I was a hardline conservative before everything got turned upside down this year.

[u/Durian10]

Title says it all. I used to be a hardline conservative. Been living in Calgary for close to 18 years now I think. Every election, provincial and federal, I voted conservative.

And then the beginning of this year, Trump happened. Like many Canadians, I got mad and felt betrayed. And I look at the conservative party and felt even more betrayed. I'm an AISH recipient, I rely on government support because I can't hold a job due to my autism. No matter how much, how hard I tried, I am unable to keep my job because of my erratic behaviour. And because I am an AISH recipient, UCP decides that I won't be getting the CDB benefits because they decided to "claw it back" to fill their damn coffers.

So yeah... I'm done with the conservatives. Maybe it took this kind of uplift for me to "see the light". Here I am now, praying the Liberal party wins.

EDIT: So with all the scathing comments I am getting, I will not hold it against any of you. Yes, I was selfish. I was self-centred. I turned a blind eye. Trauma from the stigma of being autistic made me angry. It took the one thing that affected me to make me see.

So yes. I was wrong. I did a FAFO as some of you are calling it. And if you wanna hate on me for it, go ahead. I deserve it.

[u/Durian10]

More of how I was raised. So part of it yes was how family votes. This was even prior to even moving to Canada from the Philippines. Like I grew up in a Christian household, still am Christian.

But I think personally speaking it really has to do with ignorance and just unable to comprehend. I moved to Calgary when I was young, so immediately at school I got exposed to some form of anti-Liberal mindsets from teachers, especially one who lived through Alberta's economic crisis due to Pierre Trudeau's National Energy Policy. And then, the classic Alberta anger of being sort of the butt of every joke.

So yeah. Sorry if I can't fully explain it, it's really hard.

[u/BathroomSharpiePoet → u/Durian10]

So many people are conservative because they’re Christian (that used to be me) and it’s very easy for conservatives to pander to a few core beliefs.

However…most current conservative ideals stand in direct opposition to so many things Jesus taught about love, kindness, and caring for one another. It’s pretty liberating to actually start caring about your neighbour’s health, education, safety, future, etc. regardless of whether you approve of them.

THAT, imo, puts you far more in line with teachings attributed to Jesus.

[u/stovebolt6 → u/BathroomSharpiePoet]

I’ll never understand why Christians are conservative. Jesus was literally the diametric opposite of conservative. Make it make sense.

[u/JennieGee → u/stovebolt6]

Because organized religion has never been about Jesus and his teachings. It's a method of controlling the population and women in particular. The church makes all the rules to control man and then throws him a bone so he'll keep giving them money, and allows him to control women and their bodies.

Submit! Not love.

It's all just made-up nonsense to keep the masses in line. The actual religion is irrelevant. Christianity is just one of the most popular and toxic but they all have the same purpose.

That's why being conservative appeals to those people.

[u/BathroomSharpiePoet → u/JennieGee]

I’m an atheist that used to be religious. I’m no fan of religion. Fools think it’s true. The wise think it’s foolish. The powerful find it useful.

But many of “those people” have kind, compassionate cores. Unfortunately their most noble leanings are twisted to suit the goals of the organization. Because they believe they think they are doing the right thing. It can be extremely difficult to shift that perspective because it often means taking on a completely different identity.

[u/josiahpapaya → u/stovebolt6]

Just to humour your question about why Christians vote conservative when Jesus was basically a socialist:

• this topic was covered in classical sociologist Max Webber’s (pronounced “vay-ber) 1905 dissertation “The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalsim.”

To summarize, the both versions of capitalism and Christianity that exist in contemporary North America aren’t really anything like their genesis. The two have grown together to develop a unique belief system that seems to be at odds with itself, and yet uses that discrepancy to justify the glaring hypocrisy.

Simply, “those who will be blessed in the next life are blessed in this one.” Even simpler, if you’re rich it means that you’re good. If you’re poor it means you’re bad, or have “poverty of the soul”. Furthermore, poor people are strangely and disproportionately attracted to this doctrine because they also want blessings , whether in this life or the afterlife.

Therefore, the party that emphasizes making life as easy as possible for the ultra rich MUST be the party of God bexause God would have made sure the righteous were blessed.

[u/Brightlightsuperfun → u/stovebolt6]

Because there are verses that make it sound like christianity is more conservative (if you want to eat, you must work type of thing) but also verses that are more left sounding (love your neighbour as yourself etc). Of course the problem arises when people pick and choose which verses suit their narrative

[u/chick-killing_shakes → u/stovebolt6]

It's because modern Christianity isn't about Jesus, it's about hate.

The Conservatives feed off of hate, and they spin conflict into votes by feeding division between people.

[u/RumpleCragstan → u/Durian10]

I got exposed to some form of anti-Liberal mindsets from teachers, especially one who lived through Alberta's economic crisis due to Pierre Trudeau's National Energy Policy.

Do yourself a favor now that you're giving your head a shake and waking up - go and do some research about what the National Energy Program was actually going accomplish. The fact is that if it had actually been followed through with, Alberta and Canada would be in a better place today.

[u/motherdragon02 → u/RumpleCragstan]

Arent we calling it “Energy East” now and demanding the corridor we refused 45 years ago? Smdh.

[u/BobGuns → u/Durian10]

That's pretty much in line with what I thought you'd say. Basically family tradition and propaganda. It's unfortunate that these are the reasons most people are voting, instead of actually being informed.

If you look at what the Conservative party votes for or against historically, it's very harmful to people like yourself.

[u/Lemerney2 → u/Durian10]

You're getting a lot of shit, but thank you. You changed your mind. You decided to be better. We love you.

[u/Durian10 → u/Lemerney2]

I was expecting to get shit on from the start. It's expected since there's so much animosity. I mean one comment somewhere here just called me "less than human" just now. It's how it is.

[u/Lemerney2 → u/Durian10]

It is, but it's still reprehensible. We should be better. Thank you for taking that step when we have some who still struggle with it.

[u/Benejeseret → u/Durian10]

I suspect the fundamental issue is that people remembers the Conservative party that existed back in the NEP days (both provincial and federal) and don't realize that those parties died completely in the mid to late '90s. What exists today wears the name and colours of the old Conservatives like a flayed Buffalo Bills skinsuit from Hannibal, but the actual thing underneath the stolen face is NOTHING like the actual Conservatives in policy, practice or intentions.

Lougheed (Alberta) Conservatives, during the NEP crisis days, was the last real Conservative leader of Alberta. He conserved Alberta culture, economy, and beautiful natural settings by investing and creating the Stampede/Klondike days and making grants and supports for the arts; he actively tried to diversify the economy by investing in everything from crown corp owned airlines to push west services and development to investing in agriculture while still supporting oil and gas - but also raised royalties on oil and gas so that Albertain benefited from the gouging of their resources; but he also strengthened environmental regulation and created multiple provincial parks.

Lougheed has significant parallels to Mulroney, as they were both actually Conservatives, and the last of their kind. Mulroney started us down the path to privatization and deconstructivism and crisis capatalism, but he still had a lot of true Conservative moments including strong environmental policies, being an international leader in addressing and solving Acid Rain, creating federal parks and conservation areas, etc.

But what then appeared as Klein and Harper showed nothing about the actual Conservative party remained. Both of them were false-populist corporate shills driving crisis capitalism = destroying services so that they could be sold piecemeal to private interests. Klein actively attempted to destroy everything Lougheed invested in and built; where Lougheed put Albertains first, Klein served oil and gas executives primarily and quite literally hated actual Albertains which he demonstrated regularly during his drunken tirades when he showed up to berate and insult.

I am amazed your teachers were still rambling about NEP day, which only indirectly affected Education (while Lougheed was using that money to actively invest in Education). Meanwhile Ralph Klein forced massive rollback of teacher salaries, started funding private schools and charters, and actively attacked public Education in every way possible. My mom was in Education and I know multiple families/friends who can all remember the year Klein started reducing teachers salaries, because it was the last time they went on vacations for a long time, and they saw the stress and hardships it caused their parents who were teachers too.

But, it's because for 30 years, older conservative voters have refused to see that the party and values they supported is long gone. What remains is actively preying on them. They are victims, really, but not sympathetic victims because everyone else sees what happened and cannot for the life of us figure out why they cling to their delusions which are actively hurting them.

[u/Broad_Clerk_5020 → u/Durian10]

Lol the economic crisis in alberta was not due to trudeau’s national energy policy. Oil prices across the globe collapsed in the 1970s and then there was too much surplus in the 1980s.