied to and propagandized to believe in capitalism, speaking in a way the "right" can get on board with would only help them start listening to reasonable solutions.
I was thinking of using a crowbar.
Good idea
