Progressives and moderates often ask me why a liberal like myself often post articles about anti-Trump conservatives decrying Trump’s transgressions and ask why I admire them when I disagree with most their politics. I guess I have several reasons why. For one, I’m not an ideological purist. I don’t expect any person to agree with me 100 percent on every issue. I have progressive friends, conservative friends, libertarian friends, democratic socialist and Marxist friends. I’m a liberal, but I know liberals aren’t always right. I’m right some of the time. I’m wrong some of the time. That’s true of all human beings, whether they’re liberal, conservative, moderate, whatever. I can disagree with someone’s politics and still admire their courage and integrity.
Experience has made me very wary of ideological purists. Over the past 3 decades, I’ve met individuals in both the Left and the Right who have a hard time dealing with differences of opinion. These individuals have caused a lot of problems in my life and have often made my life miserable.
Another reason that I sometimes post articles about anti-Trump conservatives is that I notice that progressives tend to preach to the choir. Progressives are just as guilty as conservatives of inhabiting an ideological bubble. In my facebook page are individuals from across the political spectrum. I still have conservative friends, though not as many as I once had in the 1980s and 1990s. Quite a few of those friends are anti-Trump conservatives. Based on my experiences, I tend to divide conservatives into two groups: reasonable and decent conservatives, and crazy conservatives. It’s important for conservatives, not just progressives and moderates, to be speaking out against Trump’s attacks on our democratic norms.
I admire the courage of those conservative individuals who are willing to speak out against the groupthink in the Republican Party. I dislike Trump but I don’t hate Trump’s supporters. I empathize with them because I’ve had my own experiences with groupthink in an Asian American Evangelical church in the 1990s. People assume that all evangelicals are conservatives. But I found that if you scratch the surface, there’s a lot more diversity of thought than first seems. The pastor was a Democrat. A woman from the church that I dated was a moderate Democrat. The problem was that the conservatives at that church were loud, influential and intimidated anyone who had differing views. I saw how a rigid Biblical view of Christianity would push very nice people to do cruel things to people who didn’t conform to their Christian views. I learned to be afraid of speaking up.
When I read about Republicans who privately disagree with Trump but are too afraid to publicly speak out against the President for fear of Trump’s retribution, this reminds me a lot of my experiences in that Asian American Evangelical church. I learned how vulnerable I am to groupthink. I stayed silent when I saw individuals get harassed in that church and I still regret it.
That’s why I admire the lonely stands that Progressives and moderates often ask me why a liberal like myself often post articles about anti-Trump conservatives decrying Trump’s transgressions and ask why I admire them when I disagree with most their politics. I guess I have several reasons why. For one, I’m not an ideological purist. I don’t expect any person to agree with me 100 percent on every issue. I have progressive friends, conservative friends, libertarian friends, democratic socialist and Marxist friends. I’m a liberal, but I know liberals aren’t always right. I’m right some of the time. I’m wrong some of the time. That’s true of all human beings, whether they’re liberal, conservative, moderate, whatever. I can disagree with someone’s politics and still admire their courage and integrity.
Experience has made me very wary of ideological purists. Over the past 3 decades, I’ve met individuals in both the Left and the Right who have a hard time dealing with differences of opinion. These individuals have caused a lot of problems in my life and have often made my life miserable.
Another reason that I sometimes post articles about anti-Trump conservatives is that I notice that progressives tend to preach to the choir. Progressives are just as guilty as conservatives of inhabiting an ideological bubble. In my facebook page are individuals from across the political spectrum. I still have conservative friends, though not as many as I once had in the 1980s and 1990s. Quite a few of those friends are anti-Trump conservatives. Based on my experiences, I tend to divide conservatives into two groups: reasonable and decent conservatives, and crazy conservatives. It’s important for conservatives, not just progressives and moderates, to be speaking out against Trump’s attacks on our democratic norms.
I admire the courage of those conservative individuals who are willing to speak out against the groupthink in the Republican Party. I dislike Trump but I don’t hate Trump’s supporters. I empathize with them because I’ve had my own experiences with groupthink in an Asian American Evangelical church in the 1990s. People assume that all evangelicals are conservatives. But I found that if you scratch the surface, there’s a lot more diversity of thought than first seems. The pastor was a Democrat. A woman from the church that I dated was a moderate Democrat. The problem was that the conservatives at that church were loud, influential and intimidated anyone who had differing views. I saw how a rigid Biblical view of Christianity would push very nice people to do cruel things to people who didn’t conform to their Christian views. I learned to be afraid of speaking up.
When I read about Republicans who privately disagree with Trump but are too afraid to publicly speak out against the President for fear of Trump’s retribution, this reminds me a lot of my experiences in that Asian American Evangelical church. I learned how vulnerable I am to groupthink. I stayed silent when I saw individuals get harassed in that church and I still regret it.
That’s why I admire the lonely stands that Mitt Romney, Jeff Flake, John McCain, George Will, and other anti-Trump conservatives have taken in a Republican Party dominated by Donald Trump. They’ve probably lost a lot of friends and feel isolated from a community that they no longer feel at home in. I don’t agree with much of their political philosophy. But I admire their courage to stand up for their principles. I hope to some day have that same courage.
, and other anti-Trump conservatives have taken in a Republican Party dominated by Donald Trump. They’ve probably lost a lot of friends and feel isolated from a community that they no longer feel at home in. I don’t agree with much of their political philosophy. But I admire their courage to stand up for their principles. I hope to some day have that same courage.
Speaking on the Senate floor on February 5, 2020, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, announced he would break from his party and vote later that day to convict President Donald Trump of the articles of impeachment.
Speaking on the Senate floor on January 17, 2018, Sen. Jeff Flake criticized President Donald Trump’s attacks on a free press.
Speaking on the Senate floor on June 12, 2018, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) criticized his own party for failing to even vote on amendments because they may upset President Donald Trump.
On June 1, 1950, Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith from Maine spoke out against fellow Republican Senator Joe McCarthy and his red-baiting tactics. Here is a re-enactment of her speech that was produced by the Norman Rockwell Museum for the documentary “Norman Rockwell in Virtual Reality – The Four Freedoms”
I think what you say is full of common sense. One of my friends, a very religious woman, came to her own conclusion about Trump and now she’s going to an American Baptist college to get a degree so she can be a minister. She had to leave her home church. I told her she was a hero.