Have you switched sides politically?

[The_Dude]

So a few years ago I was a bleeding heart leftist. I'm not anymore. Just wondering if there's anyone else on here who's evolved past liberalism, and if so why?

 

Me, personally, I was blind to the way of the world because I wasn't living in the real world. I joined the Army at 18, and stayed in till 28. Being in the Army you have universal healthcare, and a guaranteed good paycheck.

 

I believed that poor black people who didn't have jobs were in that position due to racist hiring managers.

 

Every problem that came up I believed could be solved by taxing those vile rich people.

 

When I got out of the Army at 28 I immediately enrolled in college and began studying business for a semester or two till I switched to a history major.

 

During the day I worked as a helper at an HVAC company. I barely knew how to use a screwdriver properly. I'd work all day and then go to school.

 

The company I worked for catered to low income property management companies in the Atlanta area. Every day I saw the people that conservatives complain about. The people that wake up at the crack of noon to do not a damn thing. And their quality of life was about the same as mine and I was sweating in their attics or crawling through their crawl spaces to earn my living while they did as little as possible.

 

I did that for 3 years, learned the business, and started my own company. On multiple occasions I've sacrificed my paycheck to myself because of payroll taxes. Ya know what really sucks? Paying taxes, and then paying the company contribution as well.

 

In addition to my real world experience, liberalism didn't add up as I studied history. Now I do believe in certain aspects such as deploying Keynesian economics during economic famine...but liberalism in the form presented by Obama isn't sustainable as its most burdensome on the middle class.

 

Anyways, I'm not a republican, they all call me Stallin, and the democrats call me Hitler. Maybe I'm onto something?

 

Anyways, just wondering has anybody here shifted their politics and if so why?

[IDBillzFan]

Your story is almost the mirror opposite of baskin, a former Republican who decided the right was wrong about everything, so he decided to become a liberal.

 

The other difference between the two of you is your story is probably true.

[GoBills808]

Sort of. Kinda fell off the Democratic bandwagon once it became clear they weren't budging from their Third Way fence sitting, which for me was when Obama announced his cabinet picks.

 

Studied the Tea Party for a minute and decided I hated it, so I haven't been invested in either party since. I was big into Marxism... maybe I'm a socialist.

 

Total apathy best describes my position right now, politically speaking. They're all incompetent or outright malevolent.

[Thirdborn]

For the first time in my life, I have removed my support for both parties. I have no party ...... I blame PPP

[Rockpile233]

I am a registered democrat and fall to the left on almost every issue, but have felt very alienated by the people and tactics of my party. I'm at a crossroads.

[The_Dude]

I am a registered democrat and fall to the left on almost every issue, but have felt very alienated by the people and tactics of my party. I'm at a crossroads.

I hear ya. It's a shame what they did to Bernie Sanders. You can disagree with Bernie, but that is a good man, and what the Democrats did to him was despicable.

[DC Tom]

I hear ya. It's a shame what they did to Bernie Sanders. You can disagree with Bernie, but that is a good man, and what the Democrats did to him was despicable.

 

Both parties have become parties of authoritarianism.

 

I've never had a party affiliation, but I've never been more repulsed by the very thought of a party affiliation than I am now.

[GoBills808]

I hear ya. It's a shame what they did to Bernie Sanders. You can disagree with Bernie, but that is a good man, and what the Democrats did to him was despicable.

What made it all the more despicable was how predictably that shambles played out. Forget emails, that's what won DT the election hands down.

[LeviF]

I was a libertarian who became a supporter of benevolent fascism. Since the latter does not exist, I support no political position.

[Rockpile233]

I hear ya. It's a shame what they did to Bernie Sanders. You can disagree with Bernie, but that is a good man, and what the Democrats did to him was despicable.

Completely agree.

[The_Dude]

What made it all the more despicable was how predictably that shambles played out. Forget emails, that's what won DT the election hands down.

I didn't vote. I believe presidents HAVE to be statesman, and Trump is not a statesman capable of diplomacy. I couldn't vote for him.

 

Hillary, id rather see her hanged than in the White House.

 

Jill Stein feels I'm entitled to 0% of my money and Gary Johnson didn't know what Allepo is.

 

4 candidates, 0 good ones.

 

I'm an independent. I despise socialism. But I'd have voted for Bernie. Why? I really really really really like weed. Like a whole lot and it's an important issue to me. Plus, I agree with him on trade deals, and as conservative as I am, I believe that in order to have the pursuit of happiness, one needs their life (Don't school me on legal documents either because I know). Anyways, just my take. But had Bernie won the primary, he'd have won the White House. Democrats got it handed to them because their a heinous party who followed a heinous B word.

[B-Large]

im bewildered things like Safe Spaces and Trigger Warnings... I admire gents like Tom Coburn, and find myself really enjoying reading The American Conservative.... I'm probably shifting more right as I get older, but more importantly wiser.

[The_Dude]

I was a libertarian who became a supporter of benevolent fascism. Since the latter does not exist, I support no political position.

im not sure fascism can be benevolent and I was about to argue that but then I remembered Il Duce. Mussolini was actually once Times man of the year. Why? He did something FASCINATING. He set up these things he called 'corporations.' Not like a "company" but a body that would govern and oversee an industry. Fascinating stuff. I really wish there was more scholarship on it. People thought Mussolini solved the class/labor issue.

 

Say Fiat came out with a new machine that was going to increase their production and save them money by cutting workers hours or altogether. What these 'corporations' would do is say 'ok Fiat, you can only use two of these machines for 3 years, and then the other companies get them too.' What this did was prevent a mass of layoffs and keep the other companies from losing the competitive edge. I really wish they existed longer for academic reasons.

[GoBills808]

I didn't vote. I believe presidents HAVE to be statesman, and Trump is not a statesman capable of diplomacy. I couldn't vote for him.

 

Hillary, id rather see her hanged than in the White House.

 

Jill Stein feels I'm entitled to 0% of my money and Gary Johnson didn't know what Allepo is.

 

4 candidates, 0 good ones.

 

I'm an independent. I despise socialism. But I'd have voted for Bernie. Why? I really really really really like weed. Like a whole lot and it's an important issue to me. Plus, I agree with him on trade deals, and as conservative as I am, I believe that in order to have the pursuit of happiness, one needs their life (Don't school me on legal documents either because I know). Anyways, just my take. But had Bernie won the primary, he'd have won the White House. Democrats got it handed to them because their a heinous party who followed a heinous B word.

I think you're in luck re: cannabis...it's nearing critical mass.

 

And Sanders would have been fine. I wasn't as enamored of him as some but the dude was refreshing. Definitely not on the take, had his own ideas and could articulate them, and no BS (at least not while he was still in contention). Shame.

[The_Dude]

I think you're in luck re: cannabis...it's nearing critical mass.

 

And Sanders would have been fine. I wasn't as enamored of him as some but the dude was refreshing. Definitely not on the take, had his own ideas and could articulate them, and no BS (at least not while he was still in contention). Shame.

For me it's not a 'I want to smoke weed' thing because I can and I will.

 

For me it's a human rights thing. I live in Georgia. How many kids with seizures could weed help in Georgia?

 

Plus, who the hell told the government they need to regulate flowers?

[Magox]

I pretty much am right where I was years ago, which is for the most part a classic liberal. I'm generally for less regulations, personal freedom, inclusive, pro business/small business, equality for all and moderate when it comes to healthcare. I believe populism to be extremely shallow and narrow minded and I find the new right wing and the talk radio hucksters to be almost as bad as the progressives. So I really don't support either party but rather support bills or politicians that share my values.

[GoBills808]

For me it's not a 'I want to smoke weed' thing because I can and I will.

 

For me it's a human rights thing. I live in Georgia. How many kids with seizures could weed help in Georgia?

 

Plus, who the hell told the government they need to regulate flowers?

Following herb, technically and yeah, huge medical potential. Abuse risk low in comparison. Thus...tremendous disincentives for very powerful lobbies.

 

Medicinal use here is legal, and we have a ballot initiative in the works for full recreational. Would be a huge boon to the ag industry, one half-acre would bankroll the farm for a year.

[grinreaper]

I came out of the womb as a conservative. I flirted with libertarianism but pragmatism ended up winning out.

[Another Fan]

I could kind of relate to the OP. When I was in college I would have thought of myself as a liberal. Even though I was by no means a party animal in those years it just all sounded good in theory. Plus most universities spew out left wing propaganda anyway.

 

Then I started working and saw none of what I learned in college related to the real world. Found I learned more from doing and less intervention in our lives is better. Plus in retrospect a lot of those professors were condescending.

 

I wouldn't consider myself a right-wing republican but definitely not a Liberal Democrat like when I was younger.

[Azalin]

I've never been a member of any party. I used to be very, very leftist when I was in my late teens & throughout my 20's, for no reason other than I thought conservatives were stuffy, old, out of touch, and uncool. My adopting a more conservative philosophy came in my early 30's after putting myself through tech school while working full time as a cook. After graduating it took me almost three years to land a tech-oriented job, but I was determined to pay off my student loans and put my years of restaurant work behind me for good.

 

I had to move a lot, and had to work pretty hard. It made me appreciate the value of applying myself to improve my own life. I began to resent people I knew who griped and complained about not having anything while not lifting a finger to do anything about it. I found myself picking up an occasional copy of the Wall Street Journal instead of the local paper. I started to realize that I had been basing my values and forming my opinions on unrealistic, utopian ideals. Eventually, I started to identify as a conservative.

 

I don't believe that people ever stop growing as they age. At this point in my life I'm not sure what label would most accurately apply to me (but I'm sure I've been called plenty of things around here ). I'm about 60% conservative and 40% libertarian: I'm staunch in my support of individual liberties, privacy, property ownership, and near-extreme fiscal restraint on the part of the federal government. I think there's no need to have departments at the federal level that we already have a version of at the state level - that we can do much better without the redundancy of having multiple tiers of government involved in what should either be a local, state, or federal issue, and I've come to believe based on past performance that neither party in Washington is functioning on behalf of the citizens, but rather increasing their influence in our lives and spinning it to make them look like heroes.