As you've aged, where has your politcal sense moved?

[Stinky The Clown]

I've grown increasingly liberal and my leftward lean seems to be accelerating. I'm in my 60s

What about you? (How old are you?)

[hobbit709]

1. I started out as a radical in the 60's

And on some things I moved towards the center and on some even more leftwards.

[Greybnk48]

152. Far left and 60. I used to be able to tolerate Repugs.

No more.

[Bluzmann57]

2. Well, getting older and (hopefully) wiser

I am getting more liberal as I age. I am 52.
A lot of it has to do with all the crap that has come out of our radios and T.V.s. It all seems like so much garbage and it seems to have hardened my resolve to beat down the right wingers for all time.

[annabanana]

3. I was merely liberal back in the 60's. .

Now I'm a progressive socialist (I think).

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. To the left

I am 56.

[salin]

5. Forties

and about the same. I was far more liberal than my friends in college (Reagan years), became somewhat cynical and pragmatic in my DC years (several years fresh out of college.) It's like a whole lot of other folks have joined my way of thinking over the course of the past decade. When I gather with old school friends (reunions and such) it is now the republicans who qualify their comments per not being generally held by others. I find that interesting. And I live in a newly purple state (formerly red.)

[Lancer]

22. My experiences are identical to salin's

Even down to moving to DC, etc.

hijack/

My father's evolution has been the most remarkable of anyone I know. In my childhood and teenage years, he was the editorial page editor of the left-leaning afternoon paper in our city, back when our it, like most, had two daily newspapers. He was a moderate Democrat then. I wish I had a copy of the editorial he wrote that appeared on April 5, 1968. He had driven downtown to the newspaper the night before, literally through gunfire and past store windows that were being busted by Molotov cocktails to write his editorial/obit for Dr. King. The one he wrote for Bobby two months later was equally eloquent, impassioned and appropriately angry. He publicly supported the Civil Rights and Voting Acts, busing and Roe v. Wade.

Dad just turned 80 in October, and is now pro-gay marriage, fervently pro-choice, and wholly against the death penalty. He believes we should have a Medicare-type health system for all. Instead of getting more rigid and hidebound in his dotage, he has gotten even more liberal. As Briscoe Darling would say, "more power to ya."

/hijack

[salin]

32. great hijack!

My late father was an FDR liberal - grew up in the depression, was a Keysenian trained economist, was pivotal in desegregating housing in my home (college-)town. He was dying of cancer in the fall of 1992. To vote absentee, the registrar had to come to our house. He held on - literally - to see Clinton win. Wednesday into Thursday he started slipping in and out of lucidity and died around midnight thursday-friday (a friday the 13th none the less.)

I miss him. Your story gave me the opportunity to reminisce. Thank you.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

50. delete. wrong place

[Cosmocat]

97. The more time passes, the more I realize how crazy the Rs are ...

I ABHOR classfication or grouping, and tend to run counter to public opinion because far too often what is popular is off base ...

Not knowing a lot of political identity in my younger years, I was a registered independent and mostly viewed myself as having slightly "conservative" positions in some areas but mostly leaning a bit to the left.

I didn't get a lot of what was going on, but in the 90s started to get tuned into how battshite crazy Rs are.

The first time I heard Limbaugh, back about 1994, I was wondering who this guy was? I can actually still remember with visual and auditory hard memory hearing him on the radio being pumped into the gym I worked out in, and having a guy I worked out with who I really liked and respected who absolutely loved Rush. I was not real well traveled, but for the life of me, I could not fathom these evil liberals who he assigned all of the woes of the world he would come up with. Seriously, I knew he was nuts cause what he made "liberals" out to be could be nothing other than actual, real life spawns of demons ...

As the 90s unfolded, I was totally put off by what they did, and the media enabled, to Clinton. He was a good president, and they just chewed at him for 8 years like Pirannahas ... It burned me ...

The Bush years lit a fire under me, and I can no longer stand on the sidelines. I have increasingly become involved with politics, I ran for a county office two years ago and lost, but this Tuesday I am most likely going to end up winning three different jobs at a lower level ...

The democratic party is FAR from perfect. But, on the issues, it is right A LOT more than the R party. And, as a political entity, the Rs have long gone over the cliff of reasoned political discourse, and stunningly, seem to keep finding ways to devolve even further.

[hamerfan]

6. I'm in my 50s

Still as liberal as I was in my teens! Unfortunately, as time has passed I've also gotten a lot more apathetic about the whole political process. IMHO, both major parties are owned by corporate interests and do their bidding, so I think you can mark me down as agnostic these days. :)

[Are_grits_groceries]

7. In my 50's and

I'm heading left as fast as I can.

[Jennicut]

8. I was more of a centrist in my twenties but DU made me go much more to the left.

I am almost 34 now. I guess we all got more liberal as we got older! And I cannot believe I was ever a centrist, what was I thinking? To be fair, I was young.

[peace frog]

9. Moderate liberal as a young adult

becoming increasingly progressive as I age (now mid-50s). My 80 year old mother was a conservative youngster and today is more liberal than most young people.

[kstewart33]

10. I'm 57. I've moved farther to the left on

climate change, civil rights and gay rights. I'm sick of gay people being treated soooo 2nd class. Full rights they deserve, no exceptions.

Still left on social issues. Right of center on defense and fiscal responsibility.

So I'm a mix. People are complicated.

[AllentownJake]

11. leftward

Republican family, moved to the left in college, rapidly accelerated when
I spent 3 years in Indiana and met the GOP party base.

30

[KarenS]

12. Extreme Left and 60,,,,,

I was raised Republican/Libertarian.

[mmonk]

13. I'm 53. Righties keep telling me that as I age, I will become more conservative.

Do they mean when I reach 90? I keep moving further left, especially since the country has moved so far right. Liberal no longer has a meaning other than not being extreme right.

[Riley18]

14. I have become more cynical about politics as I have grown older.

My parents were always liberal, and I remember where I was when I heard that Reagan broke the air traffic controller's union. I think that was one of the few times I really thought much about politics during that time in my life. My family were not Reagan fans to say the least. While I did not pay much attention to politics until the past 9 years, I always voted Democrat. I am 51 years old and I really don't think I am more liberal than in the past, but I am much more aware of the validity of my liberalism. I hope that makes some sort of sense.

This morning I woke up trying to figure out how in the world people could actually think they are being "patriotic" by protesting at the bogus tea parties. I'm thinking that if these bigots can look in the mirror and see a patriot that it explains how they could also look at bush and see a good president.

[mmonk]

19. Great post.

It's true for me as well. My being liberal has been validated lately by events and the behavior of others. The logic of my position has become more apparent to me.

[mntleo2]

15. Age 57 and a Hard Leftie

...I would say if anything from my experiences I have gone further to the Left than I ever was as a young person. Many people my age "mellow" and become more conservative, but not me. I think it is because I have always been in poverty and that life experience alone, much less the life experiences of my many friends in poverty will show someone how institutionalized poverty is, how sexist it is, and how racist our society is. Leftist politics is the *only* way to attack poverty, because "conservative" politics only demonitizes the poor and do nothing or little for the middle class except give the middle class lip service while hiding their true agenda for catering to the rich alone. I can explain more why this is, but suffice it to say, the first step to understanding this is to LIVE it and then you understand it best.

My 2 cents

Cat In Seattle

[marmar]

16. I was liberal in college and it's been a leftward drift since....

I'm 37 now....by the time I turn 40, my DU name might be changed to marxmarx


:)

[tblue]

17. Me, same as you.

except 10 years younger.

Strange, I was just thinking about exactly this question yesterday!

I think, after going thru a stolen election of a far right criminal and the death of unbiased tv news, my tolerance of moderation, as little of it as I ever had, has been overtaken by an urgent desire to see things set right. Half measures to repair a country so far off track just won't do. And I can't understand the mass complacency.

[NEOhiodemocrat]

18. 59 here

I think overall I have become more liberal, but in a few areas little bit more conservative. Some of my family thinks I am extremely liberal, so think that side is winning out, or at least it is more passionate. I have also became increasingly more leary of the truth behind what we are told by the government, politicians and news media. When someone says "trust me" now I know I had better start researching! And if the Republicans are accusing a Democrat of something I now realize that it is most often a projection on their part. They look at a Democrat as a mirror and see all their own failings. Also I have become less able to ignore the pure ignorance of many who don't bother following what is happening in the world but feel they can spout off on any thing political. My idiot tolerance level is low.

[Roland99]

20. My formative yrs in High School I was quite the Republican.

I identified with the well-to-do crowd at my Catholic high school and identified with the Michael Keaton character on Family Ties (yeah...the glory of the tele, eh?)

And continued that on through most of my adult life (although I did vote for Clinton in 1992 over Perot). I even, unfortunately, voted for GW in 2000.

It was reading Hersh's articles The Stovepipe and Selective Intelligence and reading into the PNAC (and eventually making my way here) that I start questioning the basis and foundation of my political beliefs and I did a complete 180.

Bush made me a liberal.

[annabanana]

23. Now THAT'S motivation!. . . . n/t

[peace frog]

25. Dubya turned you liberal

that's one positive accomplishment of his presidency. :thumbsup:

[Roland99]

33. A rarity, I'm sure!

[Johnny Noshoes]

67. It was Nixon

who turned me FROM the dark side. I was conservative in my youth into my early college days in 1972. It started to change when I found myself unable to defend 'ole Tricky Dick. Then one night in I think it was late '73 or early '74 I was watching one of his speeches and had my moment of revelation - I finally saw him for the rat bastard he was and have moved ever leftward since that day. I'm 55 and a lot further left than I was at 20.

[southernyankeebelle]

107. Did you realize Nixon would never have been elected today because believe it or not is was to

liberal. The things Nixon did turned out to be child's play to what is going on now. Don't you think?

[Johnny Noshoes]

116. Yeah funny enough

he'd probably never make it past Iowa in the primaries. He wouldn't be crazy enough for these "new republicans".

[Greyhound]

139. If he campaigned on what he did during his administration, he couldn't win

the Democratic primary because he's too liberal.

[ipaint]

21. I'm 53 and a hard leftie, also.

Not much has changed from when I was 20 except I understand much more about why I am always to the left of ghandi.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/index

[salguine]

24. Yeah—I used to want to accomplish change using the system. Now all I wish for is this:

[handmade34]

28. w/ a woman leading the charge!!!

[KG]

39. whait is it with the inability of french female revolutionaries to keep their shirts on?

:P

[maglatinavi]

105. revolutionaries

Symbol of the nourishing capacity ... :fistbump: :fistbump: :fistbump:

[proteus_lives]

164. Couple of quick questions.

How quickly would you set-up the firing squads? And after after you've killed or imprisoned anyone whose ideas didn't match your own, how quickly do you predict your "revolution" will turn the bloodletting inward? Who do you think will denounce who first? What will you call it? The Terror? The Night of the Long Knives? The Great Purge?

Just curious.

[ebbie15644]

26. I've gone more

Liberal. I'm 43 and I've always had more Democratic leanings but as I've aged I've become much more liberal.

[GCP]

27. Me too!

Early 60s, more and more liberal and more and more intolerant of right wingers.

[madokie]

29. Going more and more left as I age too

Vietnam and nuclear power opened my eyes wider than they'd been before

[handmade34]

30. 57 just last wed....

grew up in abject poverty with politically ignorant people around me... got enough education in our public school system to want to know more... by high school was attending anti-war marches...

has all gone left from there

[mmonk]

88. Happy Birthday.

Mine was last Thursday. Education seems to be a big component between those who follow without asking questions and those that end up with knowing enough not to be followers.

[Ruby the Liberal]

31. I was apolitical until 2000

When I saw the election stolen out from under Gore.

Been gravitating further left with every passing day since then.

I am in my 40s.

[Inspired]

34. I'm much more progressive now than I used to be.

[StarfarerBill]

35. In my teens and early twenties...

...I was obnoxiously conservative (mostly to annoy my mother, an FDR liberal, I think).

But as I got older, having people point out the fallacies of my thinking and recognizing my own errors, I went from conservative to moderate to liberal to where I am now at 45: a socialist. Losing belief in the supernatural and becoming a vegetarian helped accelerate that progression. :)

[Happyhippychick]

36. I'm 44, always liberal, now more so than ever.

[barbtries]

37. i'm 54

and have grown more liberal over the years. but i have always been liberal. i would actually say that i've grown more educated. at this time i stand quite firmly to the left of virtually everyone else in my family including my own children.

[spanone]

38. no.....increasingly liberal here too.

[KG]

40. voted for reagan when i was 20, started getting clued in in my 30's, damn near a commie now at 50.

[imdjh]

41. i've always been all over the place, and still am

I am totally liberal in principle, but I am easily pissed off especially when something falls outside the realm of common sense or expands beyond a legitimate purpose. Pretty much any perfect-world kind of viewpoint is going to earn my contempt.

[Stevenmarc]

42. Nope, just as liberal but more dismissive of those who aren't

[rucky]

43. At this rate, I'll be left of Chomsky by Friday. n/t

[Extend a Hand]

44. I was raised in a Christian fundamentalist household

I moved left on social issues as a teenager when I escaped and then began a continuing move left on economic issues. Now at 49 I'm a green lefty.
:hi:

[ThomWV]

45. My views haven't changed much since the 70's, but my level of concern has gone way up.

[a la izquierda]

46. I move further and further to the left...

I'm 32. But, to be fair, I study the history of Latin America. One can't help becoming a screeching leftist...

[tinkerbell41]

47. Had absolutely no interest in politics.

Until I hit my 30's. For some reason I associated it with Social Studies classes and to me all they were about was War, men in power, BORING stuff. I did take a class offered for a half semester
in High School called Contemporary Problems. Fascinating class my favorite til this day. Now that I see my political leanings correlate with those issues, I have poured myself into politics. If they would have taught the classes with a more humanistic side they would have been interesting. Now, I volunteer, talk about politics, 24 hrs. a day. I was always a Progressive living with Southern Baptist Dems. I was born right around the time, at least in my eyes, woman's traditional roles were undergoing a massive change. I think my mother was stuck in that traditional role and she seemed happy, proud, and supportive when I took a different route. Becoming a Tradeswoman helped push me to become an independent, progressive, "radical" woman. I'm in my 40's now and can't imagine ever changing. Unless, Conservatives start to champion equality, discard racism, stop demonizing feminists, admit to the "welfare queen lie", start realizing the destruction of the environment will be affecting their grandchildren, and quit believing "GOD" condones whatever America chooses to do, like we are really special, it will never happen.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

48. I've moved from conventional centrist in my youth

to Democratic Socialist (Scandinavian-style) in my late fifties.

[newspeak]

146. With you Lydia

went from a centrist in my younger days and I now consider myself a Democratic Socialist, just like my great granddad. I'm not in Bernie Sander's state, but I donate to him--I also donated to Paul Wellstone. Gonna start donating to Kuccinich.

[connecticut yankee]

49. Much more liberal

and I'm not ashamed to use the word. I'm quite proud of it.

I come from a family of Liberals -- my uncle fought in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War in 1936-1939. My grandmother was a labor union organizer.

I marched for Civil Rights in the 60's, and against the Vietnam War in the 70's. But I don't think I was as concerned with some things that concern me now, such as Gay Rights and Health Care reform.

I've always been a Democrat, but I guess I wasn't as aware of a lot of things when I was younger. The internet has probably raised my consciousness, especially DU and HuffPo.

I don't remember how old I am.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

51. started liberal and growing more lefty by the second

as I watch the corruption eat away at the fabric of our nation.

[boomerbust]

52. 55

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[ms liberty]

53. Just hit 50, and I've been moving left since birth (or so it seems!) n/t

[glowing]

54. Every year I become more and more socialist.. AND I was pretty much there already.

Honestly, its a matter of the heart. Some people are so stuck in the current mold, they cannot fathom that rich people don't "deserve" their millions and a better lifestyle than an innocent child who was born into a poor family. Drives me nuts. Its obvious spriritually, emotionally, and practically cannot fathom another system that is more just and fair to all people and to the earth.

[NRaleighLiberal]

55. I am 53, and every bit as liberal/progressive (if not more so) than when I was 18.

And to reinforce a theme here, this is counter to what some of my republican friends told me would happen.

[Lugnut]

56. 64 here.

I've always been liberal. Like you, I have moved leftward over the years.

[Le Taz Hot]

57. More radical than ever.

I often infuriate the neo-libs on this board. All those people who told me I was going to mellow with age? They were wrong. :evilgrin: I'm 54.

[tilsammans]

58. Ever since I became aware of politics in my teens, . . .

. . . I've been most definitely left of center. (I'm 57 now.)

I'm very proud to have kept my "hippie" values intact and not to have sold out like so many others I knew. :)

And I'm leaning even more left now that I've witnessed firsthand the destructiveness wrought by a corporatist-oriented government. :rant:

[Tracer]

59. A very big swing for me.

From a naive teenager who was enamored with Ayn Rand to as hard left as they come!

[hack89]

60. Socially more liberal, fiscally more conservative nt

[blueamy66]

61. I'm 42

and was raised in a strict Catholic house....went to Catholic school and then to Arizona State. Wow, did my college experience change my views.

I am liberal, but have some residucal conservative views.
:crazy:

[Doctor_J]

62. I'm about the same, and thus am farther and farther to the left of the media

My views are pretty much the same as they've been (I'm 52). But the media and other power brokers have moved into Mussolini territory so in comparson I'm moving leftward.

[BanzaiBonnie]

63. I was a Republican, but after Reagan...

when I saw what he did to the economy and institutions that helped the poor and helpless, well, let's just say I stopped identifying with the Republican party not long after that. I've headed leftward ever since.

[lunatica]

64. I've become more Progressive

And definitely more anti-war. I think of myself as a citizen of the planet and not as a privileged US citizen and I believe that Socialist Capitalism is the way to go. I'm 61 years old.

[starroute]

65. My positions haven't changed much, but my political attitudes have

I'm 62, and in the 1960's, I thought the Democratic Party should be expected to support progressive positions and leaned on when it didn't. I was disillusioned with Kennedy by 1962, outraged by Hubert Humphrey's candidacy in 1968, and sick at heart when Nixon crushed McGovern in 1972.

But over the years I've come to the conclusion that you're never going to be able to haul the Democrats very far left of center -- and that to the extent you can it will only benefit Republicans.

That was a hard lesson for someone raised on my parents' stories of FDR and the New Deal, but these days I mostly see the Democratic Party in terms of damage control -- as the people who won't actively go out of their way to screw us over but won't do all that much to help the situation either.

I've also concluded that real change is not going to come from the United States, which is far too heavily invested in the old way of doing things and is basically part of the problem (or even a majority of the problem) rather than part of the solution. Under those circumstances, the most important challenge for progressive Americans may simply be how to keep a lid on our own crazies so they won't blow up the planet while the rest of the world is getting on with business.


On edit: I should add that I've never been more than a semi-socialist, because I see the innate tendency of government as being to maintain the status quo. It's appropriate to have government handle the basic infrastructure and maintain equality of access to social resources -- but I can't see government ever being a source of innovation and entrepreneurialism.

That's where I think you need something vaguely like present-day capitalism -- but kept small and nimble and risk-taking and not allowed to profit obscenely off fundamental human needs.

[Festivito]

66. 60's childhood with progressive Republicans, now progressive Dem.

Michigan had Governor Milliken. A wonderfully decent Republican. One of the last of that breed in that party. Not wonderfully progressive, but slowly progressive in realization that some of US are regressives that have to be dragged along with the rest of US. He progressed at a pace that did not overly anger either end of that spectrum.

My major foo-foo, voting for Reagan, lead me to be more aware and involved. It took me a few months to realize my mistake.

[Liberal Gramma]

68. From a political agnostic to a far left progressive

I'm 67. My parents were union Democrats, though neither belonged to a union. My extended family is so liberal that it's axiomatic in our family that if our young people want to shock their elders, they don't get tongue studs and tattoos, they get a short back-and-sides haircut and join the Young Republicans. A few of us are concerned about the national debt, but never to the extent of supporting conservative policies or curtailing the government. Most of us would like to see the Defense budget allocated to other uses, such as health care for all, education, mass transportation, and clean energy development.

[Joanne98]

69. I'm moving farther to the left and hating conservatives more than ever.

[Vinca]

70. Currently 60, have always been a leftie, but now a far leftie.

[gristy]

71. farther left - but not necessarily because I've gotten older

More because I've been hanging around you guys too much. ;)

[spinbaby]

72. I don't think I've moved

I still have the same views I had 40 years ago except back then I was a moderate and now I'm a flaming liberal.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

73. Liberal to Socialist to Anarchist.

"Freedom is the absolute right of all adult men and women to seek permission for their actions only from their own conscience and reason, and to be determined in their actions only by their own will, and consequently to be responsible only to themselves, and then to the society to which they belong, but only insofar as they have made a free decision to belong to it." Mikhail Bakunin

[givemebackmycountry]

74. I always hear that the older you get the more conservative you get...

I DON'T THINK SO.

Each and every day I get madder and madder, and I also get decidedly more and more liberal.
I live in Central Florida and I have to work with a bunch of right wing, Glen Beck loving hand jobs.
Last week, two of them were chatting with me by my desk and they decided to go off the reservation and suddenly have a conversation about how "liberal" college professors were ruining the state of advanced education in the good ol' U.S. of A.

I barked at them to take their little "conservative circle jerk" somewhere else before I puked on someones shoes.

They don't talk to me much anymore.

(edited to add that I am 54)

[IsItJustMe]

75. I was hard right in my teens and early twenty's but shifted decidedly left from then on.

The first President I voted for was Reagan. I was young and dumb at the time and had a kick ass attitude about almost everything.

But life has its lessons. Being refused medical treatment after having an emergency may of had something to do with it.

Or it may have been something to do with going to college and learning how the US government was involved in overthrowing South American leaders under Nixon through violent means.

Or it have had something to do with having relatives loose their jobs because Republicans rallied to cut social service programs.

Or it could have been all of the hate spewed forth by people like Rush and BillO.

Not sure what exactly was the turning point for me, but somewhere down the line, the shades were lifted from my eyes, and the Republican party just began to look to cold hearted for my tastes.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

76. Always been about as liberal as now but now I'm louder and more angry.

I mostly laughed at Reagan, the president of my 20's, and his supporters. It's the last 8 years that got my blood boiling and left me almost always at the ready to smack down conservative bs.

[Arkansas Granny]

77. 63 this year. I've never been a conservative, but the older I get, the more liberal I become.

It hasn't been a radical change, but my attitudes on some issues, such as gay marriage and abortion, have gotten more liberal over the years.

[Individualist]

78. From naive, uninformed republican in my 20's to Kucinich leftist at age 66.

Needless to say I'm no longer naive and uninformed.

[HughMoran]

79. Same/more liberal socially, somewhat more fiscally conservative

Compassion & common sense.

[maglatinavi]

109. Conservative

Compassion? Like the Shrub? Don't make me laugh, my ribs are hurting?
Oxymoron Consercative Compassionate??? :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[HughMoran]

123. What are you talking about?

They were separate sentences - do you have comprehension issues or ...?

[JanMichael]

80. Dashing to the Left as I age. In my 40's now - watch out for my 50's.

The more I see of economic disparities the more I want to flatten the system.

[juno jones]

81. Pretty much always the same.

I was a hairy eyeballed radical in the 80's and nothing's really changed except my waistline.

[azmouse]

82. Always have been a Democrat, always will be a Democrat

Never gave much thought to where I fell on any spectrum of liberality. Don't care. I just am what I am.

[lonestarnot]

83. leftier and leftier.

And nevermind that. :evilgrin:

[dysfunctional press]

84. i just keep drifting farther and farther to the left.

as of today, i am 48.725274725274...

[Odin2005]

85. Center-ward. I was first a Communist, then an Anarchist in high school.

My views have moderated, obviously, in the 5 years since then. :rofl:

I consider myself a Left-Libertarian.

[seabeyond]

86. reasonings has changed but kinda left them the same. i see social behaviors, the harm

they can actually cause and why we may feel the need to restrict.

i have also come more into believing individual protection of rights against all those on both sides cause so many want to restrict.

so leaves me about the same on all issues

in the past when i was younger, i didnt see personal behavior the wholes business. didnt see the repercussions of the behavior.

fiscally has always been a challenge. i am into personal responsibility. i also know not all people can or will do and they should not starve or be homeless.

foriegn affairs i havent shifted a lot. maybe more to, we cant fix all or very few. really the other guys to do.

[scentopine]

87. political relativism - I haven't changed my politics, but

in last 30 years or so both the core of the democratic and republican parties have veered to the hard right thanks to 24/7 brain washing by corporate sponsored media, corporate sponsored government, fox news and most recently, removal of regulations preventing media monopolies, deregulation in general, lobbying cash and the reign of King George the 2nd.

Democrats are on a bus driven by their leadership and they they've just passed a slower moving bus filled with republicans. The Dems look out the tiny porthole of a window at the other bus and proudly proclaims they are moving in the opposite direction from the republicans and reward the driver with big donations of cash.

I see both buses as accelerating (at slightly different rates) towards the same abyss.

[otohara]

89. Bleeding Heart Liberal

always and forever

[woofless]

90. I am 57 and have voted for Democrats

since I began voting, mostly in reaction to Tricky Dick. I always bought the liberal line over the conservative. Nowadays my thinking has moved farther left. I now believe in labor union/socialism, call it what you will. The goal is to get the power from those with all the capital to the people. I don't have much faith in that happening, but am encouraged by what could be growing out of this health care fight. Maybe if enough people are disappointed yet again..............

[Cybergata]

91. 56 & Lifetime Liberal!

I found myself becoming a flaming liberal as soon as Reagan took power, although I was merely a quiet liberal before that.

[eppur_se_muova]

92. Born into a nominally R family, got educated out of it ...

I preferred GHWB over Raygun in the primaries, voted 3rd party because it was obvious Raygun would win in a landslide and I wanted to accomplish *something* with my vote ... still waiting for that strong 3rd party option to show up.

After that, I found Dems were talking more about the things I valued, while Repugs just talked about the American military taking over the world (they used the code phrase "strong national defense", but it didn't work its magic on me).

I think people become more liberal as they become more educated; it's hard to escape that fate, except by fortifying either your ignorance or your heartlessness.

[timeforpeace]

93. Growing increasingly liberal at 84.

[Bonn1997]

94. I became a liberal when I started taking social science classes in college and I learned that many

of the conservative assumptions about human nature are simply untenable (IMO). I think this would a better country if everyone knew more about the social sciences.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

103. i went to nyu and i thought that social science classes should be mandatory

for the business students

teaching a socio major about inequality in wealth, seems redundant. teaching the next ceo this, might actually have some positive gains

[Bonn1997]

113. I'm talking about a much bigger change than that...

You take all the basic sciences at an introductory level (bio, chemistry, physics...) at most public schools before starting college. There should be psychology, sociology, political science, etc. requirements too.

[JohnnyLib2]

95. Like you, leftward, always leftward.

I expect to raise hell in the retirement facility eventually.

[Doremus]

96. Getting more and more liberal. When I think back how I used to be I would have hated me today.

[maglatinavi]

98. Age

Brought up in an extreme racist Republican Catholic family ... I don't know when and how I started my left ward thrift ... I am 79 now and go more and more to the left as time passes, to the point of my becoming intolerant to the rightists actions by the governments, schools, civic groups, etc. I live now in Texas and the assassination of an innocent man by the frigging Governor and his pals makes me froth from the mouth. I have seen prejudice, discrimination in the schools in the county where I live, even in a pseudo civil rights group ... In Pennsylvania years ago celebrated with a group of liberals the day of the Bastlle... with the French hymn and every thing ... those were the days ... Should I say more???
:grr: :grr: :grr: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[shanti]

99. well...

i was always a liberal, but my beliefs have gone even further left. :shrug: i'm 54.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

100. me too, also incredibly sick of the democratic party not standing up for us for

[CrispyQ]

101. Center left as a youngster, far left now.

I'm 52.

[billh58]

102. I've been a

Liberal Democrat for over 40 years, and now in my 68th year I'm just getting my second breath...;-)

[Iggo]

104. 48 and, like you, leftward and accelerating.

The things that have changed over the years are my acceptance of gay rights as civil rights, and my willingness to fight in the streets to secure and protect those rights.

[southernyankeebelle]

106. I will be 62 in the next couple of months. I have always been a liberal and really I feel am

more of a social democrat. I have always felt government should help its citizens. I have never voted for a republican and never would. I have never changed.

[varelse]

108. I'm 45

same thing is happening to me. My parents are even further to the left. It's weird - I'd have expected to become more conservative as I aged.

[MerryBlooms]

110. Definitely left with the years

Myself and my sons are the only 'treehuggingamericahaters' in our family. The rest on both sides are so far right, I've place some of them on 'spam' in my email.

[Ikonoklast]

111. At 54 I find myself just as much a social liberal as I always was.

I always was, and am now, a fiscal conservative, but moreso from the point of view that our government, almost throughout my entire lifetime, has been on a war-time footing, and that needs to stop.

As far as I'm concerned, the spending of the last thirty years was on bullets, and that is unsustainable.

Education.
Health Care.
Housing and Homelessness.
Transportation...

The list of things we are so far behind on in this country is shameful, as long as we allow the war machine and those that profit from it to control the bulk of our country's spending.

[Fire1]

112. I'm still as liberal as I ever was but more reality based. n/t

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

114. I get lefter as I get older.

Or maybe the Democratic party just seems to be moving to the right.

The Republican party has gone off the charts, from fiscally and socially conservative, to fiscally irresponsible war-mongering and socially fundie. Ralph Reed did a lot of harm to the GOP.

I'm still voting Dem, because I think a leftist third party would do more harm than good (by diverting and diluting votes).

:hi:

[lumberjack_jeff]

115. 48, and my general leftward lean is pretty unchanged.

On some topics I've drifted left and others more to the (current political) center.

For instance, 25 years ago I was strongly supportive of gun control. Now, not so much.

I was the only kid in my grade school to publicly and voiciferously support McGovern. I've never been afraid of being the nail which stands up, despite the pounding that this invites.

[mvd]

117. I'm more left than I was when I first started voting; I'm 33 now

I used to be for the death penalty in extreme cases; now I am just opposed to it. I had no idea about things like single payer when I was younger, and now I do. I am even more strongly anti-war after getting educated. The funny thing is, though, I'm more spiritual than my parents are. Can't really call myself religious, though, as I don't follow any rigid theology.

[Martin Eden]

118. I'm 52, and I voted for a Republican once (in a presidential primary)

I liked John Anderson in 1980, and in Illinois you don't have to be registered with a party to vote in their primary. Of course I voted for Carter in the general election.

I haven't grown more liberal as I've aged, but politics have become more important to me. GW Bush provided a spark, as did my introduction to DU nearly 8 years ago. I'm disappointed with the Democratic Party, but I'm disturbed and alarmed at what the other "mainstream" party has become. Today's RWers have lost touch with reality and have become dangerous to the extent that we simply cannot afford to have them regain control of Congress or the presidency.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

119. I've found I've trended more liberal

I think I'm pragmatic about it. I don't automatically follow the party line but think things through.

I'm 52 by the way.

[backscatter712]

120. LEFT!!! I used to be a libertarian.

Since then, I realized the error of my ways, realized that corporate power and oligopolies had at least as much potential for destroying freedom and prosperity as bad government did, and also realized that not all government was bad.

Now I'm pretty leftist.

[Geek_Girl]

121. Ditto

I'm almost 40 now. I do ok for myself and my family, however my friends, family and community are absolutely struggling. I can't believe how bad things have gotten over the past decade and they don't seem to be getting better.

[Brigid]

122. At 51, I get more liberal every day,

But at the same time, I have learned the hard way that patience is a virtue. Case in point: The health care debate. I dream of a single-payer system. I believe that it is the only workable plan. But it will take a while to get there, and there is no use griping about that.

[Bucky]

124. I'm more conservative. I want to conserve lives, social security, labor rights, public schools...

and the Bill of Rights. I think that makes me a conservative.

[Brigid]

125. In the old days, you would have been.

Times have changed, and not exactly for the better.

[Marlana]

126. I've become more liberal.

I'm in my early 30's and I've always been fairly liberal but I'm becoming more so the older I get. People used to tell me that I'd get more conservative the old I got, but the opposite is definitely true.

[recoveringdittohed]

127. 57 year old former Reagan Democrat here

who has returned from the dark side. I've moved leftward especially on role of government and size of government in that when I was a Republican I was an almost libertarian economically. I now see Libertarianism as telling someone who is getting beaten up by multinational corporations "Vote for me and I'm gonna protect you from that referee (the Government) and then the Republicans hold back the referee so the Corporations can beat us up.

I am still a fiscal conservative in that I do think that deficits and debt do matter but I now see the need for government spending such as the stimulus package which was necessary to prevent a Bush depression.

[intheflow]

128. I'm in my mid-40s and constantly have to fight against my beliefs moving right.

I blame the RW bullshit relentlessly spewed by the media for the past 30 years. Regardless, I'm happy to report I still consistently test left of Gandhi on the Political Compass test, so their evil propaganda had NOT worked!

[Blue_In_AK]

129. I'm 63

and I've returned to my radical roots. I was kind of apolitical there for a while when I was raising the kids (and ex-husbands), but now I'm as liberal as ever, maybe even more than in the late '60s.

[eridani]

130. Issues wise, pretty much the same as I was 40 years ago

Politically, I've switched from being an unafilliated leftish type to being heavily involved with Democratic electoral politics. Tactically, it does matter who holds office. I used to think it didn't, that street activism could fix everything.

[skorpo]

131. Anti-war and anti-segregation marches in the sixties.

Then 40 years teaching our youth. Now back to activism -- Marches, letters, petitions, and phone calls.
In other word I'm back where I began.

[roguevalley]

132. I'm *&^%$$##$ and I earned every one of them. I was a radical

dem/lib in my youth and I've become even more hard core as I aged. I have a jones for justice and a lifelong problem with (bad) authority.

[Forkboy]

133. Almost exactly the same as I was 20 years ago.

Unfortunately, it's not that I'm going left, it's that the country has lurched to the right, so I feel further left than ever. I would have been a centrist 20 years ago, now I'm a fringe lefty but I haven't changed at all. Go figure.

[depakid]

134. That's about right for me as well- although it's not so much the country- as the corporate media

driving the national discussion (and the pandering politicians) who've moved right.

The majority of people in the country still report progressive (and often very progressive) attitudes, beliefs and values on issue after issue in credible polls. Yet those rarely match the policies put in place- or the framing of the narratives.

The nature of the American media conglomerates- more than any other factor I've observed, is responsible for the widening gulf between responsible public policy that we find in most developed nations- and the dysfunction we repeatedly see at home.

[Forkboy]

136. Good points, and I agree totally.

[Ferret Annica]

135. 55, and an anarchist

I have little use for our culture in general and have as little to do with it as possible. I live cheaply, and my bicycles and computer are my most expensive possessions.

[forum slut]

154. 38 and I couldn't agree more. I'd love to see the whole system collapse.

[Djinn]

137. headed further left

started off (at a fairly precocious age) as what used to be termed "centre left" (what is NOW termed centre left is quite clearly "free enterprise" centre right) but as I got a little more sophisticated in my thinking became further left and now sit (mostly by my lonesome in my neck of the woods) in the anarcho-socialist oubliette.

[bobbolink]

138. I was radical during Vietnam and have remained so.

I guess that's rather unusual.

[abq e streeter]

140. hard to do a one size fits all classification; in general, more and more left

but also have seen what I consider to be bullshit emanate from the left from time to time ( as opposed to from the right which is constant). I have no patience for BS no matter where it originates, and while I'm not the dogmatic leftist I once was, as I said, in more ways than not, I'm becoming more and more leftwing as I age ( I'm 58) in that I DESPISE republicans more than ever.

[nadinbrzezinski]

141. Ditto

and bush just radicalized me.

[alittlelark]

142. Late 40's moving more left every year

In all honesty I started out in my teens center-left.

[Fuzz]

143. My father was an ordained Assemblies of God minister. What do you think?

;)

Only could go left, and have gone further left as the years go on.

[Still Blue in PDX]

144. More left all the time.

I started out liberal but became very conservative as a young mom. Thankfully, it was just a phase and I am now probably more liberal than ever before.

I'm 55.

[Brickbat]

145. More and more liberal.

[tabbycat31]

147. I'm 29

When I preregistered to vote in high school I was an independent. I didn't want to commit myself to a party, but I always had liberal beliefs. I always had more liberal views (I was raised that way). I just didn't care much about politics. I voted, but I was never active or even paid attention to the news.

In 2000, I voted in my first presidential election. I voted for Gore based on a piece of trivia-- his birthday, which happens to be the same as mine (different years obviously as he was not 20 when he ran). In retrospect, I made the right decision, but I shudder to think that I might have voted for Bush if his birthday were March 31. However I did vote Republican for senate that year-- I did it to vote against Hillary Clinton, who I at the time thought I was using NY to catapult to the White House. (I was angry at both Clintons then-- they moved one town over, and whenever they were in town all the roads were closed, affecting my commute)

In 2002, my dad pushed me to vote in the midterms. His words "when in doubt vote Democrat"

2004 was when a sleeping giant was awaken. I would have never guessed that a friend taking me to a movie (Fahrenheit 9/11) would wake me up politically. For the first time I researched the issues, and donated money to Kerry's campaign. I put a Kerry sticker on the back of my car.

In 2006 I was excited about voting in the midterms and by then I was watching Keith Olbermann regularly. And I happily voted FOR Hillary Clinton that year.

2008 was a little different. Since I moved to NJ in 2007, I changed my registration and was officially a Democrat just in time to vote on Super Tuesday. In June I lost my job, and after that summer, I decided it was time for me to get active politically. It was also a way for me to meet people around here since I'm usually pretty shy. I watched debates at parties instead of in my bedroom. For the first time I was able to work on a campaign at the volunteer level, and I really really liked it. I was able to celebrate the victory and inauguration of President Obama with the groups I campaigned with.

This year I'm even more politically active than ever. In fact I want to do more than volunteer with a campaign, I'd love to run one. I'm also realizing the importance of all the local races (which I never paid attention to before) and how to understand politics at the state level. I've been politically active for all of 2009. In fact today I attended a rally that President Obama held for Governor Corzine. I've personally talked to all our local assembly candidates in this county (Democrats), I've talked to our freeholder candidate, and been in the room when the governor's been speaking (I haven't actually spoken with him). I've put up over 500 signs, and spent all of Halloween street canvassing for Corzine. I'm trying to get people as fired up as I am.

I've been thinking about it. I'd love to be even more involved. The next time there's assembly races (2011), I want to have a say in the 11th district's campaign. One of these days I may run myself, but the problem with local politics is that you have to know people. Easier said than done for a transplant like me. I figure at 29, I have time to see if I am really serious about any political ambitions of my own.

[Zoeisright]

148. Left. Hard left.

I'll never go right. Ever.

[Ozymanithrax]

149. 57. and I have moved left.

I've seen a lot, and it hasn't made me conservative.

[TicketyBoo]

150. Dad was 45 when I was born.

He always said, "They're all a bunch of crooks, but it seems like the little guy has things a little bit better when the Democrats are in power."

That observation was made in the 60s, and I guess that's about right, isn't it?

I started my senior year of high school in 1968, just after the assassinations of MLK and RFK. There were race riots all that summer and Vietnam was raging along with student protests. It was a scary time, and I wasn't much interested in politics. I just wanted to stick my head in a book and escape the world.

I am 58, and I've almost always voted for Democrats. I will admit to voting for Republican Cornhusker Coach Tom Osborne for Congress because, hey, let's face it, Nebraskans would vote to make him king if it were a possibility.

I was outraged at the results of the Presidential elections in 2000 and 2004, and that has moved me to the left. Keith Olbermann has prodded me further left. And the right-wing wackjobs have shoved me even further to the left; I do not suffer fools gladly, and these guys are certainly fools of the grandest order.

I doubt we can expect much in the way of actual progress without real campaign reform. Right now, money talks, and it doesn't much matter which party you're talking about. I was exceedingly optimistic (and proud) when Obama was elected. My first disillusionment came when he selected Geithner as Secretary of the Treasury; too much like the fox guarding the henhouse. I am not nearly as hopeful as I was a year ago, and I'm sad about that. I still love Obama, but I wonder just how much he can accomplish while insisting on "bipartisanship." Not much, I fear.

[liberaltrucker]

151. 55 going on 56

Truth is, I've actually moved right. In my teens through
my 30's, I was an active member of Communist Party, USA. Now, I
consider myself a liberal. Hope that makes sense.



:)

[devilgrrl]

153. Mid-40's - as leftward as always...

I see no reason to change.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

166. Same here...

I grew up in a Republican household, but was pretty sure that they were full of crap after Nixon (I was twelve when he resigned). I turned Democratic for Carter and stayed there ever since.

[Feron]

155. I was a right-wing fundie.

I wasn't raised that way, but became one for a variety of reasons.

I was beginning to shift left when I began to question my beliefs. Then Dim Son arrived on the scene. Right or left, I can't vote for a stupid person. That reason and others are why I cast my first Democratic vote ever.

Since then, I've moved a lot more to the left. Republican and big "L" Libertarian tenets and policies just don't work in the real world. They're stuck on the myth that the country was a better place decades ago.

Personally I believe that countries with a mixed system work best. Socialism works best for some things like health care and police whereas capitalism works best in other areas. You have to have a safety net and regulations unless you desire your country to look like the set of a Dickens novel.

[drmeow]

156. 45

I've always been liberal - starting in HS. I don't think I've gotten more liberal, per se. What's changed has been my level of knowledge and I've developed a more refined ideology. I've become more political. I think I've always had a deep socialist streak - but I didn't recognize it as socialist and as I've really thought about the fundamental core of my belief and how I'd like to see the world run, it seems like I've gone from left to far left but I think the movement is an illusion.

[busybl]

157. always been liberal, a democrat and now pushing 70

my tolerance for bull shit is very low.

[old mark]

158. 62. As far left as ever, but more angry at the RWers and all the time wasted

by the left in petty arguments amongst ourselves. We should be more directed at changing the society, not so worried about minor differences.

I see no real future for "bipartisanship", although it is a mechanism for the GOP's assinine reality to be exposed. I think their non-cooperation has cost them a lot of support, and the New York split of Palin supporters will cost the GOP many more, generate a new RW party of super assholes leave the Republicans abandoned. (The former Republican candidate there is now supporting the Democrat.)

I also see no real future for unlimited capitalism.

I am afraid there is too much to do and not enough real commitment to get it done.

mark

[Daphne08]

159. Leftward.

But I think it has more to do with change in the country than with my age.

I'm 60.

[Waiting For Everyman]

160. 59. VN radical in the 60's and no change.

The only difference is - my viewpoints that were deemed tinfoilery then are acknowledged as true by most people now. The only problem is, it's so accepted as common knowledge now, that it's taken for granted and not even news - just "how it is".

And decades ago (before Newt Gingrich et. al.) RWers used to at least have to feign some degree of truth-telling and integrity. Now, no effort at that is necessary.

I'm in the same political place though. What I knew was true then is still true, only much more so than before. (The direction of things hasn't been good.)

[TheKentuckian]

161. More liberal with the passing of the days

and it seems more so than it is due to the rightward shift of the entire spectrum but I'd easily say I'm more liberal than I was 20 years ago, even adjusting for Reaganism.

I've always been pretty much a social libertarian but I used to be more "centrist" economically. Never truly conservative there but I used to be much more of a believer in markets and had a slight bout of corporatism but it didn't really take.

[Warren DeMontague]

162. I'm in basically the same place I've been since age 14 or so.

I'm probably more passionate about issues like universal health coverage, because I understand the need better (and the situation has grown far worse).

On the basics, though, I'm pretty much exactly where I've always been.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

163. I have become somewhat libertarian

as I recognize vast portions of the population are too stupid to be helped no matter what the effort or cost put into the effort.

[sellitman]

165. 52 here....and more Liberal everyday.

Actually...I consider myself a Socialist more than a Liberal.

[slackmaster]

167. Away from authortarianism and government control, to the center on the left/right scale

I was immersed in far-left dialogue in my teens and undergraduate education. Pardon the cliche, but I started moving toward the center when I saw all the deductions from my first real paycheck from my first real job.

The left and the right both have some good ideas, but taken to their logical extremes both look like control-oriented ideologies to me.

I'm 51.

[Soylent Brice]

168. i grew up in a house of republicans.

i think it's safe to say i was liberal from birth. and my parents provided consistent reasons as to why i should be.

these days i feel like a spaceman for being "far left".

[supernova]

169. In my teens and 20s, I considered myself moderate to liberal

Moderate when it came to budgetary issues, and liberal on social issues.

I gradually came over the years, to learn that in practicality, that thinking produces nice slogans, but provides no financial resources for real governance.

Dumb.

I also came to realize over the years, what exactly the right consisted of and what exactly the Dems were compromising with. As I got older, I became more horrified and became a confirmed leftist in all things in my 40s.

:-)

I've joked that if I keep going, I will probably be a socialist before I die! :rofl:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

170. I'm the same. The spectrum has shifted massively rightward, though.

[raccoon]

171. I was very liberal in college, then in my 30's went through a period, I confess,

where I actually voted Republican. But fortunately I've seen the light.

Disability and events on the macro level turned me into a progressive. I'm close to 60 now. :-)