Poll: Were you ever a "liberal"?

Whatever you call it, liberal, progressive, lefty, statist, pinko, commie, socialist, etc., were you one of those before arriving at your respect for Liberty today?

I was an unabashed socialist. The only reason I would not apply the label "communist" to my beliefs is that I did not want revolution to bring about socialism. I wanted democracy to cause it--much as it has in the last century or so. I am ashamed of having had so little respect for the Liberty of others.

Anyway, this poll was prompted by the assertion that lefties are unswayable. I think that is generally incorrect and am wagering that OCDO is living proof of that.

Yes

I was a liberal until 1982 at the age of 39. Went to college late (1973 to 1981) at night @ Rutgers, a very liberal college. The professors were so wacky that I actually became a conservative. As I see it, lefties are swayable, but for every one who "sees the light," 10 new minds full of mush become liberal.

Did you vote? The only yes vote I see is mine.

I'm a hardcore conservative and I support the Tea Party. I love liberty, believe in a small government and hope that they will get their hand out of my pocket.

Ahh heck Eye, you caught me. I'm unabashedly, unashamedly, unrepentantly liberal.


When it comes to putting chocolate syrup on my ice cream . . . .


For the record, I feel that the rampant labeling in our current culture plays a large part in the social, economic, and political strife that's occurring. I see it as an attempt by individuals to simplify the mental process of separating other people into "us" or "them" categories. Once an individual has labelled a person as "other" or "not other" that person can be treated appropriately.

In my experience people are not that simple, and I fully understand the desire to makes things simpler. We live in a complex world that is literally incomprehensible in it's entirety. The only way past the strife is by accepting that there are no "others," even among those that feel, think, believe, and behave differently. Once I really thought about it I realized that in fact everyone feels, thinks, believes, and behaves differently than I do, making for a very small "us" (namely just me) and a very large "them."

Which is why I left the labeling up to you. Were you what some would call a liberal, someone who would have rah-rahed Piers Morgan?

Bahabandit said:

I'm a hardcore conservative and I support the Tea Party. I love liberty, believe in a small government and hope that they will get their hand out of my pocket.

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But were you always that way, or did you mature into that belief?

I believe that almost everyone grows up feeling that central control makes a better system. Life teaches us that Liberty is the best way to achieve positive outcomes.

[8-15]:Extreme but incoherent liberal:[15-18]:Libertarian:[18-21]:Anarcho-capitalist:[21-22]:apolitical:[22<]:Libertarian-sympathizing pragmatic utilitarian

I grew up in a very liberal house and was subjected to some unpleasant business growing up, which compromised my ability to think clearly and also equipped me with a strong antagonism towards conservatives, who were responsible for most of the really direct unpleasantness. I ran into a Libertarian online as part of a community centered on a hobby I had adopted, who happened to also be a genius (chess prodigy at 8 years old, entered Stanford at 14), and he basically used a combination of the Socratic method and a rhetorical hammer to selectively draw out all the biases and bad habits I had and then beat them out of me. He taught me the basics of logic, of philosophical skepticism, of empiricism, of honest debate, of economics, of ethical thought, and countless other things , piece by piece and with tireless patience. He saved me from insanity really, and so when I changed my name I adopted his surname with his blessing.

Of course, I fell victim to a less overt sort of insanity after this that I'm still trying to recover from, but that wasn't his fault. When people think you're fake and the only way you can convince them you're not is to make a greater and greater forgery of yourself, to the point that you end up engaging in a decade of method acting as a completely different person and trying to improve yourself solely by purging parts of yourself rather than growing authentically, that gets really ugly. It's a vicious cycle because when people notice you're fake you just double down, ad infinitum. That's a different story though.

I don't think most liberals come from the same place as I did and in fact it's very hard to see how that would be possible, but one of the reasons I'm not dead or in prison or an asylum today has to do with a man who took the time to talk to me even when I was beyond impossible to talk to.

Voted "nope."

eye95 said:

Which is why I left the labeling up to you. Were you what some would call a liberal, someone who would have rah-rahed Piers Morgan?

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I'm sure there are many that would call me a liberal today, and others that would call me conservative. My point is that calling me left/right/up/down/lib/con or whatever has no bearing on reality. Even thinking of myself in any of these terms changes nothing.

And I'm not a rah-rah type . . .

Never mind.

I was liberal-ish until my mid-20s when I started paying taxes, saw how much of government was a cesspool of incompetent waste and became libertarian philosophically.

General motto: mind your own damn business, honor contracts and cause no harm to others.

I can recall being 1 of 2 people that are more right-wing in my government class. We just happened to be some of the better students and when we'd have political debates, we would always win.

I was not. I more or less subscribed to republicanism. I aspired to be a marine sniper or a swat team officer. I was taught critical thinking with a liberty theme, or liberty with a critical thinking theme, in school, and slowly moved from pretty staunch authoritarianism through constitutionalism to libertarianism and finally anarchism. I don't believe my teacher was a libertarian at the time, or that steering me in that direction was a goal, I think that it just so happens that critical thinking and liberty typically end up at the same party.

Should I vote no? I wasn't very liberty minded.. Or at least, didn't know the correct means to achieve it

I was having a "debate" with a liberal professor (but then I repeat myself) at a university where i use to work and I said "To quote Winston Churchill 'Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains'. I'll go first; I have no heart and never have. Now your turn”. He got pissed and walked off :banana: :lol:

I was the only one in my 5th grade class to support Goldwater; hell on some topics I consider Rush to be a liberal!

I was "fairly" liberal until I was 17 yrs old and I read a book by Rush Limbaugh.

Then I was a moderate republican from 18-24.

From 24-30 I was a "conservative".

From 30 - present I am Libertarian.

onus said:

I was "fairly" liberal until I was 17 yrs old and I read a book by Rush Limbaugh.

Then I was a moderate republican from 18-24.

From 24-30 I was a "conservative".

From 30 - present I am Libertarian.

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I've been a Libertarian for years now ... not happy with ALL their positions ... I was in the GOP before then so, yes I guess I was liberal for a time.

But I think that there must be a better type of gov't. I like an idea of a changing the voting process whereby voters, a certain % of the population, vote for the highest offices.

The certain % of the population able to vote would exclude (ie people who cannot vote) : gov't workers, anyone doing business with the gov't, and other excluding factors. Maybe 200-500 people .. who would be selected from a eligible pool of people ... and where no one could talk to them for 30 days .. and they would meet for 30 days with all candidates and ask questions for as long and often as they like...and the candidates would be hooked up to some lie detector. The people's votes would be made public and the proceedings public.

I'm a Liberal, Progressive, thank God. What's the alternative?--a Regressive...no thanks.

It's sad to see this page go down in this sort of flames; this thread is indicative of a deeper issue with the Firearms/Pro-Second Amendment Community. The Community has painted themselves into a corner where even it's few occupants are accused of not being Fringe enough...it's unfortunate. Who will put the breaks on this isolation? The harder you press to the Right, the further you move most Americans away from the Community.

Naturally, these days, these polls have two loaded options.


Eye, it must stick in your craw watching your so-called Liberty Loving ilk slowly sink into the depths of insanity. Me, I'm eating popcorn, and enjoying the flick!

eye95 said:

Did you vote? The only yes vote I see is mine.

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I don't see one that would apply to me...

I believe myself to be a liberal (in the true sense of the word) and conservative. If I were alive in 1776 I would be a liberal, as were many of the great men that founded this country. Today we call people liberals that really aren't liberal at all. I am conservative when it comes to government, but liberal when it comes to everything else. The government is much too large and they have no business doing a fraction of what they do today. My motto is government for the most part is bad and people should be left alone by others and the government. I have a strong distrust of Federal government and really do not see any need for such other than defense of the states; however, I believe this should be left to the states to come together and establish a multi-state militia to do the defending. I believe all government should be at the state level, where it should be and as was intended by the Founders for the most part. Here it can be kept in check and kept within its means and intent.