Personally, i feel like when i first came to AD, i was pretty moderate with a slight conservative slant. But, as time went on it appeared that i was becoming more and more conservative. I wonder why...

So how has debate on AD affected your political ideology?

I was forever changed when I got my first paycheck and saw the taxes taken out.

Definitely becoming more militant in my desire for enacting a scorched earth policy in regards to the 2 parties.
I have become a firm and somewhat fanatical believer in doing anything to cause Gridlock in the system and prevent either party from doing any more damage.
I like OverlandSailors title--Radical Moderate


Help make America Safe again............extend Congresses vacation time!

I have not changed very much, except I swung liberal for a week...NO just kidding I am not John Kerry.

No change for me. Debate here, or anywhere else, hasn't changed me though it has added to my understanding of other people's points of view, which is a good thing.. However, understanding them is not the same as being convinced by them.

9/11 and its aftereffects have changed me more. I had been tending toward isolationism in foreign policy, and that shifted me back to hawkishness. It also made me more concerned with the survival of Western Civilization than with attaining my political ideals, so the overall effect is I'm less libertarian and more conservative. I would still describe myself as a libertarian rather than a conservative, but I'm surely near the point where the two meet.

I seem to be heading harder and harder left, but strictly on social/cultural issues. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I sense a strong support for that sort of stance on those issues here. Much more so than in the "rea world" (which would certainly not support, for example, legalization of marijuana or prostitution as the majority seemed to do here.)

I've become more and more moderate.

I originally came to Americasdebate with only two ideas in my head; that I was for the environment and that I hated Ann Coulter because she was mean. That, at the time, made me assume I was a liberal democrat.

As the year has progressed, I'm still pro-environment. Instead of hating ann coulter, though, I pity her. This is mainly because I laugh at quite a number of the assertions shes made, and I assume thats at an expense to her reputation.

However, I've learned so much since I've been here that I can confidently say that my political self is a product of this website. I've realized how unviable the economic platform of liberalism is. I have, surprisingly, changed to a more pro gun stance than I started with. I can see where a lot of people are trying to go with their arguments, and I try to weigh them out and understand which is the best policy. Its truly shaped my opinions in a variety of ways.

My change from liberal to independent has probably been the best lesson. I hate the feeling of having to argue for something I don't believe in or have not thought through. My independence preserves my right for a little leigh way.

Some might say I lean towards the democratic side. I, unfortunately, feel that I personally must lean this way for various reasons. The biggest are more about way the parties have played the political game.

Even if social programs are naive and will never work, the democrat who sponsors them is always trying to help someone. They try to help people in several useless ways, but that still means they are attempting to help. Most liberals I talk to don't want to tax the rich because they hate the rich, they want to do so to feed the poor. The want tolerance; they want to protect people by outlawing guns. To me, this general democratic gesture makes it easier for me to play less of an adversarial role.

Throughout my stay at americasdebate, I've lost whatever respect I've had for the republican party. Whether Kerry is a waffler or not, they just went for the jugular like I've never seen before. The "that crossed the line" moment was the "coalition of the wild eyed" ad. It was an orgy of guilt by association mischaracterizations like I've never seen before, ever (Michael Moore does not work for John Kerry). Playing the "flipper" song while calling John Kerry a waffler might seem funny, but its not incredibly tasteful. And, of course, were John Kerry tried to have the "all positive" convention, the attacks from the republican side ramped up. It just seems tasteless to me.

So, thats pretty much were I stand. I guess I'm only 18, and it will change some, but I think I'm going to be holding a long grudge against GOP and Karl rove, the imp of dirty tricks.

I have found my self gravitating to the Conservative-Libertarian end of the spectrum.

Also, I am finding out more and more that both the Democrats and the Republicans irritate me.

AD has not changed my political stance.

It has helped me to focus my views and closely examine WHY I feel the way I do.

I like to think that every position I take has a reason behind it. AD has given me the opportunity to explore those reasons in a more detailed way.

Like most of you, AD hasn't changed me much except it has expanded my ability to consider the opposition. I am about as liberal as it gets, and I came onto AD wanting to save the world from all the injustice and bigotry out there. I still want to save the world from injustice and bigotry, I just realized that I can't do it here...

I originally believed that my views were so correct that there couldn't be any way that those on the other side of the spectrum could debate them. I was wrong. I still think my views are correct, but people like Ms. Pigpen and occasionally amlord are able to stuff my arguments when I don't think through them much (which was pretty often when I first got on here).

Like BecomingHuman, I came into America's Debate thinking I was a liberal Democrat. After about two months of reading posts and thinking about my own beliefs I have come more to the middle. Really I feel like neither party represents me, I like ideas from both sides.

But in the past few months I have found myself distancing myself further and further from the Conservative platform due to sheer disgust. The way they have conducted themselves is appalling to me.

Overall I'd say AD has opened my eyes more to what's going on than changed my ideology.

I don't have a "political ideology". And I reject this as a reasonable label. Ideology to me is akin to fanaticism. It just doesn't interest me and disturbs me when I see it. It is ideology that has polarized politics, the electorate and the media. It is ideology which justifies profoundly nasty ad hominem attacks on people running for office. It is ideology that trumps rational debate on subjects that reasonable people can disagree on. Ideology underpins the sound bite, the talking point, the spinmeister. It brings the worst out in people and for what purpose. Ideology serves only to divide; it is fundamentally anti-democratic; it is antithetical to social discourse.

So, I suppose my ideology is being anti-ideology which I can live with. I believe that no one has access to all the answers, that philosophies which one believes today can change tomorrow based on introspection, reasoned debate and better data. I believe we are mutable creatures with standards. Sticking with a position despite contradictory evidence is at least as bad if not worse than always changing positions. The world is neither black and white nor a uniform gray.

If someone has a good idea, it doesn't matter to me what party s/he belongs to. I'll adopt it. So, has America's Debate changed my ideology? I suppose not.

I knew one Republican growing up. We graduated from the same High School and when he ran for President, I voted for him.

I spent over thirty years working in a Union atmosphere, and I knew only one Republican Union member.

I probably worked for a few Republicans along the way, and I may have known a few at the Unitarian church I attended.

This is the first place in my life though, where I have had any type of consistent exposure to Republican thought processes. I have come to realize that there are real people out there who want George W. Bush elected to four more years. (I thought it was an applause machine and soundtrack playing when he spoke.) I have learned that these people will neither listen to George W. Bush, (Would you hire this man to manage your business or investments?) nor listen to reasonable arguments for removing "W" from office....

When I joined the Democratic Party, I listed George W. Bush as the person who referred me, I have volunteered at the local office, contributed to the party, put up a yard sign...

I really want to thank those conservative members of the forum who have convinced me that it is necessary to take action. If all I had to go on were the newspaper columnists that I read, the news stories of what a mess we have in Iraq, and listening to a President who has a hard time reading his teleprompter; I could not have imagined that the Republican Party would embarass themselves by nominating George W. Bush for a second term.

I have had a chance here to realize that I am:
a man who was raised by a Union worker.
a man who spent over thirty years working in Union shops.
a man who has only voted for one Republican in his life.
liberal, and proud of it.

My father,and grandfather were Republicans all their lives, and I was until Reagans second term.

I never questioned why my ancestors and I voted Republican, until one day a older friend about to retire ask me why I voted Republican. I replied that was my hertiage from my parents and grandparents. He replied, what kind of a stupid reason is that.

So I started educating myself on the different candidates and started leaning to the moderate side.

After joining AD, I have learned that maybe I am not as moderate as I thought.

I don't really think that either of the major parties has my or your welfare in mind. I have been so disappointed by their actions so many times.

I guess the major impact AD has had on my political edeology is that it has alarmed me that so many individuals have blindly followed a certain president regardless of his reckless actions.

AD hasn't so much changed my idealology as it has re-affirmed it. After growing up as a liberal punk rock type hoodlum, I joined the Army and slowly slid to the extreme right as I became more politically aware.
Now being older, and I hope to god, at least a little wiser....I have come back toward the middle, at least part way.
I still consider myself a conservative, and unabashedly so....though I identify with the Libertarian Party...but I have come to find that the Republicans are almost as hypocritical (as a party) as are the Democrats.

Posting at AD since soon after it's inception has exposed me to a wide array of political beliefs....and I thank everyone for that...even though I may disagree with much of what I read, I'm the smarter for it.
All of our esteemed posters have led me to re-evaluate my beliefs, with the infusion of facts and coercive arguments, but ultimately I remain back where I started from before joining AD. But I now know better why I believe the way I do.

Since joining AD I've gained perspective on the reasoning behind conservative vs. liberal thinking. Participation here has prompted me to join the Democratic Party and become a volunteer to help elect John Kerry.

I'm pretty liberal, but I still have a lot of conservative beliefs when it comes to the abortion debate and traditional morality. But I cannot back those politicians who are avowedly pro-life and yet promote the development of more nuclear bombs when we already have a more than adequate arsenal. Nor can I support allegedly pro-life candidates who are pro-death penalty. "Pro-life" constitutes honoring life from conception to natural (not assisted) death.

On the other hand, government that does not strive to assist its citizens by way of seeing that jobs stay here in the U.S.A., or government that is unconcerned about having health insurance available to all citizens or an adequately funded public education program that helps, not penalizes our public school system is not the type of government I want. Our government is supposed to be for all the people, not a privileged few.

For those reasons, I consider myself "slightly liberal." Government is here to serve the people, not to meddle in their personal lives, but to make it possible for all citizens to live healthy, productive lives, thereby finding some measure of contentment in their existence.

Since I came to AD, my 'world view' has become severely affected in that suddenly my opinions have taken on a rather unhealthy 'Americentric' perspective.

Originally I began debating on the internet as a means by which to educate myself, but during the course of the last year I've found that my efforts are being hampered by the singular lack of debating possibilities.

Very few debate sites are run to the same standards as this one, and even fewer are non American.
I'm finding it very difficult to get any perspectives which are not British, American or Danish.

What really I want is to speak and debate issues with other Europeans, Asians, Africans and Arabians as well as Americans, but so far my search for good fora have failed.

In the mean time, as a result of posting and debating so much at AD I find I have begun to lose patience with the same conservative elements of America that Curmudgeon outlines in his post. I simply don't understand how any one can be so willing to ignore responsibility as conservatives do.

Conservatives always seem to be blaming other people and never accepting responsibility for anything they've had a hand in which might reflect badly on them... that and their unwillingness to share (taxes, power) have pushed me further to the left than I ever would have thought possible.

This isn't the first board I posted on so I will reference to when I began posting on political boards. When I joined, I thought I was a Liberal.... until I realized what encompassed the label politically.

I thought a Liberal meant less government. How can someone that is Liberal want more government (I thought at the time)? It doesn't make sense to me.... Sort of like the Marxist Communism vs. the Soviet Union, they are different in many ways yet summed up as just Communism. Also I didn't understand why a Liberal would oppose the war against Saddam Hussein (which I have come to realize why but will refrain from posting my thoughts on that).

So a Liberal label didn't fit me nor did a Conservative label. Im pro-choice, believe in seperation of church and state, less government, hawk on foriegn affairs, believe an individual should take care of themselves and not rely on others (short of disabilities), pro-death penalty, support open borders (though I take flak from both sides on that issue all of the sudden), believe in less government oversight, and to top it off im an Athiest.

Of course neither of the major parties pushes all of these, but foreign affairs took center stage for me this election (big surprise ).

These lyrics best describe what happened with my experience on political boards.



If I was 17 and was able to look into the future at myself now I would think it was a completely different person and most likely would despise that person. It goes the same way for me today looking back into my past.

In short political boards have made me slightly more conservative only because I have come to dislike what other "Liberal" positions are. Given they are my allies some of the time still.

So how has debate on AD affected your political ideology?



It really hasn't changed my ideology at all, but I have become more strident and active in my involvement and advocacy for certain things. Most often, given the demograhpics of this forum, my postions have been minority positions and that's a good thing. It's called a "target rich enviornment".

This past election year I was far more actively involved than I ever have been in national politics. I spent a great deal of time working for the re-election of President Bush as well as supporting in a number of ways Swifties/POWs for Truth by working behind the scenes to get their story out to the American people. I saw the two efforts as being separate efforts, but each to be a worthy accomplishment. I think that activism was partially driven by my experiences here and some of the things I read from "the other side". I've been on message boards like this one for over 20 years dating back to the Reagan years. Quite frankly, in all that time I have never seen the level of vitriol and abject hatred expressed by some (not all nor most) against President Bush and conservatives in general. That served to steel my resolve to do what I could to make sure that such a mindset wouldn't gain power in this country.

Lets try and remember guys, hate isn't a characteristic of one political ideology or the other.

My political ideology has changed, at least a bit. I am definitely more conservative now than when I joined AD, but only in areas relating to individual rights; and by conservative I mean I believe in the restriction of government authority.

Oh, and I have definitely developed a much stronger position on stupidity... although that too has nothing to do with political ideology.

Is it? I think it is. For example the political idealogy of Hamas or other terrorist organizations. Hate can be ingrained into political idealogy, just as Hitler hated certian groups. Some of the current political idealogies today seem to encompass hate for a certian group.

You are right though as far as Liberal and Conservative idealogy adopted in the US.

It's easy to stereotype a group.... which is wrong of course.

I forgot to add I support gay marriage.

Not a whole lot actually. I was pretty much the same as when i started, it more or less really just enforced what i was thinking in the first place. Examples would be the whole relativity thing in perception, ignorance and all that jazz really. I more or less have grown more distain and such for the GOP and conservitives word wide, and grown the same feelings for major political bodies in general.

My views have stayed pretty close to the same -- but it's how I address views with someone with the opposite opinion that has changed. I'm learning to reflect a bit before jumping in with something hurtful or offensive.

I also find it valuable to see all the weaknesses of the opposing viewpoint -- and the occasional weakness in a similar viewpoint.

As I'm planning on running for office once my children are grown, AD is good training for the political world some day.