From the 2000s—mid-2010s, I was a fairly run-of-the-mill gay marriage, gun control, universal healthcare, etc. liberal. Like quite a lot of people, I drifted rightwards considerably between c. 2016—2022 due to left-wing radicalization during this period, especially re. racial and gender issues. And I thought this might be permanent. But now (i.e... since 2025 and especially since the Charlie Kirk shooting), though, I'm finding myself drifting leftwards again due to right-wing radicalization during this period. I've come to believe that which side in American politics—liberals or conservatives—is more r-slurred fluctuates over time. And while liberals were obviously the more r-slurred side between 2016—2022, I believe that now, the pendulum has swung back to conservatives hard. Liberals scared me back then, but now it's conservatives who are scaring me. So much of their rhetoric now—re. non-whites, women and feminism, China, Canada and Greenland amongst other things—strikes me as just cruel, hateful, arrogant, delusional, bloodthirsty, etc. "Street-shitters", "repeal the 19th", "bomb the Three Gorges Dam", etc. The overwhelming vibe I get from them is that they hate women, hate non-whites, hate liberals, hate the Chinese, hate Europeans, hate... basically anyone and everyone who isn't a white American conservative man. And I get that a lot of this is a reaction to 2016—2022 liberal excesses—I'm a white dude and can empathize with the resentment against much of the rhetoric from this period myself—but you're taking it too far, Chuds, and alienating me away again the same way liberals once did.
I agree with you, and this is a huge issue I see in the U.S. Average person gets angry at giving people equal rights, and accepting their differences, and they vote to make things worse for the bottom 99%, including themselves. They don't realize they were being idiots, and giving people rights doesn't take theirs away, and the cycle just continues.
True, but as you see by their post, the exact same flavour comes from either side; too far left is too much, or in their latest situation, too far right. They even specifically mention alienation.
We could say their head is screwed on boringly sensibly, while also saying they're the most annoying on the fence sitters ever. But I don't think they're idiots, they just lack the passion or interest that others with confident positions stand. If there is red and blue, they are purple and either blissfully unaware or chosenly apathetic. Strangely enough, that outlook at times helps a lot; other times it's very damaging.
Either way, they're highly sort after as voters and if you want that huge cohort on your side, you gotta be understanding. They're a simple folk. They don't want to encroach on others as much as they don't want to be encroached upon.
One of the downfalls of the left's charge was they went too much; too fast. Just as the right is now going too far—same shit; different ends of the sociopolitical spectrum. In the end, the Average Joes end up deciding when enough is enough, every time. And those the most extreme to the left or right have the least control in the matter.