Since joining this forum have you moved leftward or rightward?
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  Since joining this forum have you moved leftward or rightward?
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Author Topic: Since joining this forum have you moved leftward or rightward?  (Read 10849 times)
💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)
peenie_weenie
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« Reply #100 on: April 24, 2021, 03:23:14 PM »

My worldview has changed considerably in my time here (especially in the last two years) but my political opinions are still pretty much the same. Probably slight moves to the left on economics but slightly to the right socially.

In addition to a left-right axis I've also heard people describe an idealistic-pragmatic axis (think: Bernie vs. Hillary). I've always been on the pragmatic part of that axis, maybe moving a little bit more idealistic, but still very results-oriented and system-thinking. So despite having some very serious changes to the way I view politics and the world my voting behavior and my stances on the vast majority of issues are unchanged since I joined.

Ideologically I've definitely moved from a more cosmopolitan, somewhat neoliberal, meritocratic normie Dem towards being a cynical anti-elite Dem with dirtbag sympathies. I went from being a smug liberal to detesting a lot of liberals because they are smug (people probably still think I am smug, though). I'm much more temperamentally conservative now than when I joined, which makes me more receptive to conservative ideas than I was before, although I think American Conservatism mostly embarrassing hogwash and naked grievance-baiting and that the Republican Party as an institution is fundamentally evil. I'm much less technocratic now than when I joined; e.g., flipping from pro- to anti-means testing. I still mostly believe in the Democratic Party as a force for good and typically give it the benefit of the doubt (i.e. am still a pragmatic party loyalist), although I am much more mindful of its obvious shortcomings and blindspots than I was before.
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VAR
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« Reply #101 on: April 24, 2021, 04:23:36 PM »
« Edited: April 24, 2021, 04:50:15 PM by VAR »

It has been a grand total of 10 months since I made this site a part of my daily life, so not a whole lot of change. What did change was my views on wedge issues, as I came to strongly dislike how certain people use buzzwords like "cancel culture" and "political correctness" to avoid real debate on the issues that matter. Unfortunately, this happens to be the 'issue' that conservatives my age are increasingly fixated on, even the "moderate" ones. So I'm swimming against the tide here.
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T'Chenka
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« Reply #102 on: April 24, 2021, 04:36:03 PM »

Slightly left on one or two things.
More to the center on a few things.
Still mainly a leftist.
I have however moved WAY "right" (Huh) on SJW / woke / cancel culture stuff.
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Fuzzy Stands With His Friend, Chairman Sanchez
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« Reply #103 on: April 24, 2021, 05:32:20 PM »

I've not really changed my issue positions, but the Democratic Party has become part of the destructive Left in ways I honestly never saw happening to where, at this point, I'm a straight Republican voter.  As late as 2018 I voted Democratic for all statewide offices in Florida, and for Nelson for Senate.  That isn't happening in 2022.  I don't know if I could vote FOR Rick Scott in 2024, but I won't vote for a Democrat.  So, in terms of voting behavior (which, I suppose, is what ultimately counts), I have moved to the right.
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OSR stands with Israel
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« Reply #104 on: April 24, 2021, 05:51:04 PM »
« Edited: April 24, 2021, 05:58:14 PM by Old School Republican »

On Economic issues definitely left, as 2015 me was in support, fully repealing Obamacare , for cutting the budget by 25% across the board including making major cuts to welfare and entitlements, was much more of a free trader, and generally was much more pro business in general. I also wouldnt be in favor of an infrastructure deal in 2015 like I am now. The one economic issue I have moved right since 2015 is for the regulatory/buecractic state.

On Cultural/Social Issues: I have definitely moved right as in 2015 i was for for increasing legal immigration and was open to a pathway for citizenship while now im for keeping the cap the same(just getting rid of the per country cap) and opposed to a pathway for citizenship. In 2015 I was for a federal assault weapon ban while now with the exception of universal background checks my position on guns is let the states decide , in 2015 i didnt think cancel culture was an issue while I absolutely think it is an issue now.  In 2015 I generally thought it would be good if the nation became more progressive on social issues while now I think it needs to be more traditionalist as a whole.



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Torrain
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« Reply #105 on: April 24, 2021, 07:19:47 PM »

Shifted to the left - but not by much.

I’ve still got an economically conservative streak, at least from an austerity and deficit perspective, but I’ve become far fonder of regulation - as a tool for promoting certain behaviours (taxation has proved helpful in reducing smoking prevalence in some regions, and specific financial incentives to make people choose more environmentally friendly choices seem like a good move now).

On the social front, I’d like to think I’m more liberal. Less likely to judge, and more willing to let people get on with their own business. Not really a fan of the punitive culture that’s intensified around prickly social issues. Still avowedly anti-gun though.

Essentially, I’m a conservative by Scottish standards, a centrist by UK standards, and a liberal by US standards. Gotta love the Overton window.
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FEMA Camp Administrator
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« Reply #106 on: April 25, 2021, 11:46:47 AM »

Yes.
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Crane
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« Reply #107 on: April 26, 2021, 09:38:35 PM »

CraneHusband’s meme is 100% accurate lol

What exactly is Torie supposed to say about health care that will validate his opposition to packing the Supreme Court? It's as if he yelled at you for texting while driving and you responded by lecturing him over his neglect of the systemic racism implicit in high rates of heart disease. It's pure nonsense that is meant only to browbeat someone into having the conversation that you believe they should be having.

The point of the meme was that it's weird to be "livid" about something like court packing but nonchalant about something else that's much more serious, at least from my point of view. The comment came across as "both sides"-ism in the worst way possible.

Also, it's always a good time to post Regular Show gifs.
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Leinad
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« Reply #108 on: April 26, 2021, 09:50:41 PM »

Hard left on economics, obviously. Pretty similar on cultural outlook, maybe a little more proggy and definitely more nuanced. Also pretty similar on lib vs. auth; although more cynical in my libertarian views, which would come across as more authoritarian. Overall I'm probably less "specific" and confident in my views--I have came to realize I am just a semi-informed dude yelling at crap, and I don't need to have my own "policy plans" or a definitive answer on every issue. Which is freeing, although probably costs me some Blog cred here Tongue
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Crane
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« Reply #109 on: April 26, 2021, 09:51:10 PM »

The point of the meme was that it's weird to be "livid" about something like court packing but nonchalant about something else that's much more serious, at least from my point of view. The comment came across as "both sides"-ism in the worst way possible.

Also, it's always a good time to post Regular Show gifs.

The size of the Supreme Court is not a frivolous issue, and I won't let some lazy trash-fed bandit tell me otherwise.

It's not frivolous, but not evil, either. Especially with the way McConnell controlled it for years. Right now the Court is more nakedly ideological than it has been in decades, and American jurisprudence suffers.
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Vosem
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« Reply #110 on: April 26, 2021, 11:37:51 PM »

Not sure about either of these things? At the age when I joined the forum in 2009, I was basically still discovering my political beliefs, and while I certainly had impulses in some directions which prefigured eventual political views, I don't know how much movement between 2009-2011 was left or right as much as towards "more detailed". Movement from 2011-2015 was distinctly leftward; movement from 2015-2018 or so is harder to analyze as being left- or rightward as much as towards humility and accepting that there are some issues which I understand poorly, and some which no one understands well (though if I had to place a cardinal direction on it, it would still be left-wing). Movement since 2018 has been distinctly rightward.

Voted leftward but this seems very over-simplified.

EDIT: Generally, I have made very few concrete movements away from libertarianism, and where such movements have been made it is usually towards "this is a complicated issue which I need to study further, and perhaps humanity needs to study further" rather than "my old position was wrong". By contrast I've made many, many moves towards libertarianism and I'm not sure any specific one has ever been reversed.
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Meclazine for Israel
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« Reply #111 on: April 27, 2021, 03:46:33 AM »

I did not study political science, so this forum is simply education into the US political system.

I did not realise that the USA stood for the United States of America rather than a simple single country.
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The world will shine with light in our nightmare
Just Passion Through
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« Reply #112 on: April 27, 2021, 04:29:38 AM »

"Pissed at everyone" isn't an option here, but I've moved significantly leftward on economics since 2011.  Social views haven't changed much.

Still this.

Socially, I'm still your average 2000's liberal. I've taken more conservative attitudes on these issues because I (for obvious reasons) reject the wholesale replacement of organized religion (and, if we're being honest, civic engagement in general) with online echo chambers. I find the modern popular discourse boring. I think that the "silence (or disagreement with me) is violence" mantra to be totally out of step with liberal ideals. On balance, I would prefer a more conservative society borne out of those ideals and not government-coerced, but that is mostly a cultural criticism than a political one.

Economically, I am a great deal more interventionist, having experienced poverty myself and the way that the destitute are viewed as burdens to society. I no longer have the interest to bother engaging with materialists who still operate on 1980's "greed is good" philosophy or a childlike entitlement complex. I view the extreme economic inequality we are seeing today as a huge problem, but I also don't believe that Marx's unending class warfare is sustainable for the long-term.

And that is where my Catholicism-based Distributism comes into play. Although I disagree with the Christian democratic vision on the government dictating private matters (including marriage, abortion, usage of soft drugs, etc.), I do believe that present economic circumstances, and especially the materialism of the rich and today's temporarily embarrassed millionaires, warrant a religious or spiritual revival so that are all served by serving one another as neighbors, preferably in small non-competing groups of people with similar values, beliefs, and interests.

I also feel like my opinion on these matters carry slightly more weight than a good chunk of the forum here, because the fact of the matter is that most people do not understand what poverty is like because they never experienced it themselves, or ever had to sacrifice their comfortable lifestyles either out of choice or obligation. I won't name names here, but if you feel at all personally attacked or defensive reading this paragraph, you are one of those people this part of my post is referring to.
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Torie
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« Reply #113 on: April 27, 2021, 07:57:38 AM »

To pick up on what Scott said, it had an impact on me when I moved to a very diverse block with huge variations in the life the residents lived. I have seen it all, up close and personal, including getting to know a few that were utterly "destitute," both economically and "spiritually." That has had an impact on me, intellectually and emotionally.

I might that I have met almost no one whom I considered "evil," to use a judgemental word. They just got trapped by their life story and circumstances. And it reminds me every day just how fortunate I have been in my life, being afforded as I have just about every advantage imaginable. So that to some extent has changed my world view, and my politics. I may be a calculating lawyer type, but I am still human apparently.  Smile
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Diabolical Materialism
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« Reply #114 on: April 27, 2021, 08:06:31 AM »

"Pissed at everyone" isn't an option here, but I've moved significantly leftward on economics since 2011.  Social views haven't changed much.

Still this.

Socially, I'm still your average 2000's liberal. I've taken more conservative attitudes on these issues because I (for obvious reasons) reject the wholesale replacement of organized religion (and, if we're being honest, civic engagement in general) with online echo chambers. I find the modern popular discourse boring. I think that the "silence (or disagreement with me) is violence" mantra to be totally out of step with liberal ideals. On balance, I would prefer a more conservative society borne out of those ideals and not government-coerced, but that is mostly a cultural criticism than a political one.

Economically, I am a great deal more interventionist, having experienced poverty myself and the way that the destitute are viewed as burdens to society. I no longer have the interest to bother engaging with materialists who still operate on 1980's "greed is good" philosophy or a childlike entitlement complex. I view the extreme economic inequality we are seeing today as a huge problem, but I also don't believe that Marx's unending class warfare is sustainable for the long-term.

And that is where my Catholicism-based Distributism comes into play. Although I disagree with the Christian democratic vision on the government dictating private matters (including marriage, abortion, usage of soft drugs, etc.), I do believe that present economic circumstances, and especially the materialism of the rich and today's temporarily embarrassed millionaires, warrant a religious or spiritual revival so that are all served by serving one another as neighbors, preferably in small non-competing groups of people with similar values, beliefs, and interests.

I also feel like my opinion on these matters carry slightly more weight than a good chunk of the forum here, because the fact of the matter is that most people do not understand what poverty is like because they never experienced it themselves, or ever had to sacrifice their comfortable lifestyles either out of choice or obligation. I won't name names here, but if you feel at all personally attacked or defensive reading this paragraph, you are one of those people this part of my post is referring to.
I get what you're saying, but the point of Marx's class war is for the working-class to eventually win.
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Sirius_
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« Reply #115 on: April 27, 2021, 08:26:09 AM »

Update: I've not actually moved much at all as of now.
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The world will shine with light in our nightmare
Just Passion Through
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« Reply #116 on: April 27, 2021, 10:05:46 PM »

I get what you're saying, but the point of Marx's class war is for the working-class to eventually win.

Marx has been dead for well over a hundred years and yet we are nowhere near his predicted 'utopia'. And even as a writer he was mediocre; he never fleshed out or defended, to my knowledge, his labor theory of value. (And I am referring to Marx, of course, with the caveat that didn't just take credit for Engels' ideas.)

If the stated goal of Marxism was to achieve authoritarianism and countries with nuclear capabilities, you could argue that he "won" in some perverted sense in several cases. But I think the fact that a stateless, classless society is implausible on its face pretty much undercuts his entire thesis - because that is Marxism taken to its theoretical conclusion.
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OBD
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« Reply #117 on: April 27, 2021, 10:13:31 PM »

I have moved somewhat leftward overall, and have also fleshed out my views on topics more (I was 13 when i joined, lol). That said, I did move significantly rightward in the year or so after i joined, before shifting back in 2020.
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It’s so Joever
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« Reply #118 on: May 01, 2021, 05:04:01 PM »

I've not really changed my issue positions, but the Democratic Party has become part of the destructive Left in ways I honestly never saw happening to where, at this point, I'm a straight Republican voter.  As late as 2018 I voted Democratic for all statewide offices in Florida, and for Nelson for Senate.  That isn't happening in 2022.  I don't know if I could vote FOR Rick Scott in 2024, but I won't vote for a Democrat.  So, in terms of voting behavior (which, I suppose, is what ultimately counts), I have moved to the right.
No...you just don’t pay attention to policy at all and vote based on identity like most Americans. That’s not an attack on you, it’s an observation of human behavior.
Your “perception” of the Democrats jumping left is really something you conjured in your head because let’s be honest, nobody wants to admit to themselves they don’t vote based on logic. But in reality, this wasn’t ever about policy. Besides, I could just as easily use whatever logic you use to claim Democrats shifted left to say Republicans shifted right rapidly.

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beesley
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« Reply #119 on: May 02, 2021, 01:32:43 AM »

Leftwards, but that's nothing to do with this forum.
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