# Did anyone else start out liberal/conservative and then change over later in life? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 6, 2020, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014 "2020-01-06T04:11:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/21 "2020-01-06T14:24:59Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > You were a communist? Wow! I’ve been a liberal, to some degree, all my life, and I and almost all of the liberals I knew hated communism. It’s a failed system that has nothing to do with liberalism. I met a few in school. They always had some reason why the USSR and China and Cuba wasn’t “real communism” and if we just did XYZ different it could work. I’m reminded of them when I hear modern righties complain that UHC systems that work in other countries can’t work in the US because XYZ reasons. I’ve definitely gotten more liberal as a grew up, especially with respect to religion. I used to think that religion was primarily about self improvement, but sometimes, unfortunately strays into social control. Now I think that for a lot of churches, especially the ones that call themselves “conservative”, the social control is the point and any self-improvement or “godliness” is a chance by product. ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/22 "2020-01-06T14:26:00Z")
My parents never really let on how they voted. They wanted me to make my own decisions. That was a bit of a mistake, because I grew up in a very conservative area. Therefore, I became conservative, but that was a long time ago. I’m now just about sixty and am as liberal as I’ve ever been. Not SDMB liberal. but liberal compared to my peers. ---
**Author:** ![Caldazar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Caldazar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caldazar)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/23 "2020-01-06T14:48:57Z")
I was rather conservative for the first three decades of my life: “maintain the status quo”, “don’t rock the boat”, “change tends to be rather risky; better to accept the devil you know instead”. I became more progressive after I had kids. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/24 "2020-01-06T15:32:32Z")
On about 1/3 of political issues, I’d say I have moved to the left - things like healthcare, prison reform, criminal justice reform, taxation of the wealthy, gun control, environmentalism, etc. On other issues, I remain as conservative as I’ve ever been, if not even more - things like freedom of religion, free speech, foreign policy, transgenderism, education, etc. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/25 "2020-01-06T15:36:54Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > On about 1/3 of political issues, I’d say I have moved to the left - things like healthcare, prison reform, criminal justice reform, taxation of the wealthy, gun control, environmentalism, etc. > > On other issues, I remain as conservative as I’ve ever been, if not even more - things like freedom of religion, free speech, foreign policy, transgenderism, education, etc. What do you mean by more conservative for freedom of religion, free speech, education, and transgenderism? ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/26 "2020-01-06T15:50:54Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > xties. Don’t know if any one is a communist anymore.\ If everybody who is called one was one, they _would_ rule the world. As for me, always been left of center, but not as much now as in younger days. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/27 "2020-01-06T15:54:24Z")
> [@rosecoloredboy](#): > > I’m not sure if I will vote GOP in 2020 or not. I don’t like the xenophobia of the party, and I do think we need an adequate social safety net, but I don’t want socialism or a candidate that is hostile towards Christian values either. If you dig a little deeper, i think you’ll find that the memes of “all Democrats are raving socialists” and “Liberals are trying to destroy Christian values” are basically campaign slogans made up by the Republican party to win elections and have very little basis in reality. They have sold you a vision of “liberalism” that is a caricature. Don’t buy what they are selling. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/28 "2020-01-06T15:58:05Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > If you dig a little deeper, i think you’ll find that the memes of “all Democrats are raving socialists” and “Liberals are trying to destroy Christian values” are basically campaign slogans made up by the Republican party to win elections and have very little basis in reality. > > They have sold you a vision of “liberalism” that is a caricature. Don’t buy what they are selling. Exactly. The “socialism” being sold by the most left-leaning Democrats is the Northern European/Canadian styles, which has not led to any of the bad things that the dumb communism of Cuba/Venezuela has caused. And the “Christian values” most under threat are the most fundamental, at least based on my education from the Christian school I attended as a child – charity, kindness, generosity, compassion, etc. – and those are under threat from the party of Trump, not American liberals. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/29 "2020-01-06T16:02:38Z")
Very conservative in the 1990s, now the complete opposite. It was all the lying that got to me - even in the 1990s, the GOP was a cesspool of lies, justifications, and rationalizations, which really exploded with the 2000 election crisis when they went all in on gaslighting… and, frankly, have never let up on the deceit. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/30 "2020-01-06T16:09:33Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > It’s been my observation that Christian values seem to be more hostile than non-Christian values. For me personally. Christianity, especially but not only the teachings of Jesus himself, have helped to counteract some of my innate conservative tendencies. Some (though not all) of the tendencies that come natural to me would tend to make me a conservative: valuing personal responsibility, traditional family values, being careful and cautious, resistance to change, the idea that there’s a “way things are supposed to be” that is closely related to the way things used to be in the good old days, a feeling that everyone should work for what they get and should get what they deserve—no more, no less; etc. I don’t really reject any of these, but I do think they need to be tempered and challenged. (Just as there are some “liberal” ideas and tendencies that need to be tempered and challenged too). Basically, there’s a part of me that identifies with the elder brother of the Prodigal Son, or with the man who buried his talent, or with the workers who had been working in the vineyard all day, or with the “goats” who say “When did we ever see _you_ hungry or sick or in prison?” That part of me needs to follow Jesus to keep me from being conservative in a bad way. That said: in answer to the thread title’s question, I haven’t ever identified as either specifically conservative or specifically liberal (or Republican or Democrat), and I still don’t. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/31 "2020-01-06T16:14:54Z")
Frankly, I’m beyond attributing personality and individual traits… like the ability/desire to work hard, the desire to want your family to do better, being able to save and earn money… as _political_ positions. And I think that we need to readdress whether those values reflected in Thudlow’s post above are actually “conservative” or if they have just been hijacked by “conservatives” as a means to demean others. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/32 "2020-01-06T16:20:10Z")
In my late teens, I decided anarchism was the best approach, because small disorganized groups could never perpetrate another Holocaust. People are at our deadliest when we’re organized, I thought. But my faith in humanity has dropped even lower since then, and some reading has convinced me that **overall** , disorganized groups commit even more homicide than organized groups. And I’m convinced that disorganized groups will always lose in comparison to organized groups. I’m no longer an anarchist for that reason. So yeah, I’ve grown more conservative as I age. But there wasn’t much of an alternative. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/33 "2020-01-06T16:22:38Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > And I think that we need to readdress whether those values reflected in Thudlow’s post above are actually “conservative” or if they have just been hijacked by “conservatives” as a means to demean others. I freely admit, I’m not sure what counts as “conservative” or “liberal” values or ideals or tendencies, either in a political sense or more generally. Which is another big reason I’ve never identified myself as conservative or liberal. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/34 "2020-01-06T16:23:12Z")
> [@rosecoloredboy](#): > > I’m not sure if I will vote GOP in 2020 or not. I don’t like the xenophobia of the party, and I do think we need an adequate social safety net, but I don’t want socialism or a candidate that is hostile towards Christian values either. So you’re a theocrat. Tell me: which Christian values are Republicans employing when they put children in concentration camps? Which Christian values are voters displaying when they vote for someone who promises to torture prisoners and murder their families? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/35 "2020-01-06T16:23:50Z")
Actually, my experience has been to start off liberal and become more liberal over time. You seem sincere and earnest but I do disagree with some of your post. Specifically: > [@](#): > > capitalism is the main reason why poverty has declined over the past two centuries. I believe that any decreases in poverty are in spite of, not because of, capitalism. Walmart, for example, pays very low wages to the point where many of its workers have to seek financial assistance from the government. The minimum wage is no longer enough to live on, and capitalists are determined not to allow it to increase. > [@](#): > > While I don’t support the drug war or banning porn entirely, I do think those industries are un-Godly and (with some exceptions, like medical cannabis) cause harm to society. You make me a little nervous when you say you don’t want to ban porn entirely. Is there some level of censorship that you do support? My belief is that any material produced by consenting adults should be legal. > [@](#): > > I also think a lot of left wing issues, like climate change (which I do think is real and a serious problem) and universal healthcare are in part trojan horses to get people comfortable with completely unrestricted abortion. While I believe abortion can be justified in some relatively uncommon situations, many liberals would like it legal up to and including the ninth month of pregnancy, on demand. I’m rather mystified as to what climate change awareness has to do with abortion. Ninth month abortions are exceedingly rare and generally only used as a last resort when the pregnancy has real risk for the mother. People have the impression of perfectly formed white babies being pulled apart and killed just before birth, it just doesn’t happen that way. > [@](#): > > The environment is not in good shape but that’s vastly exaggerating how bad things are. I think global warming is indeed just as bad as advertised, if not worse. > [@](#): > > I don’t like how the left teaches that a person’s virtue is inversely proportional to their privilege, when God says we are all equally tainted by sin. Racism against whites is still racism, and sexism against men is still sexism, full stop. I don’t think virtue and privilege have a high degree of correlation, either direct or inverse. Many liberals are wealthy and support policies that are counter to their own economic self-interest. I think reverse discrimination is just a dog whistle blown by the right to justify continuing oppression. > [@](#): > > If the GOP embraced minorities it would easily win pretty much every election in this country. But that would be against their very nature. You could also say that if Democrats embraced the NRA, they’d be better politically. But why sell out your ideals in order to win seats? ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/36 "2020-01-06T16:32:37Z")
I’ve always been left of centre, which in Canada is about the middle of the road. As a business owner, I would like lower taxes. As a pragmatic business owner I would rather pay \*more \*taxes for healthcare, public transit, childcare, education, and Employment Insurance because it can actually make my business more successful and net a better financial outcome for me, my staff, and the country as a whole. As a cultural Jew who feels that Tikun Olam (“Repairing the World”) is the single most important responsibility we have to each other, I have never understood the Christian religious right that feel they should not help their fellow human and at the same time trying and restrict what they can do with their own bodies. ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/37 "2020-01-06T16:39:05Z")
When I joined this board almost 20 years ago I was straight up Republican. Had never voted for a Democrat in my life. In the 2018 election I voted straight Democrat. I plan on doing so again in 2020. So yeah, you can definitely say I’ve shifted to the left. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/38 "2020-01-06T16:44:37Z")
> [@Fugazi](#): > > When I joined this board almost 20 years ago I was straight up Republican. Had never voted for a Democrat in my life. In the 2018 election I voted straight Democrat. I plan on doing so again in 2020. So yeah, you can definitely say I’ve shifted to the left. part of it I think is that the GOP has shifted way to the right as a party. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/39 "2020-01-06T16:51:00Z")
I’ve definitely become more liberal on a few issues as I’ve gotten older. However, I’ve noticed recently that according to those political compass surveys, I’ve moved quite a bit to the left. However, I think this has more to do with conservatives tending further towards the right. I’ve often said I didn’t leave the CPoC, they left me. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014/40 "2020-01-06T16:58:02Z")
I was very left-wing during my high school and college years. I voted for Ralph Nader in my first presidential election (2000). Now I’m Libertarian. The most important reason was that thanks to the internet, I was exposed to new ideas. I grew up in a household where we subscribed to _The Nation_ and my father thought Marxism was still a pretty good idea even if Stalin had implemented it poorly, went to a college where the professors were overwhelming left wing as most college professors are, and ran with an activist crowd that provided endless propaganda on environmental and economic issues. So I was never exposed to a diversity of ideas when young. But when I began reading conservative and libertarian magazines and blogs, I learned that there was valid reasoning and evidence for rejecting much of the propaganda that I had been raised with. Though the big break between me and the Democratic Party occurred by watching how quickly Democrats got in line behind endless warfare, endless massive military spending, and civil rights violations once the Obama Administration started. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-start-out-liberal-conservative-and-then-change-over-later-in-life/846014.md?page=3)