[Mary-Jane]

A conservative wanting to limit the power of government? Shocking!

Seriously though, this position is consistent with conservative beliefs; why do you find it hard to believe? Even the infamous Rush Limbaugh opposed letting the government force Apple to decrypt the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone.

[caslon]

Note the "these days" in the comment you're replying to.

Ted Cruz:

https://reason.com/2016/02/18/ted-cruz-says-apple-needs-to-c...

Jeb!:

"If you create encryption, it makes it harder for the American government to do its job — while protecting civil liberties — to make sure that evildoers aren’t in our midst."

https://theintercept.com/2015/08/19/jeb-bush-comes-encryptio...

"On Tuesday, June 23, Senators Graham (R-SC), Cotton (R-AR), and Blackburn (R-TN) introduced a bill that is a full-frontal nuclear assault on encryption in the United States. You can find the bill text here. It's been formally introduced as Senate bill 4051, which you can track here. (Other reactions to the bill so far: EFF, Techdirt.)"

http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/2020/06/there%E2%80%99s-no...

It isn't within the party line to support encryption any longer, because there are no conservatives in government.

[digisign]

The new thinking is to support LE without question. Nuance getting scarcer and scarcer.

[sul_tasto]

I think a lot changed after 9/11/01.

[TulliusCicero]

Conservatives generally only want to limit the power of government when they feel those limits are in their interest. There are tons of examples of conservatives wanting to expand or maintain the power of government relative to the left.

[kortilla]

> Conservatives generally only want to limit the power of government when they feel those limits are in their interest.

This is in the same category of “liberals only want immigration to expand their voter base”. It’s so lazy and reductionist that the only reason to post it is to collect claps from people who already agree with you. What’s the point?

Seriously. How can you expect any kind of productive or inquisitive conversation to come from telling “the other side” they don’t actually believe what they believe? Why waste all of our time like this?

[rayiner]

“Conservatives” are a coalition of different factions, just like “liberals.” Historically, the GOP is a fusion party of social conservatives, economic libertarians, and defense hawks. Like with liberals, there’s give and take among those factions about their view of the proper role of government (where it should be involved and where it shouldn’t be).