I think that overtime many Americans politically beliefs will change in one way or the other. Many turn conservative while others lean liberal. For me growing up in a very conservative christian household; I was told very right leaning stuff. As I’ve gotten older I started to lean liberal and I plan on changing my voting card. I see how the party I used to look up too is full of old timers who push some bullshit claims and say hot button topics without context or support. I will probably never tell my family this as I don’t see the point in arguing with something that shouldn’t matter in my family. Other than that how have your view changed over time?

My views shifted a lot over the years due to insecurity about myself and trying to fit in with something but over time as I got more secure of myself I settled withe being fiscally conservative and socially liberal.

I was raised in a conservative household but since I went to college much of what I learned at home I began to question personally and then I realized I was forcing myself to be fully conservative when that conflicted with who I truly am as a person.

i went from a conservative to a socialist between 2010 to 2016

it's was quite the trip

I like the right a lot less, but I don’t really like the left more.

when i was like 13-14 and getting into politics i felt a little indoctrinated by republican conservatives as thats around the time when the whole hillary vs trump thing was waging on. but eventually i straightened out. i quite enjoy socialism

I feel like I’ve probably gone from left-ist in my youth more towards the centre? But only because I’m a pragmatist and I’d rather get half the pie than none at all.

I would like to hear how you make such a transition.

I've gone from liberal, to libertarian, to socialist, to left leaning centrist/social democrat, which I am now

Up until the age of I dunno 15 or so I never got into politics - my parents never brought it up, and I had the fortune to avoid most of it on the internet. However, if I had to pin down an exact political leaning, I would probably say I was sort of right-leaning around the time due to being an edgy teenager.

Then Modi's election run began (while we were outside the country) and my dad started talking about how he was the slimiest character there was in Indian politics at the time, and while I didn't really get involved in politics at the time, it was starting to become clear that Modi's right wing politics wasn't something good. As we returned to India later (after he got elected), the shift ---from the India I knew and grew up with, and the India that would follow--- was pretty evident (sounds familiar? this was a full 2 years before Trump) and it was around this time that I would probably have identified as left-leaning (respective to the country anyways)

Gamergate happened and for a brief period of time I was beginning to get radicalized to the (alt-)right. I don't know what happened around that period but I'm glad I never fully got dragged down that rabbit hole - all things told, the worst that happened was me getting permabanned from a subreddit which was given the impression of being "headed by SJWs". Compared to others, I got pretty lucky in that regard. Hopefully I'm wiser to the ways in which people can get radicalized now, because I don't know if something similar will happen in the future - given the stories of left-leaning or centrists swinging to the right practically overnight, I don't know. It's comforting to believe that you'd be immune, but complacency can cost you everything.

Lastly, trump got elected in 2016, and while my views were already left-leaning at this point, his subsequent actions from 2017 onwards would only cement it since I'd already seen the same song and dance with Modi the first time around.

On a political scale, honestly not much. While I do criticize Republicans for their shenanigans, I've been just as critical on Democrats and liberals, albeit more so about tactics and association than ideology. Generally, I have generally eschewed the fringe/extreme beliefs on either side and mostly take big cultural movements with a grain of salt and that hasn't changed much.

I had a bit of a trip in terms of my political views. From my late childhood to early teens, I was a conservative since my parents were conservative, and I didn't think much outside of what they taught me. In my mid-teens, I started seeing some merits of liberal thinking, but I still thought in terms of what my parents taught me, so I became a libertarian. Later in my teens, I had a brief flirtation with the alt-right, thanks to Gamergate... thank God I pulled out of that one once I figured out something was amiss. To my credit, I was still generally pro-LGBT in my alt-right phase even if I did have questionable opinions on trans and non-binary people that thankfully changed after I actually talked to people of those groups. After creeping a bit more outside of my shell and talking to people from more walks of life and educating myself on things, I feel like my politics could more or less be described as non-specifically progressive or socialist. I believe our current system is in dire need of change, mostly due to capitalism running amok, but I'm not too picky on how to achieve that change or what that change is, just as long as it's not discriminatory or violates any human rights.

So basically, in summary:

conservative > libertarian > alt-lite > liberal > progressive/socialist

Slightly, but my understanding on things has increased a lot since I started paying attention to politics.

I used to be more liberal till liberals stopped being so liberal and wanted to censor shit more than conservatives used to. Now im just floating in the middle. Turns out aligning yourself squarely on one side cause others do, makes you a sheep and the good lord knows I dont baaaa for no one.

Well I feel like that everyday sometimes

It would be weird if your views didnt change as you learned more

It's funny you mention this because for a brief time during the whole rise of Trump politics while I was in art school and having been around some of the more radicalized communists I almost went down that rabbit hole since there were a few people really trying to push me to go into that direction. I never got fully emmersed into it when I realized that the one person who tried getting me into that was doing the exact same shit I would expect someone in the alt-right to do by pushing their shit beliefs onto others just because that guy disagreed with a view he didn't like.

At that point I just cut ties with him because it wasn't worth the headache to be associated with people who are confrontational like that. That isn't to say that I don't have friends who do have far left leaning beliefs but the ones that I am friends with don't go out of their way to verbally abuse other people over it and romanticize the ideology they believe it. I'm just glad that I know better enough now to see through that shit.

You have a point! However many never grow into something that is a representation of themselves. They fear being judge and don’t want that risk. I’ve told off many Christian wing nuts that Jesus Christ can stay out of the White House and public policy.

I used to be registered as a Democrat but I re-registered as an Independent around the time Biden ran against Trump for president.

I used to think Democrats were better than Republicans but political parties aren't that important. I want to be free to vote for whoever I want and I vote for whoever is the best qualified to be president.

I'm really not that invested in politics to be honest. I never really expressed an interest in politics till Obama came along. Obama made a WHOLE LOT of radical changes to things.

So, you’ve changed into Christianphobe

More like they want a separation of religious policy from state policy. A nation should be run on policies based on analysis and fact, not what best fits a religion's teachings.

As for the actual post itself, I have found my views change over time, though mainly in how to reach the best quality of life for everyone. For the most part, it's been learning that has helped me to understand where I stand and how to vocalize it.

You misunderstand what seperation of church and state means

Separation of church and state refers to prohibiting the state from promoting a state religion (example: the Church of England). Read the Federalist Papers

Besides, the founders very clearly intended the US to be Christian:

Both those men were famously agnostic about Christianity, and highly distrustful of it. Looks like you were a victims of fake meme's, again, Tyler.

I was more conservative when I was a lot younger. Now I'm more center left.

Funny enough I'm too conservative for my liberal friends and too liberal for my conservative leaning family.

Yeah, I'm much more restrained IRL because I don't actually know any of you nor do I have any need to know any other aspects of you when talking politics. I've mentioned it here before that I treat things here in a contextless manner, but I can't do the same for my friends because politics makes only a very small fraction of the things that I talk to them about. As a result I'm willing to (pretend to) entertain even entirely unhinged conspiracy theories with only very subtle pushback/redirection if any.

Your fly is open - I don't think you would've said anything if they denounced Islam or any other religion in their post.

I've always leant to the left of course, but the pandemic turned me into full-on Lenin.

Good education tends to have such effects.

Very much so. I've been everywhere on the spectrum. My posts from high school were very Republican conservative and extremely pro-Israel; over the year's I've moved more to the left, and I'm probably more left now than I've ever been, although I am not communist or far-left.

When I moved to Taiwan, my views were extremely anti-CCP and anti-China. Going to graduate school with lots of students from China softened my views substantially on the PRC, although I am still pro-Taiwanese independence and Hong Kong democracy.

Lol, that’s how it seems but I think clarifying it would have been better. I don’t hate Christianity; I hate the people who I was raised around who promoted a lot of backwards knowledge. The ones who claim to follow the word still cheat on their partner, twist the word in their favor, and only use the Bible as a “Get of jail free card” when they fuck up.

I believe I’ve read that Thomas Jefferson was doubtful that Jesus Christ was real.

Education and experience can make you rethink a lot.

If you grow up in a healthy household, your views tend to be shaped by your parents.

I come from a strong union family, so I was a democrat. As I grew up, I saw said union get gutted and corrupted by fuckwads on the left and I saw businesses get gutted by the right.

I sit in the middle these days. I despise the rhetoric of the left because they pander to whoever the loudest flavor of the week is on twitter. I despise the theater of the right because it’s mostly a response to the stupid rhetoric of the left and you have cunts like MTG that do nothing except try and break down the barriers of what’s respectable and professional.

both parties are currently a problem and I see zero common sense solutions being brought forth that actually get everyone on the same page.