Shifting Views and Values

How have your political views shifted over time? As you get older, do you find yourself getting more liberal or conservative? More or less tolerant of other people's views and values? Have you gone in a different political direction from your parents?

 

I used to be a conservative christian republican.
Now I am a liberal spritualist independant.
How's that for a 180?

 

I am considerably more liberal and tolerant than I used to be. I am also much more liberal than my parents. Most of my friends, former coworkers, and extended family members have become decidedly more conservative than they were in the past. This is a mystery to me, since it is my life experiences that have led me in a different direction.

Oddly enough, I have not needed to change parties, since I grew up in a conservative Democrat family, back when such a thing was commonplace in the South. I don't currently know any Democrats who are conservative.

 

I'd say that you learned a lot very quickly. :cheers2: That is a big change for someone your age. It took me a little longer to learn how to truly think for myself.

 

When I was 19, Bush was running for his 2nd term. Had I voted, I would have voted for him. I was extremely against immigration and would get mad when someone living in the US didn't speak English, no matter how long they had been in the country. I was against drug use in all forms. I was against almost all government assistance for individuals. And I trusted the government in all things. My dad is a roman catholic that has had enough of religion from his strict upbringing. My mom was not raised in church (went on her own sometimes), but raised my brother and I as Southern Baptists. A very liberal church, though. My mom is pretty liberal and tried her best to talk me out of joining the Air Force when I was younger (she said it's Air FORCE, not Air LETS-TALK-IT-OUT).
This year I voted for Obama. I believe anyone who wants to come here and WORK for a better life, they should have the right. After living in Mexico for 2 years, I now realize how hard it is to be a foreigner and not know the language. I have a lot more understanding for immigrants. I use multiple drugs recreationally and think that people should be able to do whatever they want to their own bodies as long as it does not hurt others. While I still do believe that government assistance needs to be more heavily regulated, I do see it's purpose and have simpathy for those that have to turn to it. I am still a christian, but I am also many other things, long list, big explaination, but basically, I don't discredit anything off hand. And I would never even think of joining the military in it's current incarnation.
The first post was the short of it, this is the long. So many other changes, but I don't want to go on too long.

 

Used to be a rigid catholic and partially conservative (raised in catholic family, went to catholic school). Pretty much as soon as I got out of of both I became much more liberal and possibly a humanist (probably due to drugs aswell). And extremely anti-theist. I can see the way it damaged my view of the world when I was younger and I can see how it's damaging everyone else's, even the happy clappy religous folk are still horribly mis-guided.

 

That is how my father and his sisters grew up. They went to catholic school and the works. All of them have moved away from the church. But for some reason, most of my cousins went to catholic school too. Irish may hate the old ways, but they always repeat them.

 

What do you think brought all this about? Friends? Education? Personal experience? All three?

 

Mine was probably a bit of getting away from my comfort zones, meeting new people and some self realization. I was fed a lot of well meant lies growing up. Not so much by my parents, they were always very honest with me. But trusted teachers and elders in my church. I always believed what I was told by these people, well into my teens I accepted what adults told me as truth. So when I moved on my own and started living my own life, I realized that things were not as bad as I had been lead to believe, in some cases, though, they were worse. I do not begrudge these people who taught me wrong, I think they were also victims of lies themselves. Someone had told them that the lies were better. There is no manual on how to keep the children safe. In my adult life I was introduced to some "bad influences". They were people that had gone very far into the other direction, farther than you would want to go. But they allowed me to step a little into their world and see that it was not all bad. I also learned that liberals were not at all like I had learned, that stereotypical, charicature that I was presented with. I learned that I could have strong views and beliefs and keep an open mind at the same time. I also learned that my ideas at the time were quite hypocritical of me. Though I believed love and service to other were the most important things in the world, I was not practicing, only expecting others to. I am still coming to terms with what I expect and what I am doing. Life changes this big take time. My anger is still quite a problem. I don't think the guests in my hotel realize how close they are to death right now. They must not know, seeing as how they continue to spill entire jugs of milk and coffee on the floor and then giggle "oh, lookit there, I'm just all thumbs today". My kingdom for a shot-gun. But anyway. I regress.
So, I response to your original question, that would be a mix of friends and life experiences.

 

Actually, the whole thing has changed since my parents day. What used to be right is now left, what used to be conservative is now right wing repub warmongers. Now conservative is more like left wing pacifists. And "liberal" has now gotten a bad rep, while it's actually turning into "conservative"...

If anything, I simply understand REALITY more, and have moved even farther into rabidly anti "big brother" than I was, and that's pretty much how I was raised times 5. I'd say times 10, but my parents were pretty rabid too, in the same direction.

All those labels mean nothing.

 

I've always been a political liberal, and have only gotten more so over time, but I think tolerance and integrity are much more important that "liberal/conservative". To me, saying something like "those religious folk are horribly misguided" is just the flip side of saying "my religion is always right and all others are wrong." Both are equally bigoted.

I think tolerance is embodied in being liberal, but I also think that moral relativism is a potential scourge on civilization. It's what allowed Hitler to come to power. It's been responsible for all manner of atrocities throughout history. I fear anyone who claims that what they do is acceptable because they're only following their conscience, without regard to its impact on others or on society.

I try to be a student of history, especially the history of human thought and ethics. Human beings have not appreciably changed in 100,000 years, but we are expected to cope with the bewildering spectacle of 21st century life ... I think the perspective of history is needed more than ever, just to get through a day without throwing up your hands in despair.

As I've gotten older, I've tried to simplify my life. I don't know if that's considered "liberal" or "conservative" ... or maybe it's just the increased sensitivity of middle-age to what really matters and what doesn't. I think what matters is health, family, friends, and home, in that order, and not much else. Of course, I well realize that if I'd just gotten laid off and was about to lose my home, I might be singing a very different tune. It's hard to take the so-called long-range view when your belly is growling at you.

 

Pragmatism. They were saying whatever they thought they had to say to keep the kids safe. That is a common form of moral relativism, which Caliente talked about.

I should have also mentioned travel earlier, as a cause for personal change. I definitely benefited from spending some quality time outside the South.

The labels have always been in a state of flux. For example, during the Civil War, the Republicans were the liberal party and the Democrats were the conservatives.

It is, if the speaker is a religious person, trying to advocate his own religion. What worries me and gets me using words like "misguided" is when faith is used as a substitute for reason and facts that can be proven. That kind of faith is what your local used car dealer wants you to have.

And it has led us to the point where we are now debating in America whether or not torture is okay. I never thought I would live to see the day.

 

It breaks my heart. I suppose I'm naive, but I always thought we were supposed to be the good guys.

 

As I get older, I see myself getting more Leftist in my political ideals.

 

I too have become: considerably more liberal and tolerant than I used to be. Well, I hope so.
I think bashing my thoughts out with others has altered my view.
Perhaps they were already there, I have just articulated them more (on forums mostly)...perhaps more to myself than to anybody else.
I really don't know how to define my views really.
I also have no real idea what most of my friends and family think about pretty much anything.
I do know i'm more tolerant and liberal than my friends - with the short exchanges we have from time to time.
I've deffinitly changed over the years.
I hope I am an honest person, so if I find out something I thought was right turns out to be wrong, I shift my position.
I'm not religious, so that has not affected my thoughts.
Neither am I a staunch anything.
Well staunch lunatic, perhaps.
I know i'm not a theorist or denier of well worn truths.

 

I went from an atheist with leftist ideals to a Christian with spiritual ideals. I don't know if I should consider myself a liberal or a conservative because I feel that in the end, it's irrelevant and has no basis in reality.

I am much more tolerant of others opinions but I can become aggressive whenever I see one person misrepresenting another. I was always like this despite whatever beliefs that I held at the time.

Overall, I became more receptive to others ideals and gained more respect for it. Once I started to listen to what others had to say, instead of dismissing it as so many often do, it helped me to understand myself and I feel that I gained a deeper understanding of reality and people. No matter how 'loony' the idea, there can always been truth to be derived. Everyone has a message to give and it's up to us to be receptive to that. No matter how crazy an idea seems, it can end up being true. We learn that our bias can prevent us from making discoveries. So whenever I tell myself, "that's preposterous", I just ask myself to think of that magic word: "Maybe", and then I go from there. Thinking of weird things have lead me to many great things in my life.

I have learned to spot presuppositions and logical fallacies with sharper precision. And have learned that no matter what position of authority someone may be in, does not give them any special privilege in discerning the truth than anyone else. We're all equal in this regard. No matter who anyone is, and what they may 'know' they can still be wrong and hold an underlining bias that can be blinding them from the truth. Of course I understand that I am a part of this, and have learned to look into a mirror to change myself.

 

I have learned of invisible traps:

Left vs. Right
Democrat vs. Republican
Black vs. White
Male vs. Female
Religious vs. Atheist

It's all put out there to keep you from thinking outside of a perimeter the establishment considers to be safe (for them). If people realized that politics are bullshit and that there is no left or right, people might focus their attention on REAL issues and look to the REAL powers that be, instead of bickering over petty, media-given talking points that have little to no importance in the grand scheme of things. They can't have that, so they get everyone taking sides so they're unaware of the puppetmasters controlling both. The goal is to get everyone against each other while the ship sinks. Anyone who subscribes to the "liberal" vs. "conservative" way of thinking is only part of the problem.

Until people wake up and realize this, nothing will ever change for the better.

 

I am becoming more libertarian. And more anti-populism.

 

I'll go with this too, though i think I'm too young to have really had a switch in my politics.

 

My impression is that it is a debate over which type of torture is 'acceptable'.

Then again, we've also reached the point where we're debating whether people went to the Moon, whether HIV causes AIDS, whether the WTC was brought down by thermite secretly planted by government agents, etc.

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