For the past few years there's been this worrying trend of hardline social conservatives rebranding themselves as "centrists" or "moderates," or sometimes as "cultural libertarians" or "classical liberals," in order to distance themselves from the stigma associated with the cultural far-right. As a centrist with libertarian leanings who's very fond of actual classical liberal thinkers like Smith, Locke, Jefferson, Mill, and Rawls, I consider the co-opting of these labels by right-wing cultural authoritarians to be deeply offensive.
So, here's a helpful checklist to help determine whether someone's a real centrist/moderate/libertarian/classical liberal or just a social conservative in disguise. If someone holds THREE or more of the following views, there's a good chance they're actually a far-right authoritarian. If someone holds FIVE or more, then there's no question about it.
They claim to be politically independent or opposed to both sides, but almost always criticize the left and agree with the right; on the rare occasions they do criticize the right, it tends to either be a shallow criticism (e.g. "I basically agree with you overall, just not on this one trivial detail"), or it's aimed at a ridiculously extreme far-right position (and even then, it often leads to a false equivalency, as the extreme far-right position will usually be equated with a fairly moderate left-wing position)
They're against late-term abortion, even in cases where the mother's life is at stake or the baby is guaranteed to die anyway
Bonus: Counts for double if they believe that all forms of abortion should be illegal, even in the early stages of pregnancy
- They're disdainful of feminism and sexual promiscuity, lament the decline of "traditional family values," criticize modern Westerners (especially women) for refusing to get married and have children, constantly worry about declining birth rates, and talk about how women were happier as designated housewives and mothers than they are focusing on their careers/social lives/personal goals and desires
Bonus: Counts for quintuple if their concern about declining birth rates has racist undertones (e.g. "the Africans/Muslims/Latinos are going to outbreed us")
- They're highly critical of LGBT lifestyles (e.g. they think that LGBT people are "pushing their lifestyle on others" simply be being openly queer in public, consider any media portrayal of LGBT characters to be "forcing the gay agenda on people," don't believe that children should be exposed to the fact that same sex couples and trans/gender non-conforming people exist, etc.)
Bonus: Counts for triple if they're overtly homophobic and/or transphobic (i.e. they don't consider same sex relationships or trans identities to be valid, oppose the legalization of same sex marriage, believe that trans people should legally and socially be treated as their assigned birth gender rather than their preferred gender, and so forth)
They're very opposed to immigration (i.e. they support heightened border security, mass imprisonment/deportation of illegal immigrants, increased standards for legal immigration, travel bans on specific ethnic/religious groups, or all of the above), and believe that immigrants (especially Latinos and Muslims) are taking American jobs, mooching off welfare, and responsible for crime or terrorism
They're pro-police, nearly always take the officer's side in disputes over alleged police misconduct (unless the alleged victim is a white conservative), and support the "Blue Lives Matter" movement
They support the War on Drugs and "tough on crime" policies; they're in favor of harsh penalties for non-violent offenses such as drug possession and prostitution; they greatly exaggerate the threat of street gangs and urban crime; they endorse discriminatory profiling against people who look "suspicious" (i.e. young black men wearing hoodies, durags, bandanas, or anything else associated with inner city culture)
Bonus: Counts for double if they claim to support gun rights, but consider poor racial minorities with guns to be a threat to public safety
- They consider Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and other left-aligned protesters to be a major threat to society, believe that the government should pass laws to crack down on protests and "anti-American" demonstrations like flag burning, think that athletes should be fired for refusing to stand for the pledge of allegiance, etc.
Bonus: Counts for double if they also defend right-wing marches and protests, even when the protesters are openly carrying weapons or calling for violence
- They believe that Facebook, Google, YouTube, and other social media platforms are "violating free speech" if they ban users for racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.
Bonus: Counts for double if they otherwise support the right of businesses to free association in all other circumstances (e.g. they think it's perfectly fine for bakeries to refuse service to gay people, or for conservative outlets to ban people who express leftist views)
- They inexplicably believe that supporting cultural liberalism (multiculturalism, immigration, sexual freedom, gender equality, LGBT rights) is somehow a "socialist" or "communist" stance, and accuse all proponents of social liberalism of being socialists/communists (even if those people are fiscal conservatives or libertarian capitalists!)