Years ago now, I was a person who listened to music that broke the mold in terms of the genre to which it belonged. My interest was in what sounded good to me. I didn’t care if some folks would consider a given song Country, Easy Listening, Rap, Rock or Classical.

Put simply, my tastes were not confined to any particular musical style. Like everybody, there were things I liked and things for which I didn’t care. Some people or individual songs I would’ve told you I hated; for others, I would have expressed my undying admiration.

These days, for a number of reasons, I don’t really listen to music. One of the big ones being that my cornerstone for life has changed, and I can’t support what I see out there. Perhaps one day, I’ll try to take up doing that again, but for now, I’m happy where I find myself.

I bring this up, because it points to a truth about how I look at the world—and I by no means assume I’m alone in this.

I care less about whether my beliefs are in line with some political group, and more about whether what I support agrees with my own internal integrity.

People looking at me, would be inclined to mark me as a “Right-winger” even though there may be ways I disagree with those on the far right. For my part though, any position I hold, is based on what I count proper where the thing I’m considering is concerned.

How do I feel about homosexuality? I disagree with it. I frankly account it sinful. In the same way I recently heard a young woman who called herself a lesbian, talk about transgender folks, I account her (even though I agree with her on supposed transgender folks).

Her position was that they’re entitled children who’ve decided they are something they’re not. I consider her to be in the exact same boat.

Here’s the thing though. If you claim you’re a lesbian, I have zero issue informing you I feel that you’re errant in what you count yourself. Will I try to blow up your house, throw bricks through your windows, attack you on social media or attempt to get you canceled as a result? Not so much.

I may not approve of what you believe, but that doesn’t give you any less right to exist than any other human being in my view.

Being plain, there are lines you can step over that will make it so I can no longer support your freedom of choice. If, for example, you decide lynching black folks is something you should do for fun, or if you conclude beating homosexuals to a pulp is their just recompense, you need to know, you’re as likely as not to have the law called on you, and I may find it necessary to take action to stop you before they arrive.

The difference between folks who’re typically counted on the left, and those found on the right, often comes down to just this type of viewpoint.

It’s fair to say, sometimes it’s even stronger than this.

Back when slavery was a thing in the United States, an anti-slavery party was created to combat it. That party was the Republican Party.

When Jim Crow laws, and other segregationist activity was in place, it was the Republicans who were most strongly against both.

Voting rights for blacks? Championed by Republicans. For women? Likewise.

And what group is largely attributed with the creation of the Ku Klux Klan? That would be the Democrats.

For the time all of this was happening, the Republican Party was invariably seen as Rightist, and the Democrats as Leftist. Yet now, people with positions that align with what’s been considered Classical Liberalism are beginning to wake up—to realize that they’re far more likely to be accepted by Republicans, Conservatives and people otherwise accounted on the Right, than they ever were by those on the Left.

This has come to be understood by so many folks who decided the Democrats more directly supported that of which they were in favor, that I now see what I can only describe as a mass exodus from the Democrats to the Republicans. At the very least, it must be argued that many folks are abandoning the Left, and moving rightward.

If you’re one of those people, forgive me for asking this but, what on earth took you so long?

The sad truth is, I know the answer. After the Democrats lost the battle for the hearts and minds of others, they had to find ways to become relevant again—ways to recapture lost power. They did this by supporting things to which previously they were radically opposed in many cases.

This tactic was so successful, that they used it with ever more frequency over the course of time.

When people seem to agree with you (and most particularly when their opponents don’t), many don’t tend to notice it if they pressure their foes with authoritarian zeal. Some do see that, but many of them think little to nothing about it. There’s always a group, sometimes bigger, sometimes smaller, that supports this kind of behavior, for them, this is icing on the proverbial cake.

The problem is, the Left has consistently been moving in the direction of more fringe perspectives as a ploy to keep their base energized. This often makes people who have supported them less interested in continuing to do so.

The other side of that coin, is those who may disagree with you, but who will leave you be unless you give them cause to take an interest in you. That’s where folks on the Right generally come in.

We certainly have those in our midst, who try to use their platform, to lord it over others. For most of us though, that’s just not the case.

If you’re wondering why there’s a push toward the Right by people who seem not to “fit the profile,” you might consider the idea that the folks on the Left (read here, “folks who support the Democrat Party”) are more likely than not to be authoritarians. You might also come to realize they have a desire to get more people into their bloc. Moving further into the weeds is how they attempt to do that. This is why so many are alienated, because Democrats have been shifting to encompass ever more radical perspectives.

Thanks for reading, and may your time be good.