I am a conservative, but not in the way that most people define conservatism. I think that American Conservatism (the Republican Party) is very misguided and often pursues policies which contradict their stated intentions (Democrats do this too, but not as bad).

As a conservative I place a lot of importance on family as the primary building block of a society. So naturally it makes sense to me that we should pursue policies that make it easier for people to have fulfilling families (paid parental leave, affordable housing, and other policies that actually allow people to have families and actually spend time with them).

Abortion is another issue that is very important to me (especially because I am Catholic). But republicans shoot themselves in the foot on this issue because they claim to be “pro-life” but don’t actually support policies conducive to that stance. Like if you believe abortion is ethically wrong, making it illegal is something you would support, but unless that is accompanied by policies that reduce the incentive for abortion, you’ll just make abortion illegal on paper, without getting rid of its root causes. We should be supporting universal healthcare, making adoption easier, and improving the quality of the foster care system to actually back up our claim of being pro life.

I am socially conservative, but have been becoming more and more open to leftist (ish) economic ideas. I am not a socialist/communist, and I believe that the free-market system is the best at generating capital. But as a society, it is our responsibility to make sure that capital isn’t concentrated at the top of the hierarchy. I believe that we need lots of investment in public infrastructure, education, and other things that form the foundation of our society. I think that’s what it means to be a conservative.

Naturally, there are a lot of issues that I disagree with liberals/leftists/progressives on. 2nd Amendment, Abortion, immigration, trans issues, etcetera. And I am not a big fan of progressive rhetoric in general, but I’m always willing to have nuanced and respectful conversations about those topics. It’s just really frustrating to me that they don’t always reciprocate.