[consumer451]

> the right leans far more libertarian in that regard

That is the advertising. Meanwhile, the reality is the the US right is banning books in school libraries, telling people what they can do with their bodies to the point of needless deaths, requiring lie detector tests for hiring in the FBI where the question is "do you harbor any bad feelings about the boss?" The Speaker of the House just stated that "separation of church as state is a myth." I could go on and on.

As a lifelong independent, to me the above disconnection from the advertising and reality is the biggest reason that I can plainly see that pledging allegiance or alignment to any political party leads to the death of one's critical thinking abilities in that space.

[nwienert]

I don’t think happening to not fall mostly within left or right makes any of your ideas necessarily more valid, there’s a smart and dumb versions of left, right and center to an extent.

All the things you listed imo are either extremely marginal or not an issue at all, especially compared to the lefts recent antics. Then again, I was pretty left leaning until I lived in SF, which quickly dissuaded me of it, along with the American left moving pretty far leftward. 15 years ago I guess id be considered somewhat left leaning even still.

[consumer451]

I believe that categorizing things into left/right is folly.

Talk to me of specific policies. (I mean this in general, not you specifically.)

Everything else is high school football-style fandom (my team vs. your team) used divide and conquer us.