No, I mean like in a million ways, I don’t SEE myself as centrist.
Centrist is normally an illusion. It is just some hypothetical midpoint between the 2 party lumps.
Nobody would ever make the mistake that I’m ok with the left as it exists.
The left shifted away from you on some set of axes.
The problem is that everyone has dumb ideas, and what appears as centrism is actually my rejecting dumb ideas from all directions.
“We got an independent thinker here.”
You didn't follow and shift your thinking along with the lump. You want them to come to you, and meet your needs. They chased after cheaper or more lucrative options.
I think where we were socially in the 80’s and 90’s when I was a kid seemed fine.. being -not- racist wasn’t performative virtue signalling about how many inches of African dick you could take, it was just live and let live, with plenty of options to live somewhere that people you didn’t like weren’t there.
It was a pleasant time. The idea of peacefully coexisting is extremely appealing. Many on this site probably remember that time period, hence the Captain Planet memes. But, when you go back and look at the Captain Planet episodes now, you can see the subversive underpinnings and corrosive narratives. If it lasted as long as The Simpsons, there would probably be an episode extolling the virtues of "eating zee bugs"; probably around when The Simpsons canceled Apu.
I wish the economy hadn’t been so cucked, like I wish we kept manufacturing, and I wish it was still plausible to buy a house with money you just saved from a blue collar job over a few years instead of taking out a thirty year mortgage.
The public was sold a phony bag of goods. The TGIF aspirational family on TV, and the Star Trek: TNG future was just a spectacle while they robbed everyone.
Basically I’m content with like 90%+ of trumpism, and I think he usually is making the moves I’d like to see, he just has to decide to cross the rubicon
MAGA took the corpse of the Republican party and shifted more "populist", "nativist", and "nationalist". This picked up a lot of the stranded "I
90s" voters the Democrats and Republicans abandoned.
But what was a “right wing” policy during Bush II?
G.W. Bush positioned himself very closely to the Clintonian Al Gore positions. Bill Clinton having already triangulated closer to privatization. The electorate was split on gay rights, abortion, and religion. Natavist economics were absent from the ballot (Ross Perot and Pat Buchanin not being options).
Privatizing social security? I don’t want to feed the stock market like that; I think “line go up” cultism in regards to a wholly abstract conceptualization of the economy and cargo cult belief that loan liquidity = investment = gdp growth is as stupid of a model as militantly not knowing what a girl is
Like gravity pulling in the downward axis when dealing with real machines. Money and its corrupting influence pulls political machines on that axis. The political parties gravitate towards moneyed interests. Republicans catered more to the Military-Industrial-Complex, and the Democrats catered more to the Academia-Pharma-Complex. Both agreed replacing voters with indentured immigrants was preferable to sharing any wealth with the peasantry. Both agreed to build a surveillance state.
But one man refused to let the dream of the 90s die.
And through his courage he recruited others.
A 90s kid with fond memories of MtG:
A sperg who still thinks Star Trek: TNG is possible:
Another sperg who will save the children just like Captain Planet would:
A man who can remember when Call of Duty didn't suck.
A Cuban boy grateful not to be deported and living the American Dream:
Another 90s kid (Hawaiian punch flavored). Who thinks the surveillance state is bad, and cosplaying as Rogue from the X-Men is cool.
A gay banker who remembers the 90s were a lot more fun.
I haven't even mentioned the wife of Vince McMahon, the MTV star, or the others.
Maybe the promises of the 90s were all just wishful thinking. Can you have a diverse group of friends, and save the town from going bankrupt; all while catching some bank robbers? Will cynicism win over optimism? Will memes just be a dream?
MAGA is being held together by one man who luckily turned his head at the right time. The old Republican party is still putting up a fight with him. The Democrats are in disarray. Left, Right, and Center aren't very descriptive right now. If we are being honest Trump kinda is "The Center" of the political spectrum right now. MAGA is centrist. I don't know what 2 rivaling parties will emerge from this realignment.
