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[gobears10]

This message was self-deleted by its author (gobears10) on Tue Aug 4, 2015, 06:16 PM. When the original post in a discussion thread is self-deleted, the entire discussion thread is automatically locked so new replies cannot be posted.

[olddots]

1. I'm an old angry liberal

[jberryhill]

2. My views may have changed...

...but my belief in their correctness has been unwavering.

[brush]

3. Reading this was kind of like watching a tennis match

Quite a lot of changes there.

I'm curious how one goes from being a far leftist to libertarian to conservative and back again.

[gobears10]

4. yes...

pro-gay marriage, pro-choice on abortion, pro-physician assisted suicide, pro contraception coverage, pro addressing income inequality, (when i was a libertarian, i just felt charities were better equipped to deal with the poor. now i think we need basic income provided by the government)

I'm also pro gun ownership although i support various regulations. i don't think we should ban guns.

Also I always believed that climate change was man made and should be dealt with. conversely, I also listened to the scientists that GMOs are safe to consume. I'm also not particularly against nuclear power: that belief has been consistent.

[uhnope]

5. respekt2u4that nt

[former9thward]

6. I am an old fashioned 1960s liberal.

I was an elected union leader in Chicago of one of the biggest Steelworker Union locals in the U.S. I am a state committeeman for the Democratic Party in AZ. Which is why so many "progressive" internet lefties on this board dislike me who interact with no one in real life. It is what it is.

[Juicy_Bellows]

7. Very interesting evolution - and the only question I have is this.

Have you always been a Bears fan?

Cheers!

[Blue_In_AK]

8. I'm an old hippie.

I used to be a young hippie. Peace, love and understanding, baby.

[newfie11]

9. Same here

Peace out

[eridani]

10. Me too. A genuwine refugee from Woodstock nation

Used to be affiliated with one third party or another. Now I'm a committed Democrat.

[JHB]

11. A harsh but, IMO, fair question:

Are you done being a ping-pong ball? Have you absorbed and synthesized enough to have your own real opinion, or are you going to swing yet another way if someone makes yet another strong impression on you?

From your description you've bounced around quite a bit over the span of no more than, what, 6 years? Have your views grown roots yet?

I ask because what your... let's call it "path on the learning curve"... also brings to mind the old trope "a conservative is a liberal who got mugged", as well as some people I know who hadn't been "political" but became Beckerheads when they finally paid attention to "that political shit". My opinion had been that they shifted so easily because their views had been mostly the fashion of the social circle they were keeping at the time, without particular reasons behind believing these things, and so once something impacted them they jumped to the new thing, often reflexively excoriating what they used to believe was false -- because they'd never really examined what they had believed in the first place, and weren't examining the new thing particularly closely either.

[TBF]

12. You lost me at "gobears" -

but there is still time to change that. Drive up to Green Bay and experience a real football team!

[ProfessorGAC]

14. And You Can Drive South And Experience A Real City!

Just kiddin', TBF. Been to Green Bay. I liked the people there a lot. I was at several places in that region of WI back when we were doing Biodiesel supplier audits. One place in Sheboygan, one in Racine, one near Madison, one in Green Bay and north of Kohler, plus one a little west of Green Bay. (BTW: I didn't do them all in one trip. So, i took a few forays into that area of the state.)

[Bluenorthwest]

13. This is a nice list of things you 'believed' and things you heard which prompted belief but you next

draft could include some information about things you experienced and how those things altered your views, material about things you did, actions you took taking your cues from your various dogmas.
I personally get exhausted by people who rely on lots of jargon and political labels. What do they mean? Nothing. They are all terms of art and of context. You say "I was a libertarian". In what way, what actions expressed your views?
How did you live under each of these momentary philosophies? Have any of your views come from personal experiences? It's cute to put down 'identity politics' but to simply have no identity of your own is not good.
So. Who are you?

[elias49]

16. Whoa! Don't encourage him! Already have 3,000 words!

Just kidding GoBears.

[Zorra]

15. As truth is gathered, I rearrange,

When we stop evolving, we stop living.

May your future journey continue to bring new things to your life and continue to open your mind and bring you peace and happiness.

[lumberjack_jeff]

17. In the '70s I was a young, idealistic new deal liberal.

Today, I'm an old, cynical, new deal liberal.

[whatthehey]

18. No huge shifts but evolution sure, in various directions compared to DU norms

I used to be fairly anti 2A until I realized I was blaming an implement for an action and that larger social forces were to blame. Now I'm fine with armed citizens, but would prefer some new standard regulations and limits.

I used to be a bit more into the anti-drug paranoia, whereas now I am fine with legalizing anything that doesn't cause uncontrollable psychotic breaks (and even then if risks could be controlled somehow by environment).

I was always fine with euthanasia, whereas now I consider its universal medically supervised availability (sadly only in hypothesis, since nowhere is there yet) a sine qua non for full personal freedom.

While this is starting to sound like I'm drifting Libertarian, I have become significantly more convinced that drastic governmental action is needed to push us away from fossil fuels and limiting AGW as much as possible. Not that I ever objected to it, it's just that now we have better data and better alternatives.

I used to have an overall positive view of the police, even in my youth strongly considering joining. I am much less positive now, and even were I still of that age and condition would never go near the job myself. While I'm not quite in the all-bad-apples camp, I'm not in the only-extreme-outliers camp either.

While I was never an overt racist in a mean-spirited way, I've become more aware of and in control of the subconscious and institutionalized bias I certainly at best did not resist and at worst helped perpetuate.

These are the big ticket items that spring to mind. I haven't changed much on other DU hot buttons like equality both economic and social (frankly never even really understood how it's possible to logically argue otherwise), military ventures or the death penalty (in both cases they should exist, but only be used when necessary to prevent greater harm), capitalism (best system we have, but needs regulation) and taxation (have more, pay more, regardless of how you got more).

[Hatchling]

19. I've always been a bleeding heart liberal

Except for a brief time as a teen when I was hooked on Heinlein books and I was wooed by the libertarianism rampant in his books. I grew out of that stage pretty quickly.

My stanch republican family were totally flabbergasted by the ugly duckling in their midst.

[MisterP]

20. I've gotten much more detailed since coming here 2001/2 (can't remember)

and of course more willing to acknowledge Dems' fault in the system we have now (even you, FDR and JFK!)

[ananda]

21. Yes.

I'm more socially liberal to the point of being radical,
and I have learned so much about the way wealth,
industry, and tyranny interact, that I am now firmly
anti-war in all forms, everywhere.