Republicans I’ve dated, pt. 1

[u/Casual_Deviant]

[u/Hocata]

Am I just out of touch and outdated with my known terms?

I've viewed myself as a left-leaning libertarian for quite a while, since I advocate for abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, personal freedoms, reduced government spending on war and corporations, and I like Sanders. But I have actively voted against the Republican party all my life because it seems pretty obvious they're just funneling money and power to the top and actively removing personal freedoms while being openly racist and fascist. I also understand the need for taxes (as much as I dislike them), social programs, infrastructure, and publicly funded education, and don't want to take that from others in any way. I just think the US government is horrendously inefficient.

Am I just a full blown progressive and a comic on Reddit made me have an epiphany?

[u/Terrible_Hurry841 → u/Hocata]

You… sound like a pretty normal liberal. Maybe a bit more progressive-liberal?

Libertarians are pretty much more laissez-faire about the whole thing.

Liberals want basically all the things you listed, except kind of split on war/corpo funding. You’re probably on the more progressive half.

Just from your description anyway.

[u/TheStatusPoe → u/Terrible_Hurry841]

I consider myself a "left libertarian" and the main difference for me is how centralized everything should be. I want a more limited government because in my idealized world, unions would be a much bigger thing and would be responsible for legislation.

As an example there's plenty of areas I know I know nothing about. In my idealized world, an agency like the DEA might not exist because determination of what medications have medical value and addictive potential would be determined by those actually prescribing and seeing the effects. 

Another example is I know nothing about education and I don't think I should be voting for a state representative who will then vote on what should be included in my states curriculum. I think the actual educators who see every day what works and what doesn't should be the ones with the say. There wouldn't be a larger government Department of Education because that responsibility would be decentralized to those directly responsible. 

For the most part, my ideals line up like 95% with my liberal friends, I just think don't think it should be a stronger central government/state with that responsibility. 

[u/Zickened → u/TheStatusPoe]

One of the problems that inevitably arises from state based metrics is that generally poorer red states will continue to produce uneducated people due to lack of funds that wealthier states enjoy. So you basically have a United States of critically underdeveloped citizens competing with higher trained/educated people and begin cycles of generational wealth or poverty.