E: Every down vote without discussion just proves my point even more. You're all in a cult.
Nah, both sides suck for different reasons.
Most situations have more choices than the two you are often presented with. For example, who is in the right, Hamas or Israel? Neither of them. They're both trying to justify killing innocent people because the other side killed innocent people.
In the meme, a centrist would obviously agree with the Democrat. If it were flipped and the Democrat were saying some equally off the wall thing, they'd side with the Republican. They've both become extremist versions of what they once were and the other side points out the obvious insanity and gets to feel smug about their low hanging trophy. And dumbass people from both sides eat it up.
Why do you think people are clinging to the center despite all the weird hate against it? They don't want to be associated with either side. Both sides get some things right and some things wrong. Yet, we're expected to take them as a package deal, because politics have become cult like.
You missed the point, there is no compromise and even people who identify as centrists will have different thoughts.
Me personally?
Healthcare as a right is already a thing. You can get it even if you're unemployed right now. The real problem is in the insurance/medical/pharma industries with all of the insane price gouging. It needs to be more obtainable and more effective. Free? No, medical supplies and labor still have some cost even if we fix the issue of cost and that money needs to come from somewhere. Even if it were given out for "free", you really think our taxes won't go up to compensate?
Health care should be free for the simple reason that it's inhumane to deprive a person of it just because they can't afford it. It's a basic human right. It works in many other countries. Maybe rich people and corporations should stop getting tax breaks and your government should reduce a bit the amount spent on the military.
Jupp, healthcare should be free for the individual in need. And at the same time it is not "free" because the costs get compensated by taxes.
At least that's how it works in Germany, where i am from. So the point of the person you answered to stands: yes, free for individual, covered by state/insurance which gets the money from someone else.
The person I replied to literally said it shouldn't be free because it may increase their taxes. So it was implied that they meant it should not be free for the individual, meaning the individual should be expected to have to pay for their own medical treatment when needed.
That's one of the reasons I don't like the left, you guys expect everyone to be in lock step on every issue and you use a holier than thou approach to do it. However, I don't want to live in a Christo-Fascist Theocracy, so even though I don't love it.. I will still vote D for now. I'm literally on your side, but it's impossible to have a conversation with you guys. The right and left's chances of that are near zero and it's fucking sad. You call us centrists, but most of us never moved. You guys did. You move the line more and more every day.
I mean, I thought the right's problems were pretty obvious. I don't think there are many right wing people that need to hear it here anyways. Right wing people seem to absolutely love it when you tell them their party is flawed anyways.
To your other point, this thread is literally me saying the two parties are a problem and I've posted other comments in here saying people should vote third party.
The issue is that "centralist" has been co-opted by the American Right. The republican MAGA element has flopped so far to the extreme right that the old right now looks in the center. Because of this, and the idiotic behaviour of the MAGAs, a lot of republicans seem to use "centralist" to distance themselves. A lot of the original centralists have been forced into siding with the democrats.
From the outside, American politics is all right wing. The democrats are more in line with most countries right wing parties than their left. This has only gotten more extreme recent years. Right now, the democrats are far too close to the centralist joke in this meme. "A little bit of genocide is ok" at least when it's not Americans. You act like it's far fetched now, but we also joked about the MAGA idiots and Trump becoming president.
I have been trying on Lemmy for months. They purposefully and willfully misunderstand all centrists / independents and for some reason feel they are all secretly right wing.
It's the current state of US politics - the straw man they've built in their head that has all the wrong opinions has the same label that they've slapped on you, and labels are all that matters to them.
Most are not here to engage, think, and expand their worldview. They are here to push the "fuck you" button that gives them a dopamine hit by punishing you for having the wrong label.
But once in a while you'll talk to someone who treats you like a real person, and it's kind of wonderful.
I'll take the downvotes happily everytime. I know it's going to happen as I'm writing, but if it means it gives even one person something to think about it's worth it.
Not everyone is American. I'm German and it's way less distinct here imo. Yes, I hate the right with a passion (as everyone should), but the left really isn't any good either. It's just all a big bag of trash.