…If you want to influence the general Catholic electorate,
you need to talk to them. You could try posting on more liberal Catholic forums (e.g.,
National Catholic Register) or you could make an effort to be more welcoming to liberal Catholics who are brave enough to post their views on this forum.
In college, I was quite liberal, but found that conservative students would discuss issues with me, and liberal students tended only to expound. The latter did not respond to reasoned but opposing points.
As a result of conservatives’ ability and/or willingness to share the basis for their thinking, I became quite conservative. It was the result of being on Catholic boards that I have become less of a doctrinaire conservative (which means I get to argue with almost everyone here
)
I “talk” with liberals here, but so few really respond with what could be called answers or counter-arguments. For example, for a long time, I was very much against illegal immigration. Since I am one of the few people in my area who speak Spanish, I probably knew a few, and I would never have said that any of them should leave, but I did have 4 points which made me be against illegal immigration. For a couple or three years, I discussed the issue with many liberals, and all I got were emotional statements like, How could you think a family should be separated, etc. I had my answers to those emotional appeals.
Then I met someone who was more liberal than I on this issue *who actually read my comments and addressed the points I made. *I saw the flaws in my thinking and have considerably amended my thinking on this issue.
If those who hold to politically liberal ideas come on this board and say something, I am willing to listen. However, this is a place where debate occurs. Many liberals act insulted and offended when others raise questions about some of their points, or simply repeat liberal talking points without taking the time to explain why this is something that should be taken into account, or what the basis is for their thinking, or even providing evidence for their assertions.
This “feels” slippery to those who are more conservative than they are. It seems like the liberals just want us to take their word for things which are not sufficiently explained to be logical. Some even seem to think that while the conservative needs to be open to what the liberal is saying, the liberal does not need to listen to what the conservative is saying, or can discount what the conservative is saying by attributing the holding of that idea to having been brainwashed by some other conservative.
So, yes, I’d love to have good, rousing discussions with liberals. I try to be welcoming in that way, but it seems from the reaction of some of them that my desire to engage them in anything other than adulatory acceptance of what they say is [ETA: perceived as] unwelcoming. Which is a shame, because I think that each side could learn a lot from the other.
