How many of you have changed your basic philosophies from Liberal to Conservative or viceversa?

I went to a college where liberal professors taught me all their liberal ideas. I came out of there a flaming liberal. Then I hit the real world where I had to pay taxes, see what the tax money was really spent on, and became educated in the ways of the real world. I also saw people like Jimmy Carter and his weakness on foreign policy, economics and how to handle kidnapped Americans. I saw people like Ted Kennedy get away with leaving a woman to drown and nothing happened to him. I saw people like Ronald Reagan give a clear path to fixing America and saw it worked. That's when I knew I should be a conservative.

This question does raise an important issue; that is the need for traditional conservatives to develop a second personality based in intolerance in order to remain affiliated with the conservative party, while further maintaining their individual rights.

I am a liberal; yet where I find representation in re to my own individual rights since I am not a communist dependent on government or community involvement, I must continually choose between each possible representative that actually understands what American law means. It's a tax of sorts simply to survive.

This is why the Constitution was written as it was.

What would be better for our country and our well being is to make that decision a personal one only as in you live your life and I'll live mine and nobody tries to enslave others to their ideas by manipulating government control .What we should do to government now is to say go home you idiots you have spent all the money take a vacation we don't need you finding new projects to give money to because there is none. Every day I hear of new projects to spend money on they just don't get it or don't care. Congress we the people don't need you . You are the problem. It seems the democrats are bent on completing all of there goals while they have the chance even if it destroys our country. We the people have outgrown this type leadership it is time for us to fire these people and undo all the damage they have done and take away the ability for any future politicians to have this much power ever Again . We the people not some lame *** labeled party.

Age 11 to 15 --- very liberal, protested the Vietnam war, hung out with little hippie kids, started a student environmental group

age 16-19 --- became a born-again Christian and was very conservative because the leader of the church told us what to think

age 20-35 --- went back to liberal, but got very radical while living in Amherst, MA, during my mid-20s. I was almost Marxist and had extreme left views on nearly every issue.

age 36-40 --- while working on my PhD in Marketing, my views moderated a lot because I was around so many brilliant people who had many different points of view. Eventually I started to think entirely independent of any political philosophy or party. I became fairly moderate, slightly liberal.

Since age 40 --- I've become more liberal again as a result of observing world events, listening to political arguments, and doing a lot of thinking.

I changed from conservative to liberal. Although I was socially liberal, I was a fiscal conservative and didn't believe in regulation. I changed after I practiced law. I see people's budgets, and have learned that regulations are there for a reason, mostly for consumer protection. My parents were both republicans when I was growing up. My father died when I was 19 and my mother is now a liberal democrat.

I had been Democrat, however, watching the train wreck that's become of the Democan party, I've since switched to Libertarian. I still am liberal on some social issues, however, I've since become very conservative on the financial.

libertarian is the party closest to my way of thinking, personal liberties, and with a much smaller government.

I considered myself conservative until 2002 when the conservative party veered hard right and ran off a cliff. Since then I've realized I'm socially liberal and financially conservative - in other words an independent. I've considered going back to the GOP, but they have no place for me. To them I'm a RINO.

The presidency of George HW Bush changed me from conservative to liberal. I used to vote Republican and conservative until I saw how Bush the first pandered to the religious right and it really bothered me. I started rethinking my view point and realized that a political party that was so weak willed that it let a tiny minority of close minded people rule it was not the party I wanted to be affiliated with

I was liberal until about halfway through college then I became serious about studying economics and politics and realized I was more of a conservative libertarian.

1 did after I voted for Carter. What a foolish mistake