I’m a conservative. I don’t mind the liberal stuff here. It’s good to learn the other side, but I don’t want a liberal echo chamber. I’d like to be more politically balanced in the fediverse. Is there any way I can do that?

  • @Falmarri
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    21 year ago

    Getting news from YouTube explains a lot dude. You think all doctors are the same? Equally credible? There are no crazy, stupid, or malicious doctors? What kind of doctor would be most likely to be making youtube videos?

  • @duckington
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    1741 year ago

    Unfortunately most of the more “conservative” instances became highly toxic and so most other instances have defederated with them.

    • euphoria
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      1091 year ago

      funny how every time conservatives group up, their communities become so toxic, full of hate and conspiracies, that people have no choice but to cut ties lol

      • @Astroturfed
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        581 year ago

        Woah, woah, there… Telling all the trannies and colored folks to die is their protected free speech rights. How dare you cancel them.

        • euphoria
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          1 year ago

          they’d thrive on 4chan. i recommend OP go there. that’s a breeding ground for this ideology. they can enjoy all the loli, nazi, and “n***er” rekt gore threads they desire

          • DebatableRaccoon
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            51 year ago

            I have to ask, what do lolis have to do with the rest? I can’t say I’m a fan but I feel like I’ve missed a memo.

            • euphoria
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              121 year ago

              4chan has a shiiiit ton of loli threads, sometimes containing real cp unfortunately, and some ai generated realistic cp. and, 4chan is a cesspool of alt right cunts. they are the ones proudly producing the threads

              • @Arctic
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                41 year ago

                Just on /b/ for that.

                /pol/ is the serious fascist breeding ground. I step in occasionally just to see what talking point these guys are going to be drumming in the mainstream in 3 to 6 months. It bleeds over everywhere else on 4chan so there’s a high overlap, but people on /b/ are surprisingly varied (if universally idiots, but I guess that’s kind of the point).

                • euphoria
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                  01 year ago

                  both are disgusting cesspits. i see no variation on /b/. its all loli, rekt, nazi threads, andy biersack, and porn

      • trainsaresexy
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        131 year ago

        It’s because their political leader at the moment is a populist. They can’t help but be a bunch of cunts. Monkey see money do kind of thing.

        • phillaholic
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          -231 year ago

          Here’s an unpopular opinion. I saw a lot of the same elements in the Bernie crowd. Not for taking peoples rights or anything illegal like that mind you, but they were very quick to want to ignore the rules during the primary to throw out the choice of the Democratic majority in order to have Bernie win over Hillary. To this day I still hear conspiracy theory talking points about how Bernie really won, or how he was winning the real polls, etc. it’s the same populist rhetoric and it’s dangerous.

          • @CountZero
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            221 year ago

            Yeah, but how often did Bernie himself repeat those conspiracy theories? Did he ever try to violently overturn the Democratic primary results? Every popular person has some shitty supporters, so you can’t just judge people based on their supporters.

            • phillaholic
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              -101 year ago

              Bernie never said anything to my knowledge, which is why I said the Bernie Crowd. It was limited to a chunk of his fan base that discussed ignoring primary results and awarding delegates to Bernie. Violent or Non-Violent wasn’t the point. The rules were set before the primary, and Bernie lost. Any attempt at discussion of anything regarding overturning that result is overturning democracy. That was scary to read. You don’t think that would ever turn into a coup attempt, but It’s enough to have made me uncomfortable.

              I only blame Bernie as much as his populist rhetoric misleads people. Nothing actually happened, and I don’t believe he would have stood for it if it did.

          • @CountZero
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            71 year ago

            Yeah, but how often did Bernie himself repeat those conspiracy theories? Did he ever try to violently overturn the Democratic primary results? Every popular person has some shitty supporters, so you can’t just judge people based on their supporters.

      • @[email protected]
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        1 year ago

        Have you seen all the comments on this thread?

        Instead of answering the OPs question, 100+ people are just bashing him for thinking differently, saying stuff like “Well, why are you conservative in the first place? Conservatism is so stupid! People on the right are evil, monsters, etc.”

        This left wing echo chamber is already very hateful and against any differing opinions.

        • @[email protected]
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          131 year ago

          It’s not “thinking differently” it’s “the beliefs necessary to maintain that political stance are stupid and cruel”.

          • @Snowman44OP
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            -91 year ago

            Not every conservative is a racist nazi. Some of us just want the government to stick to doing what’s in the constitution.

            • @Falmarri
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              101 year ago

              So then how can you possibly agree with the right? Is banning books in the Constitution?

            • @[email protected]
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              21 year ago

              Westerners, especially Americans, have a really really hard time believing that you can be socially one thing and governmentally/economically another. For instance Im radically socially leftist but economically libertarian.

              Because Americans have been force fed the lie that you have to pick one size fits all, they assume that every conservative is also socially conservative. Which, in the case of America, means you support the wild anti lgbt/anti abortion legislation.

        • @duckington
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          81 year ago

          I agree. The way I worded my comment was very intentional to not bash conservatism. I don’t consider myself one but I thought OP’s question was pretty respectful and I do find it unfortunate that he doesn’t have a community on here that isn’t extremely radicalized.

          • @[email protected]
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            1 year ago

            Yeah, it’s a shame that people can’t be more civil and respectful to each other.

    • @rist097
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      1 year ago

      I think they would be more moderate if more moderate people would have opportunity to participate. Right now all of the non left instances or communities get too quickly defederated and deleted, so moderate people who would normally participate dont want to create na account on a completely defederated instance. The only thing you are left of there are some crazies.

      The only way I heard of conservative communities here is from a post that is asking for defederation or deletion

      • @[email protected]
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        741 year ago

        Well, the conservatives in those communities could try being less horrible pieces of shit and not bring hate to minority spaces, but that’s probably too much to ask

        • Puppy
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          401 year ago

          Remember when being conservative meant you wanted lower tax?

          Now it’s a competition to see who’s going to say the most toxic stuff and who can become the biggest piece of trash a human being can be

          “I LOVE RUSSIA TRUMP IS MY GOD FUCK LGBTS ALL TRANS ARE PEDOPHILE SOROS BILL GATES WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE FAUCI OBAMA BUT HER EMAILS BUT HIS LAPTOPS BUD LITE WOKE WOKE”

          like holy shit, calm down a bit…

          • trainsaresexy
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            71 year ago

            That was like 15 years ago as I remember it. Being a conservative was about being a fiscal responsibility, and there was an expectation that we were all moving in the same direction socially. Now it’s all messed up.

        • @Clent
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          61 year ago

          Give hate a chance!

      • euphoria
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        1 year ago

        conservative spaces shouldn’t need moderates to balance out their toxicity and crazy when left on their own, they simply shouldn’t be toxic and crazy. why do they need their hand held? it gets defederated quickly because THEY always quickly turn their spaces into pure hate, and they choose to spread that. that’s on them, not us.

          • _thisdot
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            -81 year ago

            It’s funny. What is happening here is “hate” towards conservatives!

            And no, conservatism is not built upon hate. There has to be a left, there has to be a right. And the absence of either would drive us to dictatorship (lack of left wing) or anarchy (lack of right wing)

            • qevlarr
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              01 year ago

              Oh no, anarchy

              … Uh so no dominance hierarchies, where no one rules over another? Yeah, don’t threaten me with a good time

      • @breadsmasher
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        131 year ago

        Community starts, insane conspiracy prevails, defederated/removed.

        “moderate “ conservative is a myth

        • @rist097
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          21 year ago

          A person can share some values from both sides of political spectrum. Why is that concept so difficult for people to understand?

          Its definetely not a myth

          • @breadsmasher
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            61 year ago

            Provide an example of a moderate conservative view then.

            Without dog whistles and nonsense like “small government” or whatever other labels conservatives like to pretend to have

            • @cccc
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              01 year ago

              It’s possible to economically liberal and socially conservative. Or the other way round.

              • @Falmarri
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                71 year ago

                Socially conservative just means being racist, and homophobic

                • @cccc
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                  01 year ago

                  Or the other way round. Socially liberally and economically conservative. The point is that you can average to moderate/centre.

                  This whole fascination with left and right politics is why America is so fucked.

                • trainsaresexy
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                  01 year ago

                  I think that’s the extreme ideas of each other we have in our heads. Someone can be a liberal with christian values and consider themselves conservatives. They can practice tolerance and respect differences among people.

                  Conservatives don’t have spaces to chat online that aren’t full of bigots or people who automatically reject their values. I think these conservatives could be our ally, but they need their own spaces to talk.

            • @rist097
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              -41 year ago

              Nuclear family, individual freedoms, freedom of religion and expression

              • @Falmarri
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                91 year ago

                What does nuclear family mean in relation to being conservative. What is the associated policy.

                Same with the rest. Those are just platitudes. They don’t actually mean anything or guide policy

                • trainsaresexy
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                  -51 year ago

                  Just try to listen since they are trying to tell you.

                • @rist097
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                  -51 year ago

                  Its an idea that many conservative folks believe in. There is no policy. Policies can be different from country to country. This is an international instance, it is not limited to discussing only policies in the USA, it is also allowed to discuss ideas worldwide.

          • @Snowman44OP
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            31 year ago

            I have beliefs from both sides. I just agree with the right a little more.

            • @sosodev
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              11 year ago

              I’m genuinely curious, which conservative values do you like?

      • @PsychedSy
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        11 year ago

        I’m socially pretty left but a voluntarist and it feels pretty hostile. Even socially moderate or liberal cons will feel pretty bad. I’m just used to chillin’ in left spaces so it’s whatever.

      • @[email protected]
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        11 year ago

        I get what you’re saying. There’s a mindset in the fediverse that everyone on an instance is responsible for it. Even if the bad actors join later. The instance gets defederated but as a user it can be really hard to know if your instance is defederated.

        It’s a deeply unpopular opinion and anyone who suggests that federation is simultaneously a huge advance and a big problem seems to get downvoted.

        You’re right, ultimately instead of being exposed to a range of views some of which are challenging we’ll end up in little echo chambers.

        We need more moderation and less defederation.

        • phillaholic
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          101 year ago

          I’m fine being in an echo chamber that Trans people deserve human rights. That’s a hill I’m willing to die on. If you disagree, you can stay out of my bubble, I’m not negotiating this point.

          • _thisdot
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            51 year ago

            This. If they identify as humans, they deserve human rights

          • @[email protected]
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            1 year ago

            I haven’t mentioned anything about Trans people at all ? There’s nothing to negotiate and I don’t disagree that trans people have a right to be treated with respect and have their rights respected.

            • phillaholic
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              61 year ago

              It’s the hot topic of the moment for conservatives, particularly the ones that are getting banned from public sites. Other than that, it’s all culture war shit like abortion, immigration, border walls, etc that all go into xenophobia, misogamy, racism, antisemitism etc. I haven’t seen any real conservative ideas in a decade. Now it’s all a grift. You either have a old idea of what conservative is or just aren’t saying it out loud. Even when Republicans cut taxes, they cut them massively for the rich and give the middle class and poor pennies. Any time someone wants to put more money in lower classes pockets they fabricate some bullshit to block it (Student Loan Forgiveness, Stimulus Checks) all a while giving Businesses Billions and removing oversight (PPP Loans).

          • @[email protected]
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            -11 year ago

            And that’s were moderation (the act of moderation) comes in as a first step rather than instant defederation.

            • @[email protected]
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              71 year ago

              r/conservative mods handed out bans for anyone even asking a legit question. Conservative arguments aren’t fact based, so any good faith argument is seen as an attack and the only defense is to reject it outright. I don’t know how good moderation can be applied to that.

  • Maxcoffee
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    1481 year ago

    The challenge will be finding an actual traditional conservative instance that isn’t also a pro-Nazi fascist shithole.

    • Eggyhead
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      501 year ago

      I imagine traditional conservatives often get gate checked as leftist.

      • @Zippy
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        71 year ago

        I did in Reddit. Got banned because Trump was a shit stain and I was not afraid to say so. I have to say though that Lemmy is less polite if you don’t echo back the general consensus at times. Can get quite personal. Doesn’t bother me but I get a kick out of those that suggest it is more civilized then Reddit.

      • @ShittyRedditWasBetter
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        -341 year ago

        Been called a Nazi plenty of times on Reddit and now here. God forbid you believe capitalism with a touch of regulation when needed works 🤷‍♂️.

        • trainsaresexy
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          221 year ago

          Not to get too sidetracked but part of what isn’t working about capitalism is what is coming down the pipe with climate change. Capitalism does work, but market socialism looks like an upgrade to me. People over profits.

          • @ShittyRedditWasBetter
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            -71 year ago

            That’s fine. I’m just saying it doesn’t make me racist Nazi to have a more right position.

            • @[email protected]
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              251 year ago

              Maybe not, but the consequences of your beliefs impact people negatively and you should accept the resulting disapproval.

                • Rhynoplaz
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                  61 year ago

                  You keep saying that word, but I do not think it means what you think it means.

            • trainsaresexy
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              51 year ago

              No it doesn’t. You’d have to support nazi ideas to be a nazi, but how distant that connection can be applied I’m not sure. The left and right are calling each other nazis lately so I guess it can reach a long way.

        • phillaholic
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          201 year ago

          DOUBT

          You’ve said other things to get people to call you that.

        • Eggyhead
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          141 year ago

          Well if any left winger were to argue that merely believing capitalism with a touch of regulation works is all that makes you a Nazi, I’d be inclined to disagree with them even as a liberal progressive.

          For me it’s believing that what you read, what you are taught, who you love/marry, how you practice art, what happens between you and a doctor, and where you were born that needs to be policed, controlled, and punished is what makes a Nazi. I honestly don’t think a genuine American conservative would care about any of that.

      • phillaholic
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        291 year ago

        Nope, it started much earlier. When they linked up with evangelical Christians.

    • @foggy
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      291 year ago

      Yeah there’s only as much sane conservative content as there are sane conservatives.

      • @[email protected]
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        151 year ago

        /r/conservative used to be moderately sane back before 2015. It’s almost like the entire Republican lost their minds the year after that. I wonder why…

        • @T156
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          Would it be too late for them to rein it back now?

          Seems like anyone trying would be immediately be booted for being a “liberal”, and the only way is down.

    • euphoria
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      251 year ago

      holy shit, the jokes write themselves. it really is like 3 losers posting weird ass shit

      “If A Leftist Guy Was With His Girlfriend And Called You A Toxic Male, What Would You Do?”
      “I downvote every post that says 'climate change”

    • euphoria
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      131 year ago

      here is a nice post on !fatehate to emphasize their wonderful community of rational conservatives

      “jabba the black”

  • @S_204
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    681 year ago

    Reality has a well known liberal bias. Stop trying to hide from reality.

    • @zepheriths
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      -471 year ago

      No, the Internet as a whole has more liberals than conservatives, due to a variety of reason. In real life you are much more likely to met someone that is neutral or only slightly to either side. What exists here is literal echo chambers of liberal policy to the point the policy becomes unpalatable for most, that doesn’t exist outside the internet.

        • @MajorHavoc
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          51 year ago

          As a rural person, I’ve come to realize that we usually have no real concept of just how overwhelmingly large the population is that lives in huge cities.

          It’s easy to perceive New York as just “a lot bigger than any town I’ve lived in” rather than “large enough that my entire town could visit on the same day and literally no one would notice”.

          Another one that helps me put it in perspective - “If every resident of New York took a day trip to casually slap one member of my town one time, everyone in my town would probably die of our injuries.” It helps me when meditating on “Why should they wield so much political power?” They already do. This shared voting system just let’s us argue in a much chiller way.

          A lot of history makes more sense through the context of realizing both how different city and town life is, while also accepting that an almost inconceivable number of people live in cities.

      • @[email protected]
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        1 year ago

        the Internet as a whole has more liberals than conservatives

        Because Conservatives don’t know how to use the internet or change the channel away from fox

        • @Snowman44OP
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          -31 year ago

          I don’t like fox or cnn. They’re both corrupt. I prefer to get my news through youtube. I search for experts on a certain topic explaining the issue. During covid I watched a lot of doctors explaining covid on YouTube.

          • @sosodev
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            181 year ago

            YouTube is not a news source my friend. A lot of the “experts” you’ll find on there have zero credibility.

          • @[email protected]
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            151 year ago

            Saying “I get news from YouTube” is like saying “I get news from the television”. It matters what channel you’re on.

            What direction do you think fox is biased towards? What direction do you think cnn is biased towards?

            • @S_204
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              21 year ago

              It’s worse than getting news from TV. TV doesn’t have an algorithm feeding you Right wing propaganda like YouTube pushes.

      • @[email protected]
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        121 year ago

        No. The Internet just seems more liberally slanted because people are more liberally slanted overall. Conservatives rely on outdated voting principles to make it seem like they are more widely supported than they actually are. Things like first past the post, electoral college and gerrymandering. This is why you see republicans fighting to either keep the voting process the way it is, or to restrict voting in various ways.

        Also, conservatives feel like the Internet is more slanted to the left because they are usually stuck in their little rural community echo chamber. Then come to the internet where they actually have to interact with people outside their local area, like cities and other countries.

        • @TheDoctorDonna
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          1 year ago

          They also rely on the low voter turnout. If more people under 40 voted, it would likely be consistent liberal governance for the foreseeable future.

      • _thisdot
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        51 year ago

        It’s not even the internet. Conservatives are more likely to stick to existing stuff and not experiment much. Liberals do that.

        This is why places like YouTube have a big conservative audience. Places like Lemmy will have a huge liberal audience

      • @[email protected]
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        51 year ago

        that doesn’t exist outside the internet.

        It sure exists in the podcasts I listen to (real people talking, even if it gets delivered via internet) and books that I read. It exists in the conversations that I have with my social group irl. It existed like crazy at the Bernie campaign speech that I attended in Feb 2020. If you think Leftist / Social Democrats don’t have real numbers, it’s because you don’t look for those groups to surround you.

      • @S_204
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        11 year ago

        I know it’s scary to be in the real world outside of your conservative silo, but as you’re seeing the lies your News agencies have been feeding you simply aren’t true.

        The Red states flipping blue, Texas going purple and the vast majority of Americans being in favor of roe v wade show that your world view of conservatism is not the majority belief in America.

    • @Zippy
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      161 year ago

      I find it very weird how certain specific issues are assigned to a certain political leaning or more correct correct, how you are expected to believe a certain way in all topics depending on your voting history.

      A couple examples are religion and abortion. What do these have to do with any political leaning in the US or any country for that matter? Our maybe the better question to ask is why do people think there is some universal law that dictates what side of the political spectrum you lie on based on certain beliefs that have nothing to do with politics?

      • @[email protected]
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        151 year ago

        That’s the point. This liberal vs conservative isn’t even working for the US. In an international community like Lemmy it’s even worse, as what people from the US define as left and right does not work for western Europe for example. In Germany liberal in a modern sense is seen equal to neoliberal, what is democrats for US is right conservative for us, what is left in Europe is communism for the US and so on, you get it.

        It may work for parties on a regional level, but for individuals, forget it.

      • @[email protected]
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        141 year ago

        The connection between conservatism and religion/abortion exists because of a well documented effort by Reagan era republicans to culturally connect them. Imo there is no underlying rationale besides “we will create and maintain moral wedge issues to keep religious voters on the hook”, while they work on their true goals- the consolidation of wealth and power further into the oligarchy.

        • @Zippy
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          -21 year ago

          Exactly what I am saying. Religion was never a left or right thing. That is not even the definition of left or right politics. For some reason it for attached to one but that is a human construct and a US construct. Most other countries don’t portray religion to a certain political leaning.

      • @[email protected]
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        51 year ago

        How can you be so obtuse?

        The Republican Party is forcing their religious beliefs on everyone (abortion, gay rights, etc) on everyone, claiming the US is a Christian nation.

        • @Zippy
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          -21 year ago

          Don’t be an ass. Not that it bugs me when you get personal but Lemmy is more caustic than Reddit if you want people to think a bit.

    • @[email protected]
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      101 year ago

      This is so important. In essence, politics should be about our view, and critically searching for those who best represent it (or the most important part of it at the current moment), not about a ‘team we root for’ and get our views from. I think too many people forget that.

  • @mortalic
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    1 year ago

    Just a reminder that it isn’t a left vs right conversation. It’s working class vs ruling class.

    You aren’t bitter at leftists, you’re bitter at the ideas that media companies use to keep you angry at leftists instead of oligarchs.

    If you have to work, you’re working class.

    If you actually do hate certain types of people, then you need to work on yourself.

    If you don’t believe certain people need health care, then you need to work on yourself.

    If you believe ultra wealthy (people making over $10mil in income annually) deserve more tax cuts, then you need to work on yourself.

    If you don’t believe that minimum wage should have parity with inflation, then you need to work on yourself.

    Have some class solidarity.

    EDIT: To all those downvotes… Ask yourself why you are downvoting me. (Now with 100% more sources)

    Do you actually hate certain people? Really? But you’re downvoting me? Work on yourself.

    Do you actually believe you don’t deserve health care? That others don’t deserve health care? Seriously? Work on yourself.

    Are you super wealthy (low percentage chance)? I’m saying uncomfortable things to you. But you can easily afford those taxes so maybe work on yourself.

    Do you believe people working for minimum wage shouldn’t be able to afford an apartment by themselves anywhere in the USA? Work on yourself.

  • Mitchacho74
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    561 year ago

    I think it’ll be tough to find that corner of it… I think I saw a conservative community on lemmy.world but the platforms original purpose was to get away from the big, controlling, capitalist social media platforms the likes of Twitter, Instagram, reddit, etc. Like mastodon, the largest part of the fediverse (I’m pretty sure), grew alot when twitter was brought by Elon, and more moved after he messed up the platform enough, saying they’ll create their own platform where hate won’t be allowed. It’s kinda against it’s nature to have much conservative-ness.

    Not trying to be rude as based on how this sounds, you seem nice enough and not crazy, but places like mastodon are basically the left’s version of “Truth social” where people are pretty ok with saying “I don’t want those thoughts spread here” those thoughts they don’t want are usually things like homophobia or transphobia, but those are fairly common on the right even if you don’t share them.

    It’s an interesting thought and would probably be alittle healthier, but hey you’re still here being able to provide that counter point of view

    • @[email protected]
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      1 year ago

      Anyone who votes for a party that supports racism, banning books, and trying to make it harder for people to vote is not “nice enough”.

      They are an evil piece of shit who is making the country a miserable place to live.

      • trainsaresexy
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        91 year ago

        I agree with this but we aren’t talking about castings votes here and I’m assuming OP is voting as if he is a sane person, but what are they supposed to do with the values they hold that don’t align with liberalism?

        • @[email protected]
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          31 year ago

          I would decide which is worse: the things I listed, or the things the voter may dislike about liberal policies like free healthcare for all.

        • @Eldritch
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          11 year ago

          but what are they supposed to do with the values they hold that don’t align with liberalism?

          Grow as a person. Something we should all strive to do. There are plenty of places I diverged from all the hard right liberals. Mostly around the capitalism fetish. But I can support them at least because of their more pro social democracy stance. But I can articulate and explain the logic why when asked. As a socialist I also diverge heavily from anti social democracy socialists. And again, can general explain and point out the reasons why. Things most of my fellow Americans have little understanding of or desire too. But none of us are perfect, nor will we ever be. But that isn’t a reason to stop growing.

      • @Snowman44OP
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        31 year ago

        I only vote republican when they have good views. I’d rather get rid of political parties and make people run on merit alone.

      • xigoi
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        -191 year ago

        If you have only two choices and both are bad, you have to choose the lesser evil. The OP probably doesn’t like the racism and stuff, but they dislike certain policies of the other party even more.

        Also, “trying to make it harder for people to vote” is an interesting way to say “requiring people to bring their citizen ID when voting, like in any civilized country”.

        • @[email protected]
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          131 year ago

          I would say that the dismantling of human rights would be a greater evil than the things the democrats could cook up, but if you are not affected and have no empathy for others it could be better to vote for the republicans.

          And werent the conditions to be able to vote pretty restrictive to a lot of people?

          • xigoi
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            -41 year ago

            I live in a country where identification is required for voting and it doesn’t feel restrictive. On the contrary, I’m glad someone can’t just vote in my name.

            • Jaytreeman
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              101 year ago

              In the US the largest group of people without id’s are Democrats and black.

              It’s literally making the system more racist.

              • @[email protected]
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                -41 year ago

                Every black person has an ID, you have to otherwise you can’t do anything anyways. I have never met anyone in my community who doesn’t have some form of ID that’s valid in elections.

              • xigoi
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                -41 year ago

                So the question is, why doesn’t everyone have IDs? How does the country identify its citizens?

                • @gamermanh
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                  111 year ago

                  IDs cost money, require visits to DMVs (which conservatives work hard to shut down in poor areas, or other fuckery with their hours or such), and if you want the federal level one cost more and require more paperwork

                  We use the garbage and not-designed-for-this social security number for major IDing

                • @[email protected]
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                  1 year ago

                  Because the republicans work very hard to make it difficult for people who would likely vote democrat.

                • synae[he/him]
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                  41 year ago

                  If you got an ID sent to you when you turned $AGE I’d support requiring it to vote. But any proposal of free/automatic IDs gets shouted down by fanatics who think it’s the mark of the beast from Revelations. It’s a non-starter.

            • @[email protected]
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              1 year ago

              In my country:

              • We have a mandatory national ID
              • Having it automatically registers you as a voter after 16 y.o.
              • Voting is mandatory between 18 and 70.
              • We vote on Sundays to ensure everyone can go.
              • Voting in always in person. We usually use schools to that end, windows are obscured to ensure secrecy.
              • We record who voted following the electoral registry. Only the last issued national ID is valid to vote.
        • Very_Bad_Janet
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          I’m thinking specifically of gerrymandering but this article covers the many voter disenfranchisement methods used by Republicans in the US in the past decades:

          https://news.berkeley.edu/2020/09/29/stacking-the-deck-how-the-gop-works-to-suppress-minority-voting/

          ETA: I see you wrote that you “live in a country where identification is required for voting” so you might not understand the American history of voter suppression. This article should give a good introduction. There are many more methods being used today, including requiring IDs. Many, many more methods.

        • Bidoof_is_Awesome
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          91 year ago

          There’s far more to making voting more difficult than just requiring an ID. For example, I believe it was Texas that relatively recently lowered its number of voting stations in left-leaning areas and made it illegal to give people water that were waiting in line to vote.

    • @PsychedSy
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      61 year ago

      You can be someone that’s not inherently against capitalism and for free communications platforms. I think stuff like this is a good start for polycentric regulation, which I see as important for any type of a voluntary or anarchist future.

  • circuitfarmer
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    I don’t think it’s controversial to say that “conservative” in the context of US politics has been bifurcated. On the one hand, there are definitely traditional conservatives out there. On the other hand, the really loud ones tend to be far right edge lords who purposefully speak loudly about topics that are socially unacceptable. It’s always based on a misunderstanding of free speech, too: people are generally free to say what they want, but they are not free from the consequences imposed by society based on what they say, especially when supporting harmful activities or straight violence. This is something Elon Musk really should learn about.

    I’m all for open discourse with traditional conservatives, but I’m not about to sit idly by while Nazis return to the stage. There was a war and the outcome was pretty darned clear. So, I’d say it’s a good example of bad apples ruining the bunch (though from what I have seen, the number ratio of Nazis vs traditional conservatives is sadly pretty high). I think it is an issue that will need to be fixed between conservatives, ultimately. Shutting down Nazis (again) seems quite acceptable to me, however.

    • @[email protected]
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      31 year ago

      the number of Nazis vs traditional conservatives is sadly pretty high

      I think you mean ratio, not number.

    • @ganksy
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      91 year ago

      I think that’s a very objective view of the landscape here. I hope it comes across as inviting as it is informative, to me at least.

      To add, I think people here are a little less reactionary than on platforms like reddit. At least for the time being. I certainly want the whole of the civil society represented here including conservatives. Dialog will get us out of the divisive place we’ve come to. We share a lot more than we differ.

  • @[email protected]
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    I understand how you feel, let me know if you find anything. I’m more left leaning myself, but I’m also not a fan of echo chambers and it gets pretty tiring and annoying seeing the same stuff over and over again. At the end of the day, I just wanna see an open, fair, and balanced discussion. The Fediverse is undeniably very left leaning currently, which is surprising to me since you’d think the anti-censorship design on paper would appeal more to people on the right who are against big tech and censorship, but I guess not? It’s interesting.

    • @eldavi
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      491 year ago

      The Fediverse is undeniably very left leaning currently, which is surprising to me since you’d think the anti-censorship design on paper would appeal more to people on the right who are against big tech and censorship, but I guess not? It’s interesting.

      american conservatives care more about denying rights and liberties than anything else as evidenced by their leaders and publicly shared platforms; so if you believe that censorship has anything to do w it, you’re not a conservative.

      • sphericth0r
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        -291 year ago

        I think both the left and the right are concerned with restricting rights, they just have different views of which rights it’s okay to obstruct.

          • Rhynoplaz
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            221 year ago

            I personally would like to further obstruct the freedom to murder children at school.

          • @HeyThisIsntTheYMCA
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            71 year ago

            Personally I want to obstruct the right to murder schoolchildren that seems to have become prevalent but the rightwingers seem to think that’s an infringement.

        • @[email protected]
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          The “rights” to deny bodily autonomy and to enact ethnical cleansing are not worth defending.

    • @o_oli
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      371 year ago

      I mean honestly it’s probably near impossible to discuss conservative politics online these days without the far right loonies invading, taking over and getting the place banned lol.

      Also I wonder if conservatives would be put off lemmy given the political stance of its creators - even though that shouldn’t matter being free and open and not controlled by any one person, you know how people are.

      • 🦄🦄🦄
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        Why do you think it is, that those “far right loonies” feel welcome and comfortable in those “conservative” spaces?

        • @o_oli
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          81 year ago

          I mean, while that could be correct I also consider that if far right spaces get banned regularly then those people are refugees that will invade the next closest thing?

          Obviously the next closest thing to far right, is center right. Does that make the center right inherently bad? I don’t think so necessarily on principle.

          I disagree with conservative views almost entirely but its not something that I believe shouldn’t have discussion spaces, unlike far right politics which can just get fucked with their disdain for basic human rights, they don’t deserve a seat at the table at all.

          I suppose ultimately it’s down to moderation isn’t it. If conservatives want a seat at the table they have to keep their lunatics in check and if they don’t then yeah don’t see why I should cry over it really, and thats true of all online communities.

          • phillaholic
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            61 year ago

            Center-right just fits in with everyone else. Either all those people have shut up and just blend in with liberals or they don’t really exist.

      • phillaholic
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        131 year ago

        If someone is “conservative” but not a Trump loving Q nut job, I’d argue that they have about the same in common with the Biden administration than many progressives online do. There is no overlap with the majority republicans party today. The concept of discussion is not compatible.

        • @o_oli
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          11 year ago

          I mean there are also other countries in the world with various varieties of conservatives but I see your point

          • phillaholic
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            21 year ago

            The conservatives in many other first world nation would fit better with the democrats in the US at the center. The US Republican party is lost. These people do pop up in other countries though, Canada especially.

      • trainsaresexy
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        71 year ago

        This is my issue as well. There is nothing inherently wrong with conservative politics, but most arguments I see about politics online are about highly charged topics instead of actual policy discussion. Lots of heated emotions from people whose easiest outlet is anger doesn’t make for good conversations.

        It often feels like we represent media interests and are arguing on behalf of whatever source we spend the most time immersed in.

        • phillaholic
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          91 year ago

          What US conservative platform bullet isn’t a grift? Is there any? It’s been nearly a decade since I came across a conservative arguing anything in good faith.

      • Draconic NEO
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        21 year ago

        Also I wonder if conservatives would be put off lemmy given the political stance of its creators - even though that shouldn’t matter being free and open and not controlled by any one person, you know how people are.

        I’ve already seen it happening with people on Reddit (they don’t seem particularly conservative either) claiming that lemmy is “built and run by Tankies”. Many of these people though are/were also scabs so take that as you will.

        • sphericth0r
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          -91 year ago

          Meanwhile, libertarians are staring at both the extreme left and extreme right and wondering what the fundamental difference is…

    • @[email protected]
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      The Fediverse is undeniably very left leaning currently, which is surprising to me since you’d think the anti-censorship design on paper would appeal more to people on the right who are against big tech and censorship, but I guess not? It’s interesting.

      What a baffling take. I’m stunned that you managed to describe the exact opposite of reality. The left are against centralisation of power, especially in corporations… It’s so absurd to suggest the left are fans of big tech. It’s even more absurd to suggest the right are not. The right wing supports capitalism, and corporate monopoly is pretty much the goal of any capitalist business.

      Also, censorship is utterly irrelevant to this discussion… apart from, i guess, social media execs having the power to silence people who hate them. Which are… most likely to be leftists…

      Such a weird comment. I’m shook.

  • @BilboBargains
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    321 year ago

    Being a conservative must be a discombobulating experience in the technological age. The conservative is attempting to prevent the progression of society and conserve what we currently have or even revert to a bygone era.

    OP arrives at a brand new platform, a piece of technology that didn’t exist a short while ago and requests a space to assemble people who don’t like change.

      • @[email protected]
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        181 year ago

        Oh, and don’t forget about social safety nets that are part of the status quo but which they also don’t care about.

      • @Waldhuette
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        111 year ago

        Also no human or personal rights. Everyone should be a slave except for the rich. And fuck your vacations.

    • @[email protected]
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      81 year ago

      What I’d like it to mean - the belief that government intervention often hurts the people that it’s meant to help, so should only be used in limited circumstances and be carefully designed.

      It seems to mean white supremacy, misogyny, homophobia and xenophobia instead.

      • @[email protected]
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        291 year ago

        The idea that government intervention is bad puzzles me every time I encounter it. Government in a democracy should be “the people” and intervention could protect you in so many cases. Assuming you’re from the US, from an outside perspective your job ‘market’ is utterly fucked. Because of cuts to the welfare system (which have been marketed with somewhat racist propaganda, see welfare queens), most people are forced to take highly unregulated, low-paying jobs (yes, plural) while rich people and big companies earn more and more. The government could intervene and make it harder for companies to exploit workers the way they’re doing it right now.

        Look at how it was 60 years ago. Single income, blue collar households could afford houses. Now double income academic households can’t. And all that despite the huge technological progress we made. We need so much less manual labor than in the 1960s. Everything should be easier. For everyone.

      • @[email protected]
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        171 year ago

        That is because denying welfare to people who need it happens to line up perfectly with the beliefs of those groups you named. Neoliberalism didn’t work out for the people, only people still voting for this shit are bigots and gullible morons.

      • @[email protected]
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        That definition doesn’t seem to fit the verb conserve or adjective conserving. If it’s specifically about government, wouldn’t it be better to use a term for that instead of the very broad conservative? Slim Government?

        Conservative includes a lot more than just a government ideology.

        • @[email protected]
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          31 year ago

          In terms of economics, liberal and conservative used to mean regarding the role of government. They’ve taken the opposite meanings in American political discourse.

      • @Waldhuette
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        61 year ago

        Even the first part of your comment is some fairy tale rich people tell you so they can make more profit.

        • @[email protected]
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          11 year ago

          I think they’re often wrong, but I’ve known a lot of people who aren’t rich and believe it in good faith.

          • @Waldhuette
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            31 year ago

            Of course they believe it. Rich people get idolized like crazy and rich people are constantly saying that programs that benefit the average citizen are bad and are too expensive for the tax payers.

      • @[email protected]
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        21 year ago

        Conservatives spent two generations actively trying to make the government worse and less effective just so they can turn around and say “look how shitty this is!”

  • @[email protected]
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    281 year ago

    I’d like to be more politically balanced in the fediverse.

    As shown by votes on abortion rights in states like Kansas, Michigan, etc, your views are in the minority. Media makes it seem like the country is split 50-50, but the only reason that appearance isn’t turned on its head is low voter turnout.

    I do hope you find a place where you feel comfortable, however. I think that’s reasonable to strive for for all people regardless of their views.

    • @[email protected]
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      261 year ago

      Nah, man. If your views involve forcing the birth of a baby with spina-bifida or my wife carrying a dead fetus for three months or more, you can get fucked.

    • @scarabic
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      241 year ago

      Also gerrymandering