How has your political outlook change over time? What influenced your current views (parents? music? friends? religion? etc.) Any beliefs you had that are now embarrassed or ashamed of?
Hmm.
I used to think drug laws were a great idea. Now, at least regarding marijuana, I’m not so sure. I think what caused me to change my mind was seeing how the law nails people for possession worse, sometimes, than they will a child abuser or a rapist. There are a lot of people in jail who would never hurt a fly, and there are a lot of people on the streets waiting for their next victim. That should be reversed.
And plus it’s just not working. Drunks cause infinitely more misery than potheads and yet potheads are treated like the scum of the earth. Yes, potheads do illegal things too but I’ve seen more families break up, more people killed, more people stolen from/lied to/raped/etc because of booze than pot. I don’t understand why our laws have no problem with someone getting stinking drunk in the privacy of their own home (which could lead to any number of bad things) but yet want to go after people who simply get high. All your average pothead is gonna do while stoned is make a pizza. Drunks are unpredictible.
I don’t do pot. I’ve never tried it and never will. But damned if I’m going to consider someone who uses it in moderation worse than someone who gets drunk as often as they can on the weekend.
I used to be a card-carrying conservative. Literaly. I thought a republican was the same thing as a conservative.
I learned.
Mainly, it’s Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh’s incensant whining that’s got me over to the middle.
You can’t complain THAT much and be right all the time.
Those guys single got me more to the middle thinking that too far left and too far right is just - well, nuts.
I’m only 21, so my views haven’t had much time to evolve. The one major issue where I’m considering changing my mind is vouchers. It’s not that I like private schools any more, but talking with people outside by bubble has gradually made me realize that public schools are more screwed up that I originally thought. Other than that, my views on major issues have stayed pretty consistent.
Anything that I’m ashamed of? Voting for Nader in 2000 was not such a hot idea in retrospect, even though I didn’t live in a swing state.
My parents influenced my political views and my father greatly influenced my social and economic views which are very liberal. Personal experience teaching in inner city school systems has made me even more liberal socially but more conservative about the future of public education unless teacher standards are raised and decision-making is then placed more in the hands of classroom teachers (as opposed to administrators).
I used to think that the principles of the Constitution could not be underminded no matter which party was in power. I no longer believe that that is a sure bet.
I used to accept daily Bible readings at school as being appropriate – along with other Christian related programs. That was in the 1950’s in a small town of Protestants. The question never came up!
Now I really believe that it is unfair, unwise and inappropriate.
At one time, I was an atheist Marxist existentialist. My “conversions” were first to Christianity, then to libertarianism, then to objectivism. When I stumbled upon the libertarian ethic of noncoercion, I realized that Jesus was the consumate libertarian — never initiating force, but still protecting His property (the temple) with great vigor and righteousness.
I was a relatively hardcore libertarian but have since softened. After having traded/speculated in markets for many years, I’ve come to believe that the market isn’t transparent enough to support the privatization of many institutions.
I grew up in a very liberal area so I was a liberal. The biggest influence on me was going to work for the government. I was astonished at how inefficient things were - much worse than I could have imagined. That left me open to other points of view. Then I read Free to Choose, by Milton Friedman, which is a very readable and simple discussion of libertarian approaches. So I became a libertarian, sometimes a moderate, sometimes an extremist, but always a libertarian.
Finally, a couple of years ago I heard about RJ Rummel’s work. He’s done a lot of work showing the benefits of democracies over tyrannies e.g. no wars between democracies, never been a famine in a democracy . It’s consistent with a libertarian approach, but helped me to see the value of any democracy.
I was fundamentalist conservative, now I am a moderate libertarian.
I lost the fundamentalism by going to Bible College (think of the conditioning scene in A Clockwork Orange). I lost the conservative part when I realized I didn’t know anything and therefore lost the desire to tell anyone what to do. Graham Greene did part of it, too.
I’ll also say that lurking in GD over the years has influenced me significantly; not so much being persuaded of anyone’s views, but in realizing that other people, usually smarter than I, had well-thought-out reasons for thinking the way they did.
A few of my political thoughts:
[ul]
[li]I support freedom of speech although I do not agree with everything that is said or written. [/li][li]I support freedom of choice, even though I think there are more abortions than there should be. [/li][li]I have almost decided that the death penalty is barbaric, but every time I am about to make the leap some worse than barbaric act is committed. [/li][li]I am very much against socialized medicine, but know that something needs to be done about universal medical insurance. [/li][li]The only thing good I can think of to say about labor unions is that it is better to have them than not to have them. [/li][li]It would be a lot better if instead of having a shortage of nurses, we were suffering from a shortage of lawyers[/li][li]I am against prayer in school, but see nothing wrong with them putting “Christmas Holiday” on their calendar.[/li][li]Like Zoe says they should let the teachers teach and get rid of all the red tape (caused by the Administration). Anyone that thinks teaching is an easy profession is ignorant of the facts.[/li][li]The problem in the last presidential election was that there were two spoiled rich kids running against each other. In the coming election we will have one of those replaced by another spoiled rich kid. Perhaps the best thing is if one party ends up with the Presidency and the other party controls Congress.[/li][li]Screw raising or lowering taxes. Leave them alone long enough that we can understand them and learn to live with them.[/li][li]Sometime we should send Congress on a sabbatical, maybe on loan to Haiti. That should give them something to do constructive; without all of the interest groups they are used to dealing with here.[/li]I find it hard to believe that I wish someone like Clinton was running. I am not sure Hillary would fit that bill, but she would be closer than Kerry.[/ul]
Sorry, I should have stated that I used to be conservative, but that was a long time ago, like with Eisenhower and Nixon in his first term (until he put on price and wage controls and I realized he didn’t know what conservative meant). 
Used to be fairly conservative. Grew up in a conservative household, middle class.
Went to college. Discovered at least some poor people weren’t poor because they were lazy, they were poor because they didn’t start middle class like me. Yes, you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps, but its easier when your bootstraps don’t start at your ankles. Also discovered feminism - I’d grown up in a sheltered environment where feminism didn’t make any difference, because all the battles had been won and the few that hadn’t would be the natural evolution of time. Then I was sexually harrassed by my boss and punished by my company for it. Made 30% less than my less qualified male coworkers doing the same job. And told by one boss that “women shouldn’t get promoted because they have babies and quit anyway.” I also became significantly less Catholic - and finally Unitarian. Feminism and Catholosism are hard to reconcile without hypocracy somewhere in my mind. I discovered that my homophobia was mostly uncomfortableness, and once I got over that, couldn’t see why we should discriminate on that front. I tend to be fiscally conservative - but Republicans spend as fast as Democrats - and I don’t like their spending priorities nearly as much (I’d rather “waste” my tax dollars in health care for children and affordable housing than in tax breaks for corporations - I worked in corporate tax - they don’t reinvest that money, they give themselves bonuses which they spend outside the country on yachts built in the Bahamas. Besides, I have a completely selfish reason for supporting spending in social services - it keeps me from being obligated to support my weirdo relations). In the meantime, the Republican party started moving more socially right while I was going socially left.
I don’t really consider myself a Democrat. Can’t be a Liberatrian because - while the philosophy is generally appealing - it seems a little like the philosophy of the Russian intellegesia in the late 1800s, appealing on paper - ignores human nature (Lib is a great Liberatarian and if humans were all like him it would work. But too many I’ve talked to boil down to "I shouldn’t pay taxes, and someone else will “volunteer” to support the services I use, like roads."But I’m not longer conservative.
I’ve always been liberal on social issues. I used to be something of a socialist, but after reading Andrew Sullivan’s blog for a while (my dad showed me his site), I’ve become a bit socially conservative. I’ll probably move more to the left once I go to college.
Years ago, when I was maybe 10 or so I had a friend who’s dad was a right wing conservative. Whenever I was with his son he would make sure to drop memes and propaganda around randomly. By 12 or so I was a Clinton-hater/lover of the great Bush days… which I barely remembered having end when I was in the second grade.
Later I woke up and realized my own political beliefs. At first, I took to an extreme view (pretty much in full support of Communism), the boards saw the very end of that era a couple of years ago.
Now I’m liberal and follow many (but not all) liberal movements.
Raised in a conservative republican house. Catholic too.
I am now a somewhere in the middle apathetic independent voter.
I had the same realization four or five years ago when I realized, as Bill Bryson put it, that you’re more likely to get a long jail term for distributing drugs than for kicking an old lady down the stairs (not his exact words, but that was the sentiment).
Not sure where you this bit from- there have been several famines in India and Bangladesh, and any number in democratic African states- you would more accurately say there has never been a famine in any Western democracy, but then there has never been a famine in any Western state at all since the Industrial Revolution. I’m a big fan of the Democratic Peace Theory, though (democracies don’t go to war with other democracies).
As a nonpracticing Hindu and then a deist living in the UK, I didn’t really see the need for the separation of Church and State; Church of England clergymen are, by and large, nice people, and do much good in their parishes; plus, I always went to private schools so I had to attend chapel and assembly prayers and such anyway. After I moved to the States and learned about this whole Establishment Clause thing, I began to realize how good an idea it really is.
When I was young(er), I thought the death penalty was a good idea. “Eye for an eye” is a sensible philosophy to a child. Once I grew up a bit, and realized that punishment isn’t necessarily the only purpose of a correctional system, I saw the light and realized it really is barbaric.
The rest of my views, particularly my support for the freedom of choice, have stayed pretty constant.
This is a really good thread.
Well, I used to be anti-abortion, and a creationist/fundamentalist. I am also somewhat less libertarian than I used to be (sorry, Lib). And I voted for a Democrat for the first time in my life a couple of years ago. (He lost.)
Regards,
Shodan
Started out relatively libertarian. I still am but I’ve modified my stance on a few issues:
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Capital punishment. Used to be for it, am now against it.
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Gay rights. Used to be mildly in favour, now extremely in favour.
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Drug laws. Strongly opposed to ban on marijuana; in favour of more moderate approach to harder drugs.
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(Canadian-specific) Have become opposed to provincial separation to the point I think the federal government should refuse to even negotiate the issue.
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(Also Canadian-specific) Believe Indian status should be done away with.
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(Canadian-specific) Support Constitutional amendments to eliminate separate school boards.
I used to be something of a fundamentalist Catholic. I’m now … a lot more liberal, more libertarian, and actually more financially conservative.
I have always been pro-choice, but after I examined my anti-capital punishment views, the two did not seem consistent. In short, I am opposed to capital punishment because I don’t think any human being has the right to decide that another human being shall not live. I think this concept is important to having a stable and just society (not for any religious reasons, nor for any belief that life is “holy” or “sacred”). I am now wavering on whether abortion should be allowed, for while fetuses may not be persons, they are human. In my current muddled thinking, that is.