What did you used to be?

[Libsmasher]

What did you use to be, or what group did you belong to, and have switched out of? My meaning will be clear hopefully when I answer for myself:

I used to be a liberal, and a libertarian:

1. Liberal in high school, because what I knew came from the lib media.
2. Conservative as an undergrad, started to get a clue.
3. Libertarian in grad school - left the party because I couldn't get any libertarians to deal with key issues., went back to conservatism.

I used to be a member of Amnesty International, then it became politicized.

I used to be a member of the methodist church, then quit because I couldn't be sure it was the truth - became an agnostic.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Never really a liberal, a bit to the right of say, Attilla the Hun for a while...libertarian since high school.

 

[Bunz]

Was a conservative in High School, through college, turned independant in 2003 after the Iraq fiasco. Always been a social liberal.
Now I will be hard pressed to vote for Greedy Opportunistic Party ever again.

 

[Pandora]

In grade school I learned about politics. I watched Jimmy Carter campaign and get elected. When he brought in the 55 saves lives, the turn the lights off when you are not using them and told us how we should care for our planet by picking up trash. I was hooked.

When he lost his re election to Ronald Reagan, I hated Reagan. I couldn’t understand why they had to invent a whole new news (Nightline) just to talk bad about Jimmy and blame him for things he couldn’t help.

I learned from the news, my mother and the teachers at school what an evil excuse for a human being Ronald Reagan was. I spent my youth hating him. I was the one who wrote our year book for 1980 and I remember writing and being allowed by teachers to put in this line.

1980 was a year of news. John Lennon was assassinated, Mt St. Helens erupted and Ronald Reagan was shot. John Hinckley Jr. should have gotten life for being a bad aim.

I thought America was a pretty bad country. Evil rich white people were the cause of most of it. They oppressed the Blacks, oppressed the Mexicans, they would oppress their own mothers if they could and probably did.

I was easily left of Michael Moore. I was practically a communist. I even thought since everyone needed toilet paper; the government should provide it for free to all Americans. I actually thought that !! I was a big news junkie. I was watching the news at lunch at school the day Reagan was shot (7th grade). I announced it proudly to all my teachers. I saw the day CNN came on line and never needed a remote control after that.

In 1999 I went to Canada for a winter. I met a whole bunch of blame America first people. Some of the things they were blaming us for I had not known about and I did not know what to make of it. I had disagreed with a couple of the things and decided I would do some research. The same trip I met an old Hungarian man who had gone to Canada after WW2. He sang Ronald Reagan’s praises and talked about how great a Country America was. I told him what a demon Reagan and promised I would research and send him documentation on his evilness.

I couldn’t find the things I was looking for so I ended up having to read every speech Reagan ever gave. I had at that point only heard the media spin on his speeches, or my mother’s spins or the teacher’s spins. At best clips of his speeches on the news, but never the whole speech without the indoctrination along with it.

It took me about 6 months of reading everything I could get on him, comparing it with the things Carter said, and other presidents. Researching our history and the great things America had done. I did not notice the impact reading and researching all of this had on me. I do not think I changed over night but over a year’s time or so. The 2000 election came up and I was then where I am now. Both candidates suck, who could I vote for? I ended up voting for Pat Buchanan.

Today I believe my old hero Jimmy Carter should be stripped of his citizenship for treason, and we need to get back to the Ronald Reagan type of president.


Religiously I grew up with atheists though I have never been one. I can’t explain it but no matter how much fun my family has made of me for being weak and needing a crutch, that foundation has never been shaken though I have no idea who laid it. Though my spiritual ideas are not Christian, they have Christian over tones.

 

[top gun]

#1) Republican to start with because most of my family was back then.

#2) Lived through Nixon's Watergate and Reagan's Oliver North Iran Contra deal and said... what the heck is really going' on with this bunch and became a card carrying Independent.

#3) Was leaning toward Ross Perot but by the end of that race was a solid Bill Clinton supporter.

#4) And ever since Bill Clinton's first term even though I'm still technically a registered Independent I've steadily supported Democratic candidates.

and this is interesting... similar to Libsmasher (WHAT!) I was a member of the Lutheran Church but over time evolved to agnostic.

 

[Rhodri]

For president, I've always voted Republican. Not necessarily because of the party, more because the Dems have a difficult time picking a good candidate.

 

[ilikeboobs]

Liberal until about 20 because i thought the world revolved around me, then I grew up and realized that there were other things more important than me so I became conservative.

 

[palerider]

libertarian until I was about 25 because I though the world revolved around me and I hadn't learned enough to see the terrible paradox held within libertarian philosophy. I believe I was always bright enough to see through modern liberalism and there is really only one place for a thinking person to be anyway and that is in conservativism.

 

[mark964]

communist till 40...

 

[Pidgey]

I'm not sure, but I know this: I'm the only one that I want to wipe my own a$$. And I don't want to wipe your a$$, either. I'm not going to put my hands in your pocket and I fully expect you to do the right thing and keep your &%*$ hands outa' mine. If you get in the ditch, I'd rather help you of my own free will versus being forced to. If I get in the ditch then (unless I've become a vegetable in the process in which case I'd just as soon be planted), I will get out on my own. I've done it before and I expect I'll have to do it again.

Pidgey

 

[pocketfullofshells]

Republican, for Bush I, did not pay attention before that. Was pissed Bush I did not back the Shia uprising in Iraq after the Gulf war , thus leading to Saddam holding Power still and 150,000+ Dead Shia...And worried about Econ...

So I voted Perot, and was happy. But then Perot was just one guy, not really a party.

Republicans then decided that since Clinton won, that it was best to truly suckle up to the teat of the Christian Right, who got more and more Power, and then started the Witch Hunt against Clinton. I never liked Clinton, I hated NAFTA , But I hated what the Republicans Did even more. Clinton's Impeachment for getting Head...was the last straw, and I was done for good with the Republican party, and saw it as not just a misguided party that lost its way from its small government ideals....but as truly evil worthless party that needed to be stopped.

With my working class and pro Environmental views, but still old school Conservative Security and International Policy I went tot he Green party. It was never the best fit, but I did not want to work with the Dems. But I was to pro military, and use of Force for the Greens I am sure.

Bush II was 10 times worse then I thought, and I though very poorly of him from the start, but had hoped on good people around him to keep him in check. Needless to say I was willing to not only vote for the Dems , but work with them. I worked with Edwards for a bit, before he dropped out and I moved to Kerry. I really liked Edwards, and was able to deal with Kerry.

After the 04 Elections, I went strong with my current party, locally, the Independence party of MN who I had backed Jesse Ventura ( best Gov we have had) And have for the most part backed Dems for National office ( Joe Biden was my pick for Pres)

In 08, most likely its Obama for Pres. But I want to see his VP, and who McCain Takes. If McCain takes a bible thumper like Huckabee, I cant vote for McCain , even if I like him. I will let them Debate it out, and wait and see, but most likely would back Obama. Currently working as Delegate for the IP Party of MN though for local races , as while we have started to work on a National party, there is no Candidate yet. Bloomburg is a possible one if we run one.

 

[GaiusJuliusCaesarAugustus]

What did you use to be, or what group did you belong to, and have switched out of? My meaning will be clear hopefully when I answer for myself:

I used to be a liberal, and a libertarian:

1. Liberal in high school, because what I knew came from the lib media.
2. Conservative as an undergrad, started to get a clue.
3. Libertarian in grad school - left the party because I couldn't get any libertarians to deal with key issues., went back to conservatism.

I used to be a member of Amnesty International, then it became politicized.

I used to be a member of the methodist church, then quit because I couldn't be sure it was the truth - became an agnostic.

I used to be a liberal and still am. you may ask why

I looked around.
Libertarians I have observed seemed to lack the courage of true conviction. so that was a no go

Conservatives I have observed seemed to be more reactionary than progressive, though there are lots of progressive cons these days.
but...

I rarely joined groups as I was never a good follower. I am true to self.

being a liberal affords me the insight to see this life and the world as it truly is with all it's flaws and all it's beauty, and being a liberal allows me to do what I want to make it all a better place. this with no fear of bucking stale tradition and without the need to belong out of fear of violating some unwritten rules.

The actions and words of our founding fathers and the framers of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution exemplify what liberalism is all about. The idea that others confuse and distort what liberalism is does not take anything away from it's inherent truths and it's ability to set mankind free from the chains of conservative fears and thoughts.

 

[Libsmasher]

I used to be a liberal and still am. you may ask why

I looked around.
Libertarians I have observed seemed to lack the courage of true conviction. so that was a no go

Conservatives I have observed seemed to be more reactionary than progressive, though there are lots of progressive cons these days.
but...

I rarely joined groups as I was never a good follower. I am true to self.

being a liberal affords me the insight to see this life and the world as it truly is with all it's flaws and all it's beauty, and being a liberal allows me to do what I want to make it all a better place. this with no fear of bucking stale tradition and without the need to belong out of fear of violating some unwritten rules.

The actions and words of our founding fathers and the framers of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution exemplify what liberalism is all about. The idea that others confuse and distort what liberalism is does not take anything away from it's inherent truths and it's ability to set mankind free from the chains of conservative fears and thoughts.

You are a "classical liberal"?

 

[GaiusJuliusCaesarAugustus]

You are a "classical liberal"?

a modern day liberal, who never allowed Ronald Reagan, or others to reframe who I am, what I stand for, and to question my patriotism without a fight.

 

[GenSeneca]

Great thread topic! I'll have to break it up because I'm sucha wordsmith.

Religion

Never was very religious but I was curious about Christianinty. My mother allowed me the freedom to explore and attend church wherever I wanted, what harm could that do right? So I bounced around to different churches to see the differences between the faiths and between the people. I went to Catholic Mass, Episcopalian, Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, Evengelical and eventually came to one conclusion: I was Non-Religious.

I have a great deal of respect for those who follow Religion, who believe in God, Allah, Buddha and even John Smith but none of it was for me. I looked into other religions and came to the same conclusion, I'm not a believer.

Not to be confused for Atheism, or worse yet Anti-Theism, Non-Religious more closely resembles Agnosticism. I believe in "God" just not in the mystical religious sense of an omnipotent superbeing. To me: God is the sum of all energy in the universe, he represents the light. The devil is darkness and he is represented by the darkness - which is the emptiness that completely envelopes the known universe. The black holes and dark matter inside the universe, which can seemingly "Destroy" that which Einstein tells us cannot be destroyed, is the epic eternal battle between good and evil. Galaxies are created and destroyed in the wake of their battles that slowly criss cross the universe.

Politics

I began paying attention to politics around the 7th grade and naturally gravitated toward the Left, and sad to say, Micheal Moore was a particular Idol of mine . (They use such wonderful propaganda its hard to resist, at least until you begin watching more C-Span than M-TV)

In my early twenties, I went off to Oxford England where my G/F was attending college (University for you English blokes). Well she was a Communist originally from Germany - guess which side - and constantly teased me for being a Capitalist pig. I returned to America Sept 10, 2001.

On the morning of 9/11 I was driving to work. I arrived at work, my first day back from vacation mind you, to find the entire buildings staff huddled in front of the only TV located at the bar. The first plane impacted the first tower minutes before I got to work and minutes later... the second one hit right before our eyes.

That single event pushed my interest in politics to overdrive and I began gobbling up everything conspiracy theorists were pushing.

Well I soon felt out of place in my hometown because it was so Conservative, and you Liberals know how unbearable the mere presence of Conservatives can be... So in my mid twenties I moved to Austin TX and found a new group of friends eager to indoctrinate me. I read everything my new friends suggested, like Chomsky - who was sold to me as "prolific" and "ultra-Intelligent", and I quickly found myself espousing Socialist clap-trap.

Being one who likes to know his opponents to better defeat them, I began reading every piece of Conservative literature I could get my hands on. I started with the United States Constitution... Looking for weaknesses to exploit then moved onto the guide to our Constitution - The Federalist Papers. Before long I was reading AUH2O and Reagan speeches, all the while finding them frustratingly likable and accurate.

Ever heard of "Democracy in America" by Alexi de Tocqueville? As I read it, one particular oddity stood out... This was the road map to America's future. Depending on your viewpoint, you can use this incredible piece of literature to destroy or protect the American Republic - just by following its suggestions. It was eye opening to say the least and that book deserves credit for turning me toward Conservatism.

I began looking for facts and records instead of mantra's and emotions and found the Political Left to be following the Tocquevillian playbook - in the destruction direction. Sad to say, many Republicans have jumped on that very popular bandwagon as well.

Did you know Micheal Moore is a lier? Or that people like Chomsky and Conspiracy theorists are full of shat? I found out the hard way, by finding the truth on my own... Probably means more that way. And because I can no longer trust either party:

CaLiCo - Capitalist, Libertarian, Conservative. Free markets with limited government meant to maximize personal responsibility and freedom.

You're not really free if you are dependent on the state.