So who has changed their political beliefs...

[Tossica]

since this board started? Anyone? Anyone leaning a little more one way or another as the decades roll by?

[Gaazy]

the older I get, the less I care and the more I see that all politicians are all crooks and really care very little about most of us. they dont care about me and I dont care about them

[10sun]

the older I get, the less I care and the more I see that all politicians are all crooks and really care very little about most of us. they dont care about me and I dont care about them

I used to believe in social programs. I voted Democrat until 2004.
I used to believe that peacekeeping operations were a necessary evil and justified our military.
I realized how it is all a waste of the taxpayers' money & everybody cares too much about what people do in the bedroom.
On one hand I am a Republican. On the other I am an anarchist.
I voted for Ron Paul in 2008.
I want to see it all dismantled before it collapses.
I hope we are not too late to salvage something.

[Spazz]

My views on immigration have changed a lot over the years as I have thought out the issue many times.

For the most part my views are much more refined nowdays but I hold a lot of the same opinions I always have. I think when I was young I was an idealist and as a 30 year old man im pretty bitter jaded and burnt out on the whole political process.

The mindia voters that want to be in everyones personal business offend me just the same but ive given up hope that people like that are ever going to get it

[Gypsiyee]

The older I get, the more liberal I get.

that said, I liked taking this: http://www.isidewith.com/ results were unsurprising, but what was surprising is that I aligned with 61% of the american voters according to that.

[Zanchief]

I swirl around and land right back where I started.

[leah]

i'm with gyps in becoming more liberal with age. in high school, had i been old enough, i would've voted for GWB in his first term because i was fairly conservative, given my christian roots and conservative surroundings. college really opened my mind, and i'm glad it did!

[Menelvir]

A difficult question to answer for me would be whether I'm more or less apathetic toward the entire political process than I was say, twenty years ago. I think I'm still interested in the issues, but still largely non-interested in the system that's in place to manage those issues.

I think my views (with a handful of exceptions) would put me roughly in the middle, with a few points that push me toward the left (socially) and perhaps also a few that push me the other way, although probably still more towards libertarianism than conservatism in the traditional sense.

[Gypsiyee]

oh.. forgot to post my results ~.~

http://www.isidewith.com/results/47066087

[ClakarEQ]

Nothing has changed here. I think they're all crooks and it's always been a lesser of evils. I can never see myself leaning more right though, I'm too far left as it is.

The right IMO is absolute corruption funded by corp america, the left is flexible, too flexible, too fragmented, too open and this is their downfall in many ways (and no, I'm not saying the left is no corrupt, it's just levels of corruption).

[Gaazy]

http://www.isidewith.com/results/48005515

[10sun]

http://www.isidewith.com/results/48261702

[brinstar]

hmmm let's see

1980-1990: wot's politics precious? all i care about is baseball.
1990: whoa iraq war, why are they trying to take over kuwait? go USA!
1992: lol, ross perot. silly little man. you guys are boned, that guy plays the SAXOPHONE. (not old enough to vote)
1993-2000: well i'm not good enough to play baseball anymore, so i'll play rock n roll instead. who cares about politics lol (not old enough to vote)
2000: voting is for chumps! besides, gore will win anyway (did not vote)
2001: wtf, how did they rule in favor of bush? that shit's jank, gore should've won. 9/11 oh snap! why do they hate us so much? *thinks about it*
2002: okay, war in afghanistan, shit better be quick because i'm starting to think war is bullshit
2003: goddamnit why the fuck are we going to war in iraq? why the fuck are we building more nukes? *protest protest protest* jesus christ, bush sucks
2004: are you fucking kidding me? kerry's the best the have to throw against bush? goddamnit what the fuck (did not vote)
2007: financial crash, great
2008: ahh finally a democrat who is not a total moron. LOL sarah palin, what a fuckin retard. what happened to mccain? he used to be cool. what's the green party all about? (voted Green)
2009: tea party? go fuck yourselves. assholes.
2010: YAY HEALTH CARE REFORM. not ideal, but a huge step in the right direction! wait, people are actually buying into this half-baked redneck selfish tea party horseshit? ugggggghhhhhhh
2011: rage against the tea party, rage against the right, rage against Big Oil, realize TBTF banks and megacorps are the real ruling class. Rs are evil, Ds are pussies. two legs supporting the same torso. separation of church and state is a facade. separation of commerce and government is a farce. only revolution will fix this problem. foment foment foment, OCCUPY BITCHES
2012: realized the real division in the country is top vs bottom; the idea that it is left vs right is an illusion perpetuated by the top so the bottom remains preoccupied. came to believe that it is possible to be both christian and progressive - in fact, that real christianity HAS to be progressive. delighted to learn that i can reconcile my faith with my progressive views, strengthening political convictions already reached. realized it is possible to be good without being nice and resolved to call out friends when they say or do things that are unethical rather than giving them a pass because they're friends. voting Green Party (Stein). no fucks to give about whether it matters in a state this red - as for me and my house, we will vote green when we can and blue when we can't. i am a god damn sexual tyrannosaurus.

[Harrison]

My views have changed on a lot based on experiences in life.

I'm a lot more understanding now that I've gone through actual hardship in various forms.

I have a child now so the outcome of the world actually means something to me now.

I still believe 100% that any sane, law-abiding citizen, should be able to own a firearm without restriction. I doubt this will ever change, because Superman isn't real and you alone are responsible for your well being and safety.

Immigration? Meh, I don't think we should open our borders, but I don't think we should be wasting our money dealing with EVERY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT EVERYWHERE. It's a futile effort and a waste of resources we barely have. I don't think illegal aliens without proper identification should be getting full rides to college etc. while citizens are refused based on arbitrarily assigned requirements. That is bullshit. My state is FLOODED with Guatemalans, and I actually like these people. They work hard as fuck, they're respectful of others, and they're generally putting back into the communities they live in. This changed a lot of my views on immigration.

War on drugs, most overzealous abuse of governmental power I've ever seen and I'm not even a user. I think this is one of our largest and most retarded problems that will never change because of the class of person running the show and enacting law.

[Lyion]

since this board started? Anyone? Anyone leaning a little more one way or another as the decades roll by?

I'm probably more libertarian now than ever.

Fiscally, I'm more conservative as Government at all levels is terrible at wasting money and it seems the right generally is the lesser of the two evils at spending. Outside of the wedge issues the two parties are basically the same in pandering to old people and crony kickbacks and favors to their friends. I despise our two party system.

[brinstar]

it seems the right generally is the lesser of the two evils at spending

citations pls

[Tikker]

.

[Spazz]

Yea gw and ronny sure as hell didnt spend like drunken sailers. Lyion statements like that cant even be taken seriously.

[Lyion]

it seems the right generally is the lesser of the two evils at spending

citations pls

My Wallet. :p Everytime a D is in office my taxes go up, be it local, state, or national.

No budget from the Senate in the last few years. Obama's proposed budgets have been pretty much polar opposite of the Simpson-Bowles commission. Ryan's budget didn't do nearly enough to fix the upcoming fiscal train wreck and was demagogued, of course. Everyone loves to bring up Clinton, but the Congress makes the budget and that congress was Republican.

R's are evil yet Ds are the party of Buffet, Madoff, Ebbers, Soros, and many of the 1%, not to mention most of the tech companies doing the majority of the outsourcing.

Anyways, I think it's all smoke and mirrors. Take away the dozen wedge issues and you have a group of people who spend money like a drunken sailor and reward their friends in a corrupt manner. I almost wish we could abolish the Federal Government since their spending and overreach is ruining the whole idea of federalism of which I'm a huge supporter. I do find it comical that all the people who were after Bush for being so 'imperialistic' are fine with Obama essentially doing the same thing, only to a much broader degree. I'm not a fan of a parliamentary system, but I wish our Republic had more parties. The only problem with that is it'd probably give the Executive even more power, something we do not need.

I agree with reason.com on most things financial. The problem isn't 'business' outside of our stupid tax code that promotes GE and Microsoft paying no taxes while sending tons of jobs overseas. The real problem is entitlements and pandering, especially to seniors.

"When you look at government policies, there's a massive transfer of wealth from the young and relatively poor members of society toward the old and relatively rich members of society," says Veronique de Rugy, a Reason magazine columnist and economist at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

In 1970, de Rugy notes, transfers from the young to the old took up about 20 percent of the federal budget. In a few years, that figure will break the 50 percent barrier as the population ages and Social Security and Medicare ramp up. Those programs are paid for by payroll taxes that suck up around 15 percent of every dollar most workers will ever make.

Yet the #Occupy movement spends most of its energy railing against "the 1 Percent" richest Americans, whose wealth is not gained at the expense of the "99 Percent." Rather, it comes from providing goods and services that people want to consume.

As transfer payments to elderly Americans - irrespective of wealth or need - increase in absolute and relative terms, de Rugy argues that we should scrap entitlements and replace them instead with a "social safety net" that helps poor Americans of whatever age. "There's absolutely no reason to continue paying for lots of people who have accumulated wealth their entire lives," de Rugy tells Reason's Nick Gillespie.

[brinstar]

My Wallet. :p Everytime a D is in office my taxes go up, be it local, state, or national.

what was your ETR in 2007? what was it in 2011? what's the rationale for blaming a POTUS for local or even state taxes?

No budget from the Senate in the last few years. Obama's proposed budgets have been pretty much polar opposite of the Simpson-Bowles commission. Ryan's budget didn't do nearly enough to fix the upcoming fiscal train wreck and was demagogued, of course. Everyone loves to bring up Clinton, but the Congress makes the budget and that congress was Republican.

i concede congress is broken, but how would you like ryan's budget to do "more" and how do you define "more"? if i remember correctly, Simson-Bowles got torpedoed with the 2010 tea party freshman (the zerglings of the evil zeRg) swooped in and threw a tantrum because $1 of tax revenue increase was too much to pay for $3 of spending cuts. fuckin' idiots.

oh and nice bait-and-switch, by the way - i didn't ask you to slam the Ds, i asked you how the Rs are fiscally conservative. please provide a direct answer as to how the party of GWB, who doubled the deficit, massively cut taxes despite starting two unfunded wars, and burned through billions on Medicare Advantage subsidies, is the party of fiscal responsibility. in fact, the only recent president who increased federal spending more than GWB (7.7%) was reagan (8.7%). see if you can make your pro-R argument without mentioning democrats.

R's are evil yet Ds are the party of Buffet, Madoff, Ebbers, Soros, and many of the 1%, not to mention most of the tech companies doing the majority of the outsourcing.

once again, false equivalency. pointing out the slimiest Ds does nothing to make the Rs less evil. best case scenario, i think you are falling victim to the deeply-ingrained two-party dichotomy by assuming that just because i loathe Rs i must love Ds. worst case scenario, i think you are bad at logic. as with most things, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle

Anyways, I think it's all smoke and mirrors. Take away the dozen wedge issues and you have a group of people who spend money like a drunken sailor and reward their friends in a corrupt manner. I almost wish we could abolish the Federal Government since their spending and overreach is ruining the whole idea of federalism of which I'm a huge supporter. I do find it comical that all the people who were after Bush for being so 'imperialistic' are fine with Obama essentially doing the same thing, only to a much broader degree. I'm not a fan of a parliamentary system, but I wish our Republic had more parties. The only problem with that is it'd probably give the Executive even more power, something we do not need.

ahh, now we are on common ground. in fact, if you remove* the "i almost wish we could abolish the fed govt" sentence, i agree with every letter of this section (yes, even the part about obama's imperialism).


*i believe in the necessity and the idea of our fed govt, but i feel the power (both individual and party) that comes with being part of it in tandem with the outside interests who stand to benefit from sucking up to it have LONG since perverted its original intention. not even the "throw 'em all out" solution can fix it, either - there needs to be a fundamental ground-up overhaul of the entire fed govt. but that won't happen; we are past the point of no return. in other words, i don't think anyone who has the capability to get elected in our current political climate (featuring polarisation and acrid vitriol at every turn) would ever even attempt something like this, so unfortunately i sorta think an actual revolution might be the only way out of this mess ;\

so yes, romney/ryan, get elected - and with your right-wing SCOTUS and your right-wing congress, enact austerity measures to your hearts' content. i think you'll find out just how far you can push the american people before we push back (and it won't be with the ballot, btw)

[Lyion]

i concede congress is broken, but how would you like ryan's budget to do "more" and how do you define "more"? if i remember correctly, Simson-Bowles got torpedoed with the 2010 tea party freshman (the zerglings of the evil zeRg) swooped in and threw a tantrum because $1 of tax revenue increase was too much to pay for $3 of spending cuts. fuckin' idiots.

I personally agree with the TEA party foundation of wanting less government taxes and spending. The Dems had a 60 seat filibuster majority just over two years ago and completely controlled the keys to everything. Even then they could not push through a budget, let alone even discuss Simpson-Bowles. We can't have reform in a recession. Now that we're out of it we still can't have that discussion for some reason.

So while the Dems won't even discuss a budget, and you are mad at the tea party? The government gets enough of my fucking money and by and large wastes the majority of it. The Dems at the local level push for more union benefits and more spending which was my point.

oh and nice bait-and-switch, by the way - i didn't ask you to slam the Ds, i asked you how the Rs are fiscally conservative. please provide a direct answer as to how the party of GWB, who doubled the deficit, massively cut taxes despite starting two unfunded wars, and burned through billions on Medicare Advantage subsidies, is the party of fiscal responsibility. in fact, the only recent president who increased federal spending more than GWB (7.7%) was reagan (8.7%). see if you can make your pro-R argument without mentioning democrats.

No bait and switch, simple facts. GWB increased spending due to two wars, but also due to trying to be bipartisan passing a prescription bill pushed by Teddy Kennedy. Reagan increased spending due to Tip O'Neil and the Dems controlling congress and demanding it for any sort of bill. They likewise promised cuts for tax increases, and they never materialized. It's why most of the TEA party is against it. Clinton was able to control spending due to the R's pushing through their agenda and budget. The Rs are the ones asking for less spending, both then and now. The Ds are the ones saying we need to 'invest' more over and over. Invest being the new catch phase for tax and spend.

once again, false equivalency. pointing out the slimiest Ds does nothing to make the Rs less evil. best case scenario, i think you are falling victim to the deeply-ingrained two-party dichotomy by assuming that just because i loathe Rs i must love Ds. worst case scenario, i think you are bad at logic. as with most things, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle

You attack TEA party people who are for more Federalism, limited government, and less taxes and spending as evil. I'm merely pointing out that those people are not the EvileRs you keep indicating. Most have a very popular viewpoint with a good rationalization. I'll be glad to compare which of the two groups is the actual problem, if you like.

*i believe in the necessity and the idea of our fed govt, but i feel the power (both individual and party) that comes with being part of it in tandem with the outside interests who stand to benefit from sucking up to it have LONG since perverted its original intention. not even the "throw 'em all out" solution can fix it, either - there needs to be a fundamental ground-up overhaul of the entire fed govt. but that won't happen; we are past the point of no return. in other words, i don't think anyone who has the capability to get elected in our current political climate (featuring polarisation and acrid vitriol at every turn) would ever even attempt something like this, so unfortunately i sorta think an actual revolution might be the only way out of this mess ;\

so yes, romney/ryan, get elected - and with your right-wing SCOTUS and your right-wing congress, enact austerity measures to your hearts' content. i think you'll find out just how far you can push the american people before we push back (and it won't be with the ballot, btw)

I would love your opinion on Simpson-Bowles, if Sarbanes-Oxley has done anything, and how trying to reign in our spending is really that bad an idea? I empathize with your feeling the system is weighted towards a few, but really there is opportunity here. Moreso than anywhere else. I'm all for smart regulation and a progressive tax code. We have a terrible tax code and even worse regulation that caters to a few, unfortunately.

We need to reform Medicare and Social Security because they are not going to be solvent long term. Unfortunately since the rhetoric has gotten so silly, I don't expect any discussions, just more videos of 700 billion stolen or of those evil TEA people pushing Granny off a cliff, until at least 2013. Probably longer since our government does not do anything until it absolutely has to.

I don't see a need for revolution. Just a few more Paul Ryans and a few less Mitch Mcconnells, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reids.

[Narrock]

i'm with gyps in becoming more liberal with age. in high school, had i been old enough, i would've voted for GWB in his first term because i was fairly conservative, given my christian roots and conservative surroundings. college really opened my mind, and i'm glad it did!

The tragedy of that is you are living proof that you've been brainwashed and indoctrinated into a socialistic ideaology... you and hundreds of thousands of other students. And I don't say that as a put-down. Did you know that 95% of college professors in the U.S. are socialists? It's easy to see that so many young Americans (fairly recent college graduates) think the way they do. Anyway, the older I get the more I realize how capitalism, free market enterprise, and conservatism is what made this country great and prosperous, and free, and a superpower. Also, the older I get the more I realize how communism/socialism/liberalism is a megathreat to the United States and the greatness it once was (and still could be). But in order for America to be great again, socialism must be STOPPED here in America, which is why I'm voting for Romney and urge all of you to do the same.

[Arlos]

Have any evidence of any kind about your assertion about the ideology of college professors, and the percentage of them that are "socialist"?

-Arlos

[leah]

oh good grief.

[ClakarEQ]

i'm with gyps in becoming more liberal with age. in high school, had i been old enough, i would've voted for GWB in his first term because i was fairly conservative, given my christian roots and conservative surroundings. college really opened my mind, and i'm glad it did!

The tragedy of that is you are living proof that you've been brainwashed and indoctrinated into a socialistic ideaology... you and hundreds of thousands of other students. And I don't say that as a put-down. Did you know that 95% of college professors in the U.S. are socialists? It's easy to see that so many young Americans (fairly recent college graduates) think the way they do. Anyway, the older I get the more I realize how capitalism, free market enterprise, and conservatism is what made this country great and prosperous, and free, and a superpower. Also, the older I get the more I realize how communism/socialism/liberalism is a megathreat to the United States and the greatness it once was (and still could be). But in order for America to be great again, socialism must be STOPPED here in America, which is why I'm voting for Romney and urge all of you to do the same.

Did you know 100% of folks that go, previously by Mindia, and now Narrock are complete and utterly insane? This type of person shouldn't be allowed to drive let alone haul around a multi-ton death machine on wheels. Don't trust anyone who every posted as Mindia or Narrock, they are CRAZY.