flwyd | (Reply)

From:

I'm still in the "Honing my tools" phase, and I don't have many conservatives easily at my disposal[1], so I haven't had any political conversations with conservatives yet this year. I just volunteered to get involved in a drive to eastern Colorado participation in my nonpartisan climate group, so I'm hoping to get a chance to talk to farmers and ranchers and small business owners.

My goal isn't to get in internet fights with alt right trolls or try to convince white purists that multiculturalism is a better goal for society. My hope is to engage reasonable people with a conservative or libertarian mental framework that a lot of policies advocated by the Trump administration—climate change denial, xenophobia, executive opacity, publicly funded private education, etc.—are counter to many of their core values. I don't want to convince everyone in America; I just want to convince enough Americans that we're inoculated against the loonies.

[1] The only right winger in my immediate family was my uncle, who passed away (and was unconvinceable anyway). I have Republican second cousins, but I'm not on Facebook so we don't get into arguments about inaccurate memes. Plus, they're Minnesota Nice, so I think they mostly keep their politics to themselves. Most of my social interactions are in Boulder, which is very lefty, and with remote coworkers, who are also highly skewed in favor science, inclusiveness, and functional government.