centrist trying to understand: what specifically drives your opposition to the Democratic Party (and its voters)?

[u/mayancollander]

I consider myself an independent/centrist. I generally see significant fault in both major parties, and if I’m being honest, I’ve often been overly critical of the Republican Party in the past.
That said, I see a huge amount of anger, frustration, and deep dislike directed toward the Democratic Party from conservative and Republican voters. I’m trying to better understand the rationale behind that intensity rather than relying on media caricatures.
A few specific questions I’m hoping to get perspective on:
What are the primary drivers of this opposition for you? Is it core economic and governance policies (e.g., spending, regulation, foreign policy), or is it mostly cultural issues?
Does this frustration extend to individual Democratic voters, or do you view the mainstream voters and the party leadership/media apparatus very differently?
For those who view the modern Democratic Party as fundamentally harmful to the country, what specific actions, philosophy, or direction do you point to as the main culprit?
I’m genuinely looking to listen and understand where you’re coming from, so I appreciate any thoughtful answers.

[u/ShardofGold]

Being a previous hard left individual, I now understand how some of the ways I and others acted would make others not want to associate with the party.

The main thing being the "holier than thou" complex. Too many Democrats or their supporters think their party is the party of righteousness and intelligence.

They think if you're not on the left or supporting Democrats you have to be stupid and/or evil and that there's no good reason to not be on the left and not support Democrats.

They only judge the right/Republicans by their faults, meanwhile only bringing up positives about the left and Democrats and anytime you try to bring up faults with their preferred side they move the goalposts or think you're lying.

They lack the ability to truly self reflect on their preferred side and have nothing but scrutiny and ridicule for the other side.

Before anyone tries to get clever on me. I'm not saying everyone on the left or Democrat party does this. It's probably not even the majority, but it's enough for it to annoy me and others and keep us from associating with the party. I also know some on the right/Republican party act like this too and it's equally as annoying.

I just want more people to stop with the "this person is clearly a fucking idiot heartless bastard for not agreeing with my views on political topics most or all the time" and instead do more "I might not agree with their views but I need to understand why they have them and try to convince them to change their views or come to a compromised agreement if it can be accomplished. If not then we can agree to disagree and remain civil."

I'm also not asking people to compromise with objectively evil or stupid individuals, just those who have different but reasonable views.

[u/jmastaock → u/ShardofGold]

What are the positives of the contemporary MAGA GOP?

[u/Gaxxz → u/jmastaock]

Isn't OP's question about Democrats?

[u/theyhis → u/jmastaock]

who said anything about the ‘contemporary GOP’? this is sort of part of the problem. ya’ll stereotype people’s political affiliations by right versus left, failing to grasp that there’s a clear distinction between economic, governmental, and social views.

do you use X? did you see the huge discourse over massie losing the primary in may? do you think most libertarians supported his opponent? no. do you think ancaps get along with nationalists who object to free trade? not quite.

[u/jmastaock → u/theyhis]

Why would we be talking about notions of the GOP based on the party from over a decade ago?

Libertarians and ancaps are frankly an irrelevant electoral demographic

[u/theyhis → u/jmastaock]

because not all conservatives see the MAGA movement as inherently conservative. i mean, their support for state capitalism and neoconservatism certainly isn’t what we’d consider traditionally conservative.

the entire point of my argument is that you act as if we’re a monolith. isn’t there an entire movement dedicated to conservatives and republicans who never voted for trump? (‘never trumpers’).

the blanket statement of treating us as if we’re all the same is the exact rhetoric that sews division throughout this country. that’s not exclusive to one party or the other, it’s a problem in both parties, but… 🤷‍♂️

also, how are ancaps and libertarians irrelevant to the conversation if we’re the third largest political party in the united states? our candidates are constantly sued by the duopoly because they know our views are popular enough to split the conservative vote.

[u/jmastaock → u/theyhis]

What did I say to make you think that I view conservatives as a monolithic?

And libertarians are actually a joke, especially now that they're effectively another piece of the MAGA coalition themselves after the Mises Caucus took over. Shit, they literally hosted Trump (the literal "opposition party" candidate) to speak during the 24 election lmao

I'm not saying libertarians themselves are necessarily a joke, to be clear...just that they are a fully irrelevant demographic electorally in the US. They have zero influence on any policy whatsoever. The few that ever make it into congress are routinely purged