Were you more left wing when you were younger?

[ElFlaco]

I grew up in a very liberal family in a conservative neighborhood. My parents despised my friends' families. In my house, we were taught to see ourselves as the enlightened ones, superior to our neighbors. That was a formative experience for me.

Later, I went to one of the most liberal colleges in the country, where I became even more left-wing. Peripherally involved in activism, arrested twice. Took several 'victim studies' courses. For this reason, I am very familiar with how lefties think and can predict what they will say/do in almost any situation.

After college, I entered the work world, where I realized that I was better at my job than the complainers and goof-offs. Why should they be rewarded equally? That was the beginning of my evolution. At that point, I sought out right-leaning ideas, especially libertarianism, and later, conservatism. This isolated me from my social network of hard-core lefties.

Now I would describe myself as sympathetic to nationalism. Living abroad for a decade has something to do with that although I would probably have arrived here even without that.

It is well known that far more lefties move right (as I did) than vice versa. I take that as a data point supporting the idea that leftism is wrong.

 

[Nineteen84]

Some other good quotes on this:


A young man who isn’t a socialist hasn’t got a heart; an old man who is a socialist hasn’t got a head. - Lloyd George.


Not to be a republican at 20 is proof of want of heart; to be one at 30 is proof of want of head. - François Guizot (19th century).

http://katecarruthers.com/2005/02/alleged-quote-by-churchill-on-being-a-socialist-or-conservative/

 

[Enigma]

I barely recognise the man I was ten years ago. My ideas on culture, nationalism, feminism, equality and so many other issues have completely changed. The man I am now would have hated the man I have become.

Some of my ideas have gradually evolved over time, and I expect them to continue evolving. Some have changed instantly as a result of my experiences, where things I was supposed to believe and was taught to believe simply didn't make any sense.

Here's one example. I believed that abortion was a basic right. I believed that women should have control of their reproductive capacity. And for a young man with little world experience, this wouldn't be an unreasonably position to take. So when I got a girl pregnant in my early 20s, it didn't seem like a big deal. We stalled for a while, but eventually came to the mutual decision to visit a clinic. It was an extremely easy process - the procedure was done the morning after our initial consultation and it wasn't expensive. I was the only man accompanying his girl in the waiting room, but I was astounded how many young women there were. It was like a factory. After the procedure, all I could feel was a huge sense of relief, as I didn't think I was in any position to be a father.

And then overnight, her whole personality changed. She went from being a pleasant, joyful girl to being a moody bitch. I remember waking up in the middle of the night on multiple occasions to the sound of her uncontrollable sobbing. The relationship didn't last much longer, and we didn't really discuss her abortion. But she had become a broken person, and the only change in her life was that she had literally had life sucked from her body.

It's very well to discuss the virtues of abortion when it's not something you have experienced first hand. For the women who have aborted their child and say they are fine with it, I believe they are either lying or are a small minority. After seeing first hand how this simple medical procedure caused the emotional destruction of an otherwise good woman, it's hard not to recognise this as a bad thing. I believe that a majority of women who go through with an abortion will never be the same again. I often wonder what my life would be like if we kept the baby, and I did the respectable thing of marrying her.

I can pinpoint this experience as the first jolt which led me down the path to becoming the man I am today.

I don't want to turn this into an abortion debate, but you could apply that same logic to anything.

She could have also ruined her life with single motherhood, alcohol abuse, poor diet & lack of exercise, a degenerate sex life, or a gunshot to the head.

Personally, I don't think abortion itself should necessarily be forbidden, just like alcohol shouldn't be banned.

The problem with widespread abortion is more of a cultural and social issue than a legal one. The tradition family structure is too weak, promiscuity is too encouraged, and abortion is too glorified.

If that girl was raised in a strong family and community, was in a more traditional, conservative relationship with her one and only serious boyfriend, wasn't exposed to leftist brainwashing, and abortion clinics weren't so common and actually stressed the seriousness of the procedure, she would have never needed or wanted to get one in the first place.

Just like she likely wouldn't have abused alcohol, fucked dozens of guys, or been covered in tattoos.

In a more healthy society, it would be mostly the lower class getting abortions -- and in that case, is it really a bad thing?

To tie this all back into the topic of the thread, I was more left-leaning when I was younger, then started going libertarian, now I would say I'm pretty far to the right.

My overall views on government also change depending on the country/culture you're dealing with though. It's not a one-size fits all.

For the US, ideally I'd like a system where there's a large amount of personal freedom, but a very strong, conservative culture in place to create the social cohesiveness that keeps society together.

For instance, if someone wants to be gay, fine. Homosexuality just shouldn't be catered to, let alone endorsed, in media, schools, etc. as we see today.

If you're a decent, law abiding citizen who wants to smoke a little weed after work, have at it.

Early-term abortions should be legal, clinics just shouldn't be turned into an assembly line. And it should be wholly unnecessary and undesirable in the first place.

 

[wi30]

I was raised in a blue collar family in Madison, WI. I've been a political minority my entire life. My dad taught me how to be a man and preached conservative values, as well as the greatness of the Green Bay Packers.

The joke about Madison is that it's 10 miles surrounded by reality. It's a mini San Francisco in terms of liberals and gay rights.

I had an economics teacher call me out freshman year of high school for being a "capitalist". She said it like it was a bad thing. She was in her late forties, single, and owned seven huskies. I'm also assuming she was a majority stockholder in Jif peanut butter.

I used to think I was a libertarian, as I realized the republicans were neocons before I even knew there was a term for it. But over the past few years I've realized that libertarianism is a cop out. I like listening to Joe Rogan but his "We should like be one country, man. How can you own dirt?" diatribe is completely retarded.

Once Trump started to gain ground, I realized his stances aligned with mine over 95%.