Anti

The reason current Conservatives still feel conservative despite having turned their back on nearly every conservative principle is that most Conservatives were never conservative. They were anti-liberal.*

The reason candy factory workers quickly lose their taste for candy is that they were never real candy cravers. They were anti-deprivation.


* - This also accounts for why conservative politicians have always rejected their own policies when liberals propose them (e.g. Obamacare, which came right straight out of the Heritage Foundation, with a bank shot off Mitt Romney's governorship). They're not for what they're for, they're against what The Other is for.

I can relate, having for years assumed I was some breed of liberal simply by virtue of my revulsion at the far right...and in spite of my agreeing with few actual left-wing proposals. I suspect many - perhaps even most - moderates on each side are entirely reactive to The Other...and, if they ever really dissected the actual policies supported by their own (nominal) side, they'd realize they're as Centrist as I am.

The really smart move would be to embrace our perfectly appropriate misanthropy more consistently and completely.