Are you more or less liberal than you were when you were younger?

[mvd]

If you are in your early 20s, you should compare yourself 5 years ago at most. High 20s and up can usually compare themselves with how they were 10 years ago or more.

Comparing myself to when I was 20, I am now at 31:

- more traditionally liberal on the death penalty
- more traditionally liberal on taxes/spending
- more traditionally liberal on health care

- less traditionally liberal on guns (though I still support regulations and don't use one)

- about the same on choice, equal rights, war/peace, civil liberties, immigration, and most else.

So overall, I'd say I'm more liberal. But not a lot.

[liberal N proud]

1. If anyone says less liberal, I want an explanation

I was once told there are no old liberals to which I quickly pointed to many 70 & 80 year olds who are more liberal than myself.
Age should have nothing to do with how liberal you are. Life experiences maybe but age shouldn't be a factor.

[Fresh_Start]

2. I said less liberal

Based only on once upon a time, I thought the death penalty was always inappropriate.
Right now, I'd be happy to see Bush/Cheney and crew sentenced to death.

[mvd]

7. LOL

I don't think I could ever give that sentence, but they would deserve it just as much as many murderers IMO.

[mvd]

3. I agree - age shouldn't have a lot to do with it

My grandfather, for a time, was more liberal than me. He liked Kucinich, just as I do.

[Bicoastal]

4. Too young to tell...

I was not a very political 15 year old...

[JanMichael]

5. Far far far more to the Left.

My 39 year old self is much more economically to the Left of my college self. Although my college self was pretty liberal when it came to abortion and anti-racism.

[old guy]

6. About the same.

Of course my chart has always had me a little left of Ghandi.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. I was a Marxist in my 20's. Now an Anarchist in my '60s.

I no longer delude myself into thinking I can change the world. Just do my bit to help.

http://kiva.org/

And, try and make the bigshots and "leaders" uncomfortable.

[T Wolf]

9. As I get older and more fed up with Amerika, I move further to the left.

Peace and Love have been killed by the ugliness that has come from the right wing and I am now much more willing to support fighting fire with fire.

The utopian blindness of youth has been educated to the facts of the real world. This is a war and unless we fight with every weapon, we will lose what little "freedom' there was.

[harun]

15. Good post I think many would be in the same boat (n/t)

[RaleighNCDUer]

10. Other.

Less liberal. More radical.

[mvd]

16. Understood

Dean, for example, is just fairly liberal but very passionate.

[IndianaJones]

11. less. And I wasn't very much so before. nt.

[unpossibles]

12. a little more now, but more focused now also

I have changed my mind on specific issues - I used to be pro-death penalty in limited cases, now not at all - but otherwise about the same. I'd like to think I have a bit more focus and knowledge now, as well as hard-earned experience (such as learning in 2001 that the difference between two "evils" can be very great indeed. While I liked Gore more than Bush, I was naive about it, and about just how bad for America Bush could be.

On a similar note I've also learned to be more skeptical about information in general, but to not discount things completely unless spoken by Rush Limbaugh and his ilk. Speaking of which, the media has also taught me that sometimes being non-confrontational and "live and let live" can lead to major problems down the road. I am still all for "live and let live" but if I hear someone spouting a lie or a baseless attack, I am far more likely to speak out now than I was. In other words, Rush and other Neo Nazis have every right to speak, but the same right allows me to denounce and correct him and to try to convince people I know who listen to him to question what he says - to look things up and not be lazy about it.

Keep in mind, that I was kind of a hell-raiser and firebrand liberal back then too. I sometimes joke about who would want to kick who's ass if I met my 20 year old self....

[momophile]

13. I'm getting smarter with age. my parents, on the other hand...

have become more conservative with age. my dad even used that line on me, "you'll become conservative when you have something to conserve," to which I replied, "I have my dignity."

[Bluzmann57]

14. I am a working class guy who is now 50

and I voted "about the same", but with some qualifications. I am now much more fiscally conservative due to the fact that it's my money.
I do not believe in the death penalty, but have zero tolerance for some of these baby rapers and other vermin who roam the earth now. Lock them up and away from society forever.
I have owned and shot guns most of my life and will not stop now. This is not due to the fact that I am some sort of crazed gun nut, just sort of a regional thing. People around here are outdoor types who like hunting and fishing.
Civil Liberties are not a privilege, but a right. Read the constitution. Immigration is the backbone of this country and has made it a great land. War should be a last resort. Only if the country is directly attacked, and then attack the correct enemy, not a sovereign nation which did not attack us.
I have always supported Organized Labor as the Unions have made a difference in the quality of life in this country.
And as far as health care, I'm all for single payer health care. I have become more liberal on this subject and it has to do with my fiscal contervativeness in part. It would be nice to have more of the paycheck in my pocket. And as has been stated on many many occasions, health care should be a right, not a privilege. I firmly believe that.

[Buzz Clik]

17. I used to be a conservative with liberal tendencies.

Now, I lean strongly to the left with a few conservative leftovers. (My past also explains why I get a bit testy over blanket condemnations of conservatives)

[emilyg]

18. More liberal and a hell lot more tired.

[ecstatic]

19. The same, but less optimistic-more cynical, jaded, numb nt

[Mojorabbit]

20. I am more liberal

at 52 except in one area. When I was in my teens I was a extreme pacifist. I even said that I would rather be killed than hurt someone else. I am much more assertive now and a big proponent of the second amendment. Life experience has shaped me in a lot of ways. I am also more fiscally conservative than I once was as I see that a bankruptt nation cannot do much for it's people.

[noonwitch]

21. I'm more liberal on some issues and less on others

Mainly on gun rights-I used to think handguns should be banned, but I have changed my mind after living in Detroit for 12 years. I still don't own one myself, but I can see why people have them.

I still support Roe v Wade as the law of the land, but I am more tolerant of the other side's opinion than I used to be, and support their efforts to some degree to offer women alternatives-as long as they are honest about their intent.

My opinion of the death penalty hasn't changed, but I do understand why people support it. I never will, even if I don't mourn for people like Ted Bundy when they are executed.

But really, my actual views when it comes to what the law should say haven't changed much as I got older.

[NorthernSpy]

22. thing is, I'm left -- not liberal...

I vote Democratic, and take part in discussions with people who are probably best described as liberals (many of them). But I don't think I've ever been a "liberal", exactly.

I'm NOT downing that label at all. I'm just saying that I don't think it really applies to me, or ever has.


I'm LEFT.



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