How have your politics changed over the years?

[Gravekeeper]

I've always heard people get more conservative with age..not sure if that's true or not, but I've gone from pretty right-leaning to firmly middle-of-the-road.

Eh, my mom is in her 60s and basically a Christian liberal hippy. Which she's always been. She's become more religious as she's gotten older but it hasn't changed her political views. No one on my mom's side of the family is really conservative. Especially not as its defined in the US.

People don't get more conservative with age, society gets more liberal with age. But frankly a lot of this is due to people that call themselves conservative making issues of freedom and human rights into political issues. Which keeps putting them on the wrong side of history. -.-

I think if you're raised in a sheltered extreme of any political or religious viewpoint you can rebound into the middle as soon as you're old enough to escape that viewpoint and actually see the world at large. Because honestly, there are a lot of political and religious viewpoints that only function if you actively ignore the world around you.

[Peppergirl]

I've always heard people get more conservative with age..not sure if that's true or not, but I've gone from pretty right-leaning to firmly middle-of-the-road.

I've somehow also managed to raise two fairly liberal kids (24 and 26 year old boys), much to the horror of my father.

[EricKei]

Well, there's always paid protesting (like the "Ain't got time fo' dat 'lady'")...or other people hired by rabblerousers like certain *ahem* reverends who shall go unnamed.

But yeah, real, honest, actual protesting is all but impossible for people who have a job that they want to hold on to.

[Gravekeeper]

And protesting requires a lot of time, effort, and commitment. Many, myself included, can't afford to devote one's entire working day building a sign and flying to Washington or some capital city to protest. And, if it's an election year where we can be drowned out by some incumbent's vastly funded media juggernaut, it's barely even worth it.

This is sort of the brilliant part about it. Destroy the middle class so no one can even afford to object to your fuckery. While you continue to entrench yourselves in the trough by slowly unraveling any semblance of regulations, checks or balances the government had. >.>

[EricKei]

Well, I was pulling for Carter over Reagan...when I was six

High school - Mostly-right with some moderate tendencies (enough that I fit in with the Young Republicans crowd, more or less)

Since then - Mellowed a bit, more like a bit right of center on more issues than not, but I don't really fit into either of the two classifications we're "allowed" here in the US.

[TheHuckster]

There's also a disconnect between local politics and Washington. Everyone fucking hates congress, but enough people like their congressmen to keep re-electing him to send back to congress. Even though he's the problem. And practically every congressmen campaigns on being an enemy of Washington Insiders(tm) and Big Government(tm) while at the same time getting a handjob under the desk from a Washington lobbyist.

The problem is, we don't have a choice. For some it's apathy, but for others it's mere hopelessness. Yeah, people re-elect the asshole who keeps making empty promises, but it's not like the opposing candidate is any better.

Let's face it, the scene from The Simpsons Halloween Episode where Homer successfully proves to the nation that both Clinton and Dole are actually hostile aliens, and people still vote for either of them because "it's a two party system" is a lot more true than it should be.

Sure, we can protest, make a huge stink about it publicly, and many people do. The Occupy Protests, agree with them or not, were among the largest anti-both-party protests out there. I think a lot of the problem is, while many people really want to dismantle the crap lobby system we have now, there's a lot of infighting over just what we want to replace it with, so there's not really a truly uniform mindset other than "we want something different than what we have now."

And protesting requires a lot of time, effort, and commitment. Many, myself included, can't afford to devote one's entire working day building a sign and flying to Washington or some capital city to protest. And, if it's an election year where we can be drowned out by some incumbent's vastly funded media juggernaut, it's barely even worth it.

[Gravekeeper]

I don't. My experiences with people is that most Americans realize how badly we are getting screwed. It just doesn't negatively affect them enough to warrant action.

Apathy is part of it for some people, yes. But when you compare the sheer level of screwing vs the public opinion you guys should be rioting in the streets. Everywhere. -.-

There's also a disconnect between local politics and Washington. Everyone fucking hates congress, but enough people like their congressmen to keep re-electing him to send back to congress. Even though he's the problem. And practically every congressmen campaigns on being an enemy of Washington Insiders(tm) and Big Government(tm) while at the same time getting a handjob under the desk from a Washington lobbyist.

It seems like there's a....how do I put it? Like an alarming amount of people, especially in the more southern states, don't have a world view beyond their own backyard. They have their little sphere and listen to whatever anyone tells them that fits said sphere. But have no interest whatsoever in peeking out the door to see if any of its bullshit. And Lord help you if you come from a place outside of said sphere and are driving through town.

If you're Canadian you won't make it through the southern states without someone seeing your license plate and starting an argument about socialism and health care. They operate from a woefully misinformed little sphere but preach it like its gospel to the rest of the world.

I mean 63% of Republicans still believe Iraq had WMDs. 23% still think Obama wasn't born in the US. That is scary.

Then there's the global fuckeries that terrify the rest of us watching you once every year or two. Ferguson is just the most recent. But shit like the dept ceiling crisis. We watched your government fuck around with the economy of the entire world like petulant 6 year old's. Completely oblivious the sheer level of damage you could inflict on the rest of us. It was completely insane.

Though, and I know its a dead horse, but its Fox News and some of your politicians that get us the most. I've never seen so many people been proven to be lying, bullshitting or otherwise amazingly wrong so many very many times ( on CAMERA ) yet still be viewed as totally trustworthy. Things that would get one of our politicians dragged into the street and whipped are basically just your average Tuesday for a member of congress. >.>

[Greenday]

I live in the US and I absolutely believe you.

I don't. My experiences with people is that most Americans realize how badly we are getting screwed. It just doesn't negatively affect them enough to warrant action.

[Herebecause]

To this day I don't think a lot of Americans realize just how obvious all of the blatant fuckery from their politicians and media is to the rest of us in the world. Its kind of frightening when you're looking at it from the outside in but no one on the inside believes you when you tell them what you're looking at.

I live in the US and I absolutely believe you.

[Gravekeeper]

Honestly I wasn't even aware I was allegedly liberal most my life. But liberal and conservative aren't the same thing in Canada and aren't used as insults either. In Canada politics are like bowel movements. Yes, they're important, but you don't just start talking about them with your friends. ;p

To be bluntly honest I didn't pay much attention to politics at all until 9/11. That was the turning point for me ( and perhaps a lot of the world ) that drew attention to the American political system. When Bush Jr took the sympathy and solidarity of the entire world and used it to invade another country based on complete bullshit. Then told everyone that didn't agree with them that they were unpatriotic and letting the terrorists win.

That was when a lot of us suddenly saw American politics on display as it started a major descent into polarization, message control, spin doctoring, etc. The leading narrative became if you aren't with us you're against us and forced open the schism between the political spectrum so wide it was scary to watch. Fox News emerged as the mouthpiece of it around that time as well.

To this day I don't think a lot of Americans realize just how obvious all of the blatant fuckery from their politicians and media is to the rest of us in the world. Its kind of frightening when you're looking at it from the outside in but no one on the inside believes you when you tell them what you're looking at.

[Greenday]

Mine have probably intensified over the past few years. The things I'm conservative about, I've become a lot more conservative about. The things I'm liberal about, I've become a lot more liberal about. I know I come off pretty conservative on these boards, but most people who know me in person would consider me really liberal. We just don't generally discuss the topics I'm really liberal about (feminism, gay rights, abortion, plus others).

[NecCat]

So, we've all gotten older over the years. How have your political views changed?

Growing up I was fairly fanatically right wing. Live and let die, people make their own fortunes, if they won't, let 'em rot. Then I went through some health and financial issues, abject poverty and complete helplessness will bust that out of a person real quick.

I'm definitely more left leaning now, almost edging into socialism. The government has a responsibility to all the people it governs, social programs that improve peoples lives actually cost society less than not having them. If the poorest of people in the country know that their children will be well fed and healthy it reduces crime, desperate people with nothing to lose are the ones that cause the most problems and all that. Pragmatically I recognize my views as being a little bit idealistic, but it's still the best conclusions I've come to.

The right wing for me is able to run an economy, but do so without morals - they do it for themselves and not the people as a whole. The left wing is too moral/caring and taken advantage of by those who will slack off, but aren't overly concerned with how the money is produced as long as it keeps flowing.

I don't find that here in Canada. Everytime the conservatives are in power it seems like they cut services, increase taxes AND increase the national debt. Exponentially. I don't know quite how they do that, but that's the trend I'm noticing. And the liberals don't seem to be as much too moral and taken advantage of as more too worried about todays polls, and making decisions based on those numbers rather than coming up with an overall longer term plan and letting it ride. Liberal rule always seems a little chaotic to me.

I do think that the main two parties are getting old, and something a little more middle ground needs to start showing up.

[TheHuckster]

I have always identified myself as independent (at least when asked how conservative or liberal I was), since I was 16 or so, anyways. My political stances have ranged from crazy libertarian to apathetic bystander to moderate conservative and everything in between. At one time I believed discrimination laws and minimum wage were excessive regulations due to my libertarian attitude. I have since greatly changed that viewpoint.

In the beginning (e.g. between 2000 and 2003ish) I was a Bush supporter. That very quickly eroded during the Iraq war. I was also a GOP supporter during that same time, but that also very quickly eroded, especially as certain issues (gay rights, etc.) were becoming more and more hot topics, and as Kabe said, are pandering to a part of the right-wing which is batshit insane.

I think the big thing that I started adopting in the last few years, thanks to events like the 2007 economic collapse, the corporate welfare aftermath, and some of the net-neutrality stuff that I'm especially interested in, as someone in software engineering, is I'm seeing just how deplorable and destructive lobbying interests are to a democratic and capitalist system.

If there's anything that has stuck with me politically, it's that I support 100% a democratic and capitalist society. I believe in helping people who need it, in the form of welfare, food stamps, and other government programs. However, I also believe in people's pursuit of business innovation and the rewards that come with it... but that innovation should come with little or no government assistance in any form, including lobbying to wipe out competition, get special tax breaks, and other "special" benefits. And neither parties in Washington are doing ANYTHING about that (those of you who think the Democrats in power have intentions to dismantle that system, stop fooling yourself).

A lot of the largest corporations you see today didn't get big because of "free-market" economics, but because they used the government to make them gain an unfair advantage, and that's anything BUT "free-market."

[KabeRinnaul]

The right wing for me is able to run an economy, but do so without morals - they do it for themselves and not the people as a whole. The left wing is too moral/caring and taken advantage of by those who will slack off, but aren't overly concerned with how the money is produced as long as it keeps flowing.

The hard right and hard left (at least in UK politics) are where it's bad

Between those two points you've more or less summed up American politics, too. Ours just get worse because we only have "Right" and "Left" without any parties in between, and everyone's expected to accept the full package of whichever side they're on.

That and for the past 20-30 years, the Right has been pandering to not only the Hard Right, but also the Batshit Insane Right, in an effort to score votes among the paranoid and xenophobic.

As to the actual question, I was the typical disaffected anarchist teenager who didn't trust the system in any form. Then my politics shifted over to "whatever the right doesn't want."

Now I favor personal freedoms and restrictions placed upon powerful groups such as lobbies and corporations. Which means about 90% of the time, I'm still "whatever the right doesn't want."

[Rapscallion]

So, we've all gotten older over the years. How have your political views changed?

For me, I grew up with parents who believed the Daily Mail in pretty much everything, despite being working class and deleteriously affected by the right-wing political position. At least, my father is the main culprit in this. Any brown-skinned person was over here for the benefits, the left wing were incompetent and out to live off the working class etc. Some of that rubs off, you know?

When I got older, I got a chance to examine motivations and the political systems behind them. After a while, I realised that the underlying message behind the antics of most right wingers was 'give us money, because we're better at leading than you are', and the left was more attractive. These days, I find the left to be a bit too fluffy in too many ways, and I think I've found my real problem.

See, the real issue is that there are political extremes. The right wing for me is able to run an economy, but do so without morals - they do it for themselves and not the people as a whole. The left wing is too moral/caring and taken advantage of by those who will slack off, but aren't overly concerned with how the money is produced as long as it keeps flowing.

Just generalities, but I hope you can see where I'm coming from.

The hard right and hard left (at least in UK politics) are where it's bad, and as long as the pendulum doesn't swing too far left or right, as long as we keep changing parties every so often to stop them becoming arrogant, then we don't have it that badly. Vote for the hopefuls who aren't in power sort of affair.

So, how have your views changed over the years?

Rapscallion