Help! For liberals/progressives/leftists who once held conservative/right-wing beliefs—

[Jackpine Radical]

What caused you to change your worldview? Can you write a bit about it?

My purpose in asking you to do this is to get some idea of how change in political beliefs happens. I hope to get a variety of personal narratives for the purpose of identifying any common threads in the change process, etc.

I’ll start.

When I was an undergraduate, between the years 1962-66, I was a self-identified conservative (although my actual positions were closer to libertarianism). I wasn’t religious, I was an environmentalist, I wholeheartedly endorsed the values of ACLU and I participated and believed in the civil rights movement, but I thought that government posed the greatest threat to freedom. I was, in other words, a naïve, idealistic kid who somehow thought that conservative policies best advanced my values. I pretty much supported the war in Vietnam because I thought we were defending the rights and freedoms of the people against the advancing tide of Communism.

What changed me? I went to Vietnam. I saw what we were doing there. I saw the brutality of war. I saw that we were destroying that land and its people, not saving them. By happenstance, while on my way to Australia for R&R, I ran into a party of oil company geologists who told me about how much oil there was in the South China Sea.

I came back opposing the war. And once this first chink was opened in my conservative armor, the rest of my conservatism began to fall rapidly away. I entered grad school after Vietnam and started reading about the history of Indochina. I took a course in East Asian cultural anthropology. I was surrounded by the quasi-hippie culture of UW-Madison (pot-smoking, long-haired people in serious pursuit of intellectual and academic goals). Within 3 months I was a liberal, and within 6, a democratic socialist.

Now please be so kind as to tell us your story.

[SamKnause]

1. Worldview

I have never held conservative/right wing beliefs.

I was born and will die a Socialist/Humanist.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. I'm interested in examining the factors that lead people to change

their beliefs.

[SamKnause]

3. Worldview 2

Sorry, I am totally useless for your research, or survey.

Hope you get a lot of input.

Have a Happy 4th.

[eric1]

4. My conversion

Raised in a conservative household---fairly well to do. Family turned out to be very superficial people. Didn't see it till I had some distance from them. Later when I was barely making it in Florida and went to file a grievance with the Labor Board and didn't get anywhere I learned it was because a Republican governor was in office. When a democratic governor got elected, I was able to get somewhere and got some back pay owed me. Other experiences have reinforced my belief that I no longer want to reside in a Republican controlled area.

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Thank you.

[redruddyred]

10. I am a political refugee myself.

[albino65]

6. It Took Time

Once I thought I was smart. Then I got a heart. Maybe it was the Wizard of Oz.

[arcane1]

8. What is the "conservative end game"? When will we no longer need conservative ideology?

By the way, you are violating the TOS of this website. You may find more happiness at Discussionist.

[redruddyred]

9. I was never a very serious conservative,

but had really only been exposed to a specific worldview growing up. wasn't really a fan of those people in the first place, and by age 19 or I came to realize that they were wrong, about everything. by age 22 I was a full-blown socialist. okay, keynesian, but americans can't tell the difference.

I blame life experience, but also being openminded enough to see past the usual propaganda.

my mom and bro are diehard conservatives while my dad is a soft dem but fiscally conservative so tends to swing between candidates. I'm also the most well-adjusted one of the lot by far, so chew on that.

[Adrahil]

11. For me, it was, like for many, college.

I majored in engineering, but I took sociology and anthropology. The basic theories involved in those studies gave me a whole new perspective. I reinterpreted a great deal of my childhood experiences and i thoughts.

The final nail in my former conservatism is when I heard Rush Limbaugh for the first time. I could NOT be on the same side as THAT guy.

[Kalidurga]

12. I was never a hard line right winger

I am not even sure I ever actually held a conservative belief. But, I did go back and forth and I have found the root cause of that is that I was a hawk. If you take away my tendency to be hawkish there is nothing left of what passed for conservatism. Now if we ever get invaded I will invoke the right to go back to being hawkish.