How and why have you evolved politically?

[windjammer]

This could be interesting!

[Oakvale]

I stopped being invested in politics as a result of my investment in politics.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

I've come to realize that my original political targets and the things I was opposed to are only slightly more etheral than Don Quixote's windmills.

[SWE]

When I was 8 I was an extreme neocon who wanted McCain to win and then he didn't and I was sad and then I stopped caring and then four years later I supported obama solely on the issue of gay marriage and then stopped being stupid and actually looked at all the issues and that's where my political views came from the end.

[angus]

My parents were Democrat, and somewhat frothy about it--I thought Reagan was a dirty word till I was at least 20 years old.  In fact, most of my extended family are rabid anti-GOP democrats, so I was brainwashed from the start.  Probably not unlike most folks, really.  As a university student and as a grad student I was a fairly committed leftist.  I was even a card-carrying, dues-paying member of the Revolutionary Workers Party for one year.  I often voted for leftist candidates, although in the 90s I supported Clinton both times.  Eventually I got a real job.  First real job I had I was living in California, single, and making good money.  As you might imagine, my net pay was less than two-thirds of my gross.  That first paycheck pretty much did it for me.  After receiving it, I promptly registered as a Republican.  Gave money to the Bush/Cheney campaign even.  I stayed a Republican for a few years but eventually I became as put off with them as I had been with the Democrats.  Also, I eventually got married and had a child and started to think about things like the quality of public schools.  About five years ago I became unaffiliated.  

Overall, I've probably always been centrist/unaffiliated.  Sort of Clintonian without the baggage.  It just took me a while to get through the dampened oscillatory political demagoguery that was the likely result of the initial familial brainwashing.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Neocon SoCon>Libertarian with Hawkish Foreign Policy>Libertarian>Randroid>Moderate Libertarian with slight Randist influence.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Neocon SoCon>Libertarian with Hawkish Foreign Policy>Libertarian>Randroid>Moderate Libertarian with slight Randist influence.

Don't forget White Nationalism!

[JerryArkansas]

Arkansas Democrat > Right Wing Republican > Moderate Republican moving slowly to the real middle

First transformation came from abortion and other things.  Next came from me being gay and the dysfunction in both parties in Washington.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Arkansas Democrat > Right Wing Republican > Moderate Republican moving slowly to the real middle

First transformation came from abortion and other things.  Next came from me being gay and the dysfunction in both parties in Washington.

Weren't you against gay marriage not too long ago?

[TNF]

Conservative Democrat > "Fascist" (but not really) > "Communist" (but not really) > Libertarian > True Leftist > 'Progressive' Democrat > 'Progressive Nationalist' > Social Democrat > Socialist

[JerryArkansas]

Arkansas Democrat > Right Wing Republican > Moderate Republican moving slowly to the real middle

First transformation came from abortion and other things.  Next came from me being gay and the dysfunction in both parties in Washington.

Weren't you against gay marriage not too long ago?

Sadly yes.  That's what happens in Arkansas. 

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Neocon SoCon>Libertarian with Hawkish Foreign Policy>Libertarian>Randroid>Moderate Libertarian with slight Randist influence.

Don't forget White Nationalism!

That overlapped the middle two. White Nationalism isn't really a political ideology.

[PPT Spiral]

Neoconservative > Social Democrat > Communist > Left-Libertarian > Libertarian (I really don't like this term)

[Oak Hills]

Conservative Democrat > "Fascist" (but not really) > "Communist" (but not really) > Libertarian > True Leftist > 'Progressive' Democrat > 'Progressive Nationalist' > Social Democrat > Socialist

Well, that's an interesting evolution.

Anyway, the first political position I took was opposition to the Iraq War, which led me to support Kerry in '04, then I was unsure for awhile but generally supported the Democrats, then I considered myself a social democrat for awhile, then when I started paying more attention I looked at things from the perspective of a doctrinaire American liberal, though still not a Democrat (that last from 2009-2012 or so; that would be eighth trough tenth grades for me), then I started identifying as a "leftist", unsure if I was for throwing capitalism completely out or not, then I moved toward anti-capitalism, and kept wobbling between socialism and New Deal liberalism (that was about when I joined this forum), then I decided I was a socialist for a couple months, then I moved back to being a liberal, but continued to waver between socialism and liberalism, then last September I started to identify more as a New Deal Democrat, but continued to question capitalism on occasion, then a couple months ago finally decided I was tired of the liberalism vs. socialism indecision, and chose liberalism. The constant has been that I have been to the left of center and have continued to espouse my first four positions, namely anti-war, anti-surveillance state, pro-gay marriage, and pro-universal healthcare. Oh, and somewhere along the way I started to respect and somewhat understand widely divergent points of view instead of ridicule them (this was especially true with libertarianism, which I initially joined my father in not taking seriously, but then began to see their points, though I never thought for more than a few fleeting moments of becoming a libertarian.).

tl;dr I started out as a confident liberal, but then started questioning my beliefs constantly and wobbling between liberalism and socialism, but now I have decided to go with liberalism since that's where I lean, though I think other ideologies have merit to them, and I've always been anti-war and anti-surveillance state.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Since I was aware of something called politics and what the issues were, I've been somewhere right of center, though that's taken a few different forms, had different reasons, and has of course fluctuated. Now I'm more angry than anything as a result of sleep deprivation and general fatigue.

[Napoleon]

I stopped being invested in politics as a result of my investment in politics.

[ElectionsGuy]

The only change I've made in the past year is becoming more libertarian. I started out two years ago (when I just started to learn about politics) as pretty much a straight republican (although I was always pro-SSM and pro-pot legalization). I stayed this way until about the 2012 election, then I changed much more libertarian, shifting my social views much to the left. Recently (in the past 6 months or so) I've also shifted my foreign policy much more non-interventionist, and become even more socially liberal. Nothing happened economically.

[Flake]

2009: Obamahack
2010: Demohack
2011: Moderate Democrat
2012: Liberal Democrat
1/2 of 2013: Socialist Democrat
2/2 of 2013 + 2014: Liberal Democrat

[Supersonic]

Apart from the usual 'woo, Communism is so kewl' in Year 9, I've always been a neoconservative. I flirted with libertarianism several years ago but have moved increasingly authoritarian in recent years. Not too sure why, being at University should have made me trend libertarian.

[H. Ross Peron]

Conservative Democrat > "Fascist" (but not really) > "Communist" (but not really) > Libertarian > True Leftist > 'Progressive' Democrat > 'Progressive Nationalist' > Social Democrat > Socialist

I didn't know you had previous leftist phases. At least this gives me some hope.

Let's see here:
I started out supporting the Democrats during the 2004 election mainly because John Edwards reminded me of John F. Kennedy (which was a prophetic notion), Then I listened to a whole bunch of talk radio in my dad's car and became a sort of a populist-neocon-Gaullist (socially conservative, hawkish, protectionist, moderate on big government) starting around sixth grade and lasting all through my middle school years. Afterwards I switched on free trade and drug legalization, and became a moderate hero Republican (including being a huge Jon Huntsman supporter) from 2010-12. Due to being disillusioned with Romney, I shifted my support to Obama in the late summer of 2012 while still identifying as a Republican and supporting such conservative measures as entitlement "reform". Since then, I've been shifting steadily to the left on most issues, abandoning the Republican label, and even being often disillusioned by the moderation of the present-day Democratic Party.

[Enderman]

Pimple-faced Conservative > Tea Partier, fringing Libertarian > Santorumite               >      Far Rightist
          2007-2008-2009                  2010                       2011-2012-Jan. Feb. 2013            Mar, Apr,

Right winger   > Middle-of-the-Road >   Huntsman-Republican
 May, June          July, Aug, Sept, Oct      Since November 2013  

[AndrewTX]

Let me break down how I've evolved since my first year actually working in politics.

2001- Present (Moderate/Liberal Republican)

My views haven't changed since I became involved, because my beliefs haven't changed. I'm still socially liberal, fiscally conservative Republican. I've supported the people, more than I have the party. 

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Less than most people here, it seems. Been a socialist since more-or-less ever. Labourist/workerist with a definite religious (crazy bleak Protestantism) subtext. All of which is a reflection of family circumstances, background and so on. Never really seen politics as some kind of jolly abstraction or as some kind of consumer product.

I have shifted a bit from when I was younger though: my general political orientation is now towards the traditional Labour Right, but (and at the same time) my general view of society, politics and so is way to the left of what it used to be. I also regard this as a perfectly logical development: my admiration for T. Dan Smith is not actually ironic, even if it is complex.

[Indy Texas]

Neocon SoCon>Libertarian with Hawkish Foreign Policy>Libertarian>Randroid>Moderate Libertarian with slight Randist influence.

But Ayn Rand hated libertarians.

[morgieb]

Honestly, pretty much zero evolution. Was a Labor/Rudd hack circa 2010, have generally moved towards a brand of left to center-leftism that feels disillusioned by either party but still is somewhat sympathetic towards the left and generally dislikes the right.