Conservatives like Barry Goldwater would be Democrats now.

there is only sane and insane ... if you're wearing a red hat and spitting all over a TV that is broadcasting Fox News, or being subservient to billionaires because a few crumbs fall your way ... you fall into the insane category.

...so those issues I'm just not going to talk about here. It's not worth it.

I'm even -- yikes! -- ex-Republican. But I've been a 100% Democratic voter for some time now, and there is NO chance of that ever changing.

And the reason is, essentially, what Snake says above. The Republicans just went FUCKING INSANE.

Although always uncomfortable, Republicanism started becoming intolerable when in exchange for votes it totally caved in to the Christian evengelicals -- Falwell's glassy-eyed legions -- on every bigoted, patriarchal and theocratic demand they'd make.

Then there's been the ever-growing success of the 1% at looting the country, hoarding its wealth, bending the laws to its own ends, escaping repercussions for financial crimes, and gutting our Treasury. And their command over the Repub Party, its eager political foot soldiers for all of this pushing of America towards becoming a hereditary plutocracy.

On top of all that, climate change denialism too? PURE insanity.

There's not been a single Republican politician with any real integrity left for some time now, in my eyes. They burned that bridge and a bunch of others decades back. They've every one of them sold out, and are utterly shameless about it.

So. There's really no good place in politics anymore to hold a number of conservative beliefs but still be progressive on most matters.

That's okay. I'll deal. Here I'll just avoid some things.

are looking for something mostly different. Conservatism runs literally genetic-code deep, and in this era of severe divisions, most are loyal to the Republicans.

We live in blood-red rural Georgia, and our neighbors are basically two kinds of people:

* Conservatives who will be friends with us, or, heck, will even just socialize with us.

* Those who will not. We don't get virulent hate stares from those as we might if we were dark-skinned on the street, but stares from across the room to let us know we're rejected (always from groups, not individual) are signatory and that warm, southern charm is nowhere in sight. They're mean people to "others" like us, and they're no loss. I'll give them a nicer but long, cool look that says message received right back. My Jewish husband's a puppy dog who chats obliviously with everyone, and it's amusing to see them forced by his friendliness into reflecting some semblance of it right back. Temporarily, in public.

As for how to speak with conservatives, we keep away from politics. When social issues arise, gentle, unjudgemental statements carefully keeping to common concerns are what work for us, along with blandly dropping in some piece of information I'm pretty sure Fox never mentioned as if they probably already knew it, , but then moving blandly on. We all need healthcare, want competent, uncorrupt government and good schools, etc. Agree on those, hug that commonality as a victory, and change the subject to the lack of autumn color this year, NOT climate change.

Eventually people who think they've seen clues to deeper agreement will put out cautious feelers when others aren't around, and you move to another level.

Anyway, that's our experience. Oh, be careful about what may be secrets. If someone confides agreement on something that most conservatives don't ascribe to, don't blab it to everyone. This stuff is really touchy these days, at least around here.

I know what you're talking about, having a spouse who is oblivious to the dog whistles or stare downs. Wants to see the best in everybody. And when there is something that is particularly difficult to deny, he goes into the Stephen King "It" forgetfulness.

I don't have that category of conservative Democrat who wants to associate with us because I've seen too much of the crooked aspects of their society on a local level, and we're nuclear.

I'm pretty sure you have to have friendly, nonvirulent conservative people around. I've actually suspected a number of times that some would be liberals in another environment, but I've never actually told any of them that. Our close friends are definitely conservative.

But I see a whole world of difference between the kind of moderate conservatives who could be proudly progressive (in other eras) and banality-of-evil social conservatives acting out their hostility when faced with evil liberals like us. As big a difference as between liberals and conservatives.

There are young, minority candidates around which might mean that they have escaped the treacherous alliances with the old guards around here.

entrenched interests in your district, perhaps becoming involved in another one with better leadership would be possible.

Hope you find what you're looking for.

Even better might be, get the heck out of rural Georgia.

If Republicanism is becoming/has become the party of Worried Whites Viciously Lashing Back, which I'd say it clearly is, it looks to me like the social pressure among white people, of pushing and even ostracizing the few non-Republicans to give in and join the crowd, has to be more intense in the deep south than anywhere else in America.

And more effective. Democrats who represent predominantly white districts in the Deep South are next to extinct in Congress, and the last of them are going fast (if there even are any left). As for rural white districts, forget it. And at the statewide level, south of urbanizing Virginia and north of purple Florida, who are our Democrats in the Senate? The senators are white, almost(?) all male, and all are Repubs except Doug Jones, who we got in in a squeaker only because the Repubs ran a serial statutory rapist. Of white girls. We'll lose the fine and honorable Jones as soon as the Repubs run a marginally less grotesque criminal than Moore against him.

It looks alot to me like the social pressure in the south below Virginia is intense and scarily successful against non-Republican white people who just want to get along in their neighborhoods and families. Especially outside of the bigger cities and college towns, it looks to me like those white Democrats are increasingly being isolated and surrounded.

When should one be expecting such a community to become more accepting of those who don't think like them? This is supposed to get better? I doubt it.

I honestly think I'd move, if I could, to someplace less inhospitable.

a black candidate for governor who may finally cause them to vote their power. I'm feeling pretty hopeful for the future. We have populations of Hispanic and Asian heritages also.

Of course, conservatives in every racial group would rather reject and fight each other than unite, but at some point, one way or another, they're finally going to put a stop to getting kicked in the teeth by the white supremacists controlling the nation's only conservative party. Way past time to be kicking white supremacist ass politically every time one tries to run for office.

because that would allow a much wider array of political parties to participate in our government. The two party system is a bad thing.

I'm all for single-payer health care, free education. But I'm also for a progressive tax to pay for those things.

I'm all for a clean environment, but also think we need our own heavy industries, like steel production, so some compromises are necessary.