 |
| |
|
|
MrFun
|
 |
of Iowa
Nov 2000
time: 23:29
|
|
For those of you who used to adhere to one political party, only to change your support to another political party, what influenced your decision to change your support?
For instance, if at one time (if you're an American), you were a staunch Republican and you later changed your support to the Democratic party, how did you go about this change?
For this thread, anyone from any country can add their comments -- it doesn't even have to be necessarily political party, but more generally, liberal, conservative, libertarian, communist, socialist, and so on. For example, if you were once socialist, and then later changed to having a libertarian viewpoint, what caused you to change?
I myself have not changed -- I'm still a moderate liberal.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Ecthy
|
|
Zhonghuà Rénmín Gònghéguó
Mar 2000
time: 06:29
|
|
my political leanings change anti-cyclical with German governments...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Eli
|
|
Israel
Jul 2000
time: 07:29
|
|
I was 15, and I was a leftist(on Israeli security issues, i'm still undecided on economical issues).
On a scale of +5 to -5, where the - is the left, if Firelad is -4 then I was -3.
The period was the period of pre-Camp David, and I was ready to give up everything.
The line of thought was that as soon as we give the poor Pals their independence(67 borders) and Jerusalem everyone will be happy.
Then the Intifada started, and I discovered Apolyton.
The Intifada provided a reason to change opinion, but Apolyton was the final push.
I started arguing about stuff here and realized a truth.
If there are so many enlighted westerners, with everything in life, who were never harmed by Israel, who are not Arabs or Muslims, and THEY go as far as denying the very right of Israel to exist, then what about the refugees(and non-refugees) living in terrible conditions in the camps and in the territories and listening every day to Palestinian propaganda and who probably lost their homes in 1948 and personally suffered from the conflict and violence?
The Intifada was a proof and I changed my position.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Richelieu
|
|
Gatineau
Dec 2001
time: 00:29
|
|
I used to be much more to the left but life changed that. In the US i'd be a right wing Democrat i guess.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Richelieu
|
|
Gatineau
Dec 2001
time: 00:29
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by DinoDoc
We call them Republicans. |
Can't call myself that. That would be grounds for deportation over here.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Cruddy
|
|
Travel helped. Living by my own wits helped. Meeting people from different social backgroundgrounds helped.
Politicial views are like cheese, they take time to mature.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Zkribbler
|
 |
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Feb 1999
time: 21:29
|
|
I started out as a right-wing Republican but then saw a series of lights.
I was anti-abortion until a girl I knew in college died from having an illegal abortion. That death drove home two realizations: First, the mere fact that abortions were (then) illegal wasn't going to stop them from happening. Second, laws have unintended consequences...even sometimes ending people's lives. 
I was also pro-Vietnam. Then someone asked me if I was for the war, why wasn't I over there fighting. I gave him some half-@ssed answer which sent him away, but it didn't satisfy me. I thought about it somemore and came to the conclusion that I supported the war enough to send others to fight but not enough to subject myself to that stupidity. And the closer I looked at that war, the more stupid it looked. There was no democracy, just a series of corrupt military dictators. Certainly nothing worth dying for. 
Ecology was just beginning to emerge, with pollution's endangerment of the human race. Big business was ignoring the problem, willing to kill people for profits.
Ralph Nadar published "Unsafe at Any Speed" and was subjected to mudslinging attacks from the auto industry and big business in general.
I had some run-ins with my landlord's lawyers and with managers at my workplace, and found them to be lying, incompetent, bullying sons-of-beeswax.  That pretty much destroyed any remaining illusions I had that people who were rich and powerful achieved that because they were morally and intellectually superior. 
Conservatives were battling the civil rights movement. J. Edgar Hoover was calling Dr. Martin Luther King a communist. 
National Guard troops opened fire on anti-war protesters at Kent State, wounding many. Four non-protesting students headed for class were killed. The Grand Jury blamed students for provoking the guardsmen.
Reagan won the governorship in California on an anti-student platform (among othe positions). When he took office, California was No. 1 in the nation in education. When Grey Davis took office (following a string of Republican governors), California was No. 49.
In short, I was driven from the Right by a realization that it was filled with a bunch of unprincipled, greedy bastards who would jettison fairness and compassion, who would let any number of people die, who would sell out the future of humanity, just to make a few lousy bucks.
So if we "little folks" wanted to be left alone without some overload trying to run our lives, wanted to have equal opportunity, want to have hard work rewarded with sucess, then our salvation was with the liberals. 
Last edited by Zkribbler on 21-06-2003 at 23:53
|
|
| |
All times are GMT. The time now is 05:29.
Apolyton Time is 00:29. |
top of page
|
| archivepost |
|
Forum Rules:
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
|
HTML code is ON
vB code is ON
Smilies are ON
[IMG] code is ON
|
|
|
|
|
|
20-06-2003 18:03
Or have you gone through all that in the past couple of months? 
(this was 1966). Can't point to any one thing that changed me; age, experience and time away from that teacher probably all contributed. At age 23 I read Ayn Rand's books; by that time I was already a libertarian, and Rand just helped me clarify and organize my thinking.
|