Humm, when I hover over your name it says "from Canada" so it's obviously where I figured you to be. I'm not American by birth, but I live here and therefore would be considered American.
I live in Toronto currently, I'm probably staying.
Not a problem, there are a lot of culture differences here. We learn as we go.
I used to be a full time professional model and I've been to a lot of countries. You'd be amazed at some of the differences out there, but that's another thread for another time.
Well I think Nehemiah gave as good an answer as any I could give. I stay on the sidelines of the playground and get many here more credit for being far more intelligent than I am.
His answer was not correct. Although he did identify some aspects he tried to tie it to communism (which I never asked about), which is a conflicting ideology. If you scroll up you can see I gave a fairly accurate (although simplified) definition of fascism and authoritarianism. These are not my definitions, they are as defined by numerous political science experts.
No, I don't believe that, that's the last thing I want to see happen here. With war all around the world, the last thing I want to see it civil war.
Good. That's what I like to hear.
Yes, I can definitely tell you why I vote the way I do and the stand I take and what I believe makes one conservative.
Technically a conservative is someone who is adverse to change and adheres to "traditional" values. I'm not adverse to change but I am a fairly traditional values girl. I'm not big on labels but I've been called conservative socially or libertarian depending on who I'm talking to. As you know I'm an Orthodox Jew and we don't allow LGBT, most abortions, premarital sex or even male/female physical contact. I am not allowed to wear clothes that show my figure or don't cover my elbows and collarbone. We are very strict on divorce and gender roles.
What I don't do is try to enforce my values on others via the law. I will never support making it illegal to be LGBT or fornicate because it's an infringement on personal liberty. That's an example of authoritarianism... "Live according to my values, like it or not!". I tend to vote for people who promote good economic policy. I believe in a strong, well run and cost efficient social safety net because in the Torah G-d commands us to take care of the poor. I prefer low taxes... but not at the expense of the poor or putting the country into debt. I think people should run their businesses as they see fit. To me those are socially and economically conservative positions.
I would never, ever vote for an adulterer because it is a serious sin for Jews. EVEN IF they are otherwise 100% in agreement with my views I will still not give such a person my vote, because if someone cannot be faithful to G-d or their spouse they cannot be trusted to be faithful to anyone else. In addition I will never vote for a habitual liar because they cannot be trusted with anything once they take office. I have no tolerance for bigots, people who are cruel or exhibit narcissistic/psychopathic traits and won't vote for someone like that. That to me is a "values voter".
To bring this around to your earlier post:
As I said previously, I believe in consistency. You cannot have rock bottom standards and believe anything about Biden (whom I intensely dislike btw) and then turn around and refuse to believe anything about Trump. Either you show the same low standards for Trump and believe everything about him, or give Biden the same benefits you extend to Trump. To do otherwise makes one a hypocrite and a liar who is also not trustworthy with the truth. Whether you personally like someone has no effect on what is and isn't factual about them.
Biden isn't a fascist, because you're all still alive and not in prison without a trial which is what would be happening if he were. He isn't an authoritarian because he isn't restricting your speech or suspending your rights. You are still having elections. Do you understand?
Trump isn't a fascist either, for the same reasons Biden isn't one. He does exhibit authoritarian tendencies and is almost certainly a malignant narcissist, which should be a disqualifier for you and his followers and it's troubling that it isn't. I didn't compare him to Hitler and such, I merely used them as examples of people with wide support who were awful. Support doesn't mean anything in terms of the quality of the person or their competence.
I have no regard for conspiracy theories (qanon, deep state, NWO and so on...). Conspiracies are dangerous and give people permission to believe extreme things without evidence. They are a form of delusion that make people ignore reality. If you really believe EVERYONE, including Trump's own former allies and judges, are all in on a giant conspiracy to ruin him rather then the vastly more likely reality that he is a criminal then you are in a personality cult. He's getting a public trial (something that would not happen under a fascist or authoritarian regime) and if he's innocent then he has nothing to worry about. The burden of proof is on the prosecutor, not him. If you really believe Jan 6 was a false flag or antifa/BLM then you're not living in reality or even being logical. Why on earth would they fight to keep Trump, someone they loathe, in power? Jan 6 denial and conspiracy theories are similar to holocaust denial... the people who promote them know their views lead to death and destruction. They want to try and convince people it didn't happen or was lied about because these events are the ultimate counter-argument to their extremism.
Trump is polling at 47% and Biden at 43%. Both are loathed and it's really a toss up who will win. The mistake many here are making is assuming the people who hate Biden will vote for Trump. That's not how it works. What will happen is they'll just stay home and not vote, which is what happened in 2015. Hillary was loathed by young and blue collar voters, most stayed home. Trump lost the popular vote but won the college. That's the system and he won fair and square. Then in 2020 he lost because he was so loathed people came out in record numbers specifically to vote him out even though they hated Biden. That's democracy for you.
The reason people are shocked about Trump's numbers is because they are committed to making the exact same mistakes they made in 2015... underestimating Trump's fanatical base and running the one candidate that can lose against him.