Conservative2

You know, I’ve thought a lot about what it would mean to call myself a Democrat or a leftist or a socialist, and I just don’t think it fits. There are a few opinions I’d have to change to get there.

At the heart of it, I believe change should come from the bottom up, not from the top down. I don’t think the government should be out front trying to steer us. I think it should follow the people’s lead, doing the things we’ve already come together and decided we want. In my perfect world, my own personal Star Trek future, people would organize themselves outside of government into groups that actually know what they’re doing. Groups with real values, real knowledge, that could help shape things in a smart, honest way. I know corruption’s always a risk, but I still believe self-regulation is possible if people are serious about it and don't become complacent.

I have no problems admitting there's overlap here with socialism and the left. Things like giving people more say at work, keeping big corporations from gobbling up everything, and making sure everyone’s treated equally seem important in more than one ideology. But the part I can’t get behind is putting too much power in the hands of the state. I don’t think government should sit at the very top of society calling all the shots. I don’t think there should even be a single “top” like that. I believe in small government, but not in that hardcore libertarian way where the only thing left is the military. I just want power spread out in communities, in families, in workplaces and not all crammed into Washington.

So I think of myself as being on the conservative side. I just think the best change comes slow, local, and from the ground up.

When I got up this morning, opening this community was not on my to-do list. Also, I've never moderated anything before. That is to say, I'm making a lot of this up as I go and I'll tell you it's hard to write something when you're not responding to something. This first post was a shout into the darkness without much forethought. I'm glad anybody was there to hear it.

All I know is that the conservative voices on Lemmy are not speaking accurately for me right now.

I'm not interested in setting myself apart from anybody else. I believe that's a part of how we got into our current constitutional crisis.

Something closer to an actual answer to your question might be that I value strong institutions over strong government. I believe in the collection of experts more than the accuracy of the masses. Since we'll never elect experts on "How to Human" it's better we ask everybody, hence democracy, but infrastructure isn't a place where we can have everybody paint the shed. I want to believe in a free market where companies and consumers can converse better than "did the consumers buy it or not." The dollar is not god.