But if you look more carefully, it is the conservatives who are willing to, as an example, admit honestly where America has fallen short of its ideals, but who are still fully engaged by the ideals embodied in our founding spirit and expressed concretely in our Constitution. It is the political Left which wants to make of its enemies simplistic caricatures who are inherently evil. There is no conversation wanted or needed.
Everything in their world is simple. You want to end poverty? Give poor people money. You want to end gun violence? Ban guns. You want peace? Get rid of all your weapons.
None of these political platforms are ever discussed honestly. They are simply stipulated. Being the intellectual equivalents of sugar cookies, they are tasty, simple, and easily washed down with a bit of cold milk.
But reality is complex. It does not take much education or much experience to see this. Conservatives are the only ones TRYING to solve real problems. That is my honest view. No one can claim to be trying to solve problems who is unwilling to engage with and understand alternative viewpoints.
And as I have pointed out often, it is quite impossible to reach the age of 18 in this or any other industrialized nation without having had the simplistic propaganda of the Left fed to you daily for many years. We GET what they are saying. That is not the problem. And speaking louder is no solution to the problem of intellectual incoherence and dishonesty.
I am a proud conservative. I am proud to be INTELLECTUALLY superior to those who would want to argue with what I believe.