During your life, have you ever changed the way you think?

Question

About the following ideologies:

Religion
Gender Issues
Politics

Answer 1

Absolutely! When I predicted the outcome of the Reagan vs. Carter election, I was completely bought into the Star Wars, war mongering, false Christian Republicanism that was popular at the time. I hated gay people. I hated other religions. That false Christianity was one of hate and I hated freely. I made up the song "Bombs Across Libya" to replace "Hands Across America." I was one foul little rat of child.

But things started to change for me over time, starting with the Iran-Contra scandal. I started to suspect that something was wrong and that somehow someone had lied to me. I made the "mistake" of being a fiercely independent thinker and studying things for myself in depth as the opportunity arose. By 1988, I was for the Democrats, even though I knew Dukakis was practically born to lose that election. My pro-Democrat days grew until the next election, at which point Perot opened my eyes to the fact that the two party system was a false dichotomy and that I didn't have to choose "the lesser of two evils." Even so, I was pleased Clinton won. I had eased off on hating other religions through meeting people from other religions and reading my Bible extensively and starting to wonder if a person of Celtic heritage really should care about Israel and all that bother. My cultural heritage is about eating pork after all!

I explored more and more venues of politics, economic thought, religious beliefs - including Islam, Taoism, Buddhism, paganism, and many other belief systems. My opinions of gender politics refined after I lived in the same dorm and attended classes with people that were gay, bisexual, and trans-gender. I realized that I didn't hate them so much as I knew who I was and didn't feel any uncertainty about that.

As I have grown and learned ever more, I have come to realize that my politics and religious beliefs are far beyond what people can handle - particularly in America. I'm ready for the 22nd century while most of my peers are still struggling with the idea that we've arrived in the 21st. I'm hesitant to share what I know because I have come to realize that materialists don't value what they don't pay for and I think maybe they should pay dearly for my knowledge in order for them to fully appreciate things like the meaning of life or what the best course of action is regarding energy policy. Otherwise, they will discount such knowledge because they don't deserve it. Most people just haven't the interest to study so much.

Some things haven't changed for me though:
I know I'm a male and feel confident about that. I simply not curious about changing my sex or trying out being gay because I know that's not who I am.

I also have been able to continuously correctly predict the outcomes of every presidential election as of the primary elections since Reagan beat Carter. It's a shame, actually, since I predict it off of the most shallow features of Americanism.

I want to be right, not just self-satisfied (nor just satisfying someone else) with my answers.

So, now I am an independent voter, free-thinker, open agnostic. I see what the big deal is about giving gays marriage, but I also think it's petty and fails to see the problem in the state owning marriage in the first place. Sorry. Promised myself I wasn't going to explain everything to you - it would take up a few books.

Enjoy your answers. Keep searching.

Answer 2

I was brought up a far-lefty, almost socialist. However I was intellectually curious and interested in finance and economics, read a lot about income mobility and distribution, and I realized that the whole Dobbs/Krugman "middle class falling behind" argument is a shell-game - we're all getting ahead, just sometimes at different rates. Also the freedom thing - I read Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom" and he really hit the nail on the head too. I'm now a registered Libertarian and when that's not a choice, I vote Republican - - I'd vote for a reasonable, financially-knowledgable Democrat like Richardson, or if he ran, Robert Rubin, over some of the "social issue" Republicans like Brownback, but it looks like Mitt versus Hillary and that's just not a choice for anyone with any grasp of economics.
Last year I read a book that introduced me to reality rather than religion and I have to say it has changed my life. I've made about a 180 degree turn from where I was. In this recently published book 666 The Mark of America Seat of the Beast the parts of Revelation that made it hard to understand have been put back in and it shows the folly of religion and how the religious leaders have used religion to control the minds and thoughts and thereby the lives of people. This book is ONE GREAT read. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to know the truth.

Answer 3

The Road to Serfdom" and he really hit the nail on the head too. I'm now a registered Libertarian and when that's not a choice, I vote Republican - - I'd vote for a reasonable, financially-knowledgable Democrat like Richardson, or if he ran, Robert Rubin, over some of the "social issue" Republicans like Brownback, but it looks like Mitt versus Hillary and that's just not a choice for anyone with any grasp of economics.
Last year I read a book that introduced me to reality rather than religion and I have to say it has changed my life. I've made about a 180 degree turn from where I was. In this recently published book 666 The Mark of America Seat of the Beast the parts of Revelation that made it hard to understand have been put back in and it shows the folly of religion and how the religious leaders have used religion to control the minds and thoughts and thereby the lives of people. This book is ONE GREAT read. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to know the truth.

Answer 4

I can say about all the three. But I will stick to the last - Politics. I was all the while thinking that the best form of government is democracy. Unfortunately, looking at the state of affairs, I have started feeling that monarchy is the best form. Why? In united States of America, What ever Bush feels right, is made right, and that is politics. In Cuba, What ever Castro Says, it is the law. In England, Blair had some feelings for America and he had the ability to get his idea accepted by others. The same story applies to almost all other countries. In Majority principle, the minority rules......
How many countries open a debate for the public on important issues, then go to their Representative level and then evolve a proper decision? If a decision is not acceptable to the mass how can a government force it on the people? Governance has become tactful management of the population. There is no accountability. So I started doubting whether democracy is the ultimate or not?

Answer 5

I'm now a registered Libertarian and when that's not a choice, I vote Republican - - I'd vote for a reasonable, financially-knowledgable Democrat like Richardson, or if he ran, Robert Rubin, over some of the "social issue" Republicans like Brownback, but it looks like Mitt versus Hillary and that's just not a choice for anyone with any grasp of economics.
Last year I read a book that introduced me to reality rather than religion and I have to say it has changed my life. I've made about a 180 degree turn from where I was. In this recently published book 666 The Mark of America Seat of the Beast the parts of Revelation that made it hard to understand have been put back in and it shows the folly of religion and how the religious leaders have used religion to control the minds and thoughts and thereby the lives of people. This book is ONE GREAT read. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to know the truth.

Answer 6

However I was intellectually curious and interested in finance and economics, read a lot about income mobility and distribution, and I realized that the whole Dobbs/Krugman "middle class falling behind" argument is a shell-game - we're all getting ahead, just sometimes at different rates. Also the freedom thing - I read Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom" and he really hit the nail on the head too. I'm now a registered Libertarian and when that's not a choice, I vote Republican - - I'd vote for a reasonable, financially-knowledgable Democrat like Richardson, or if he ran, Robert Rubin, over some of the "social issue" Republicans like Brownback, but it looks like Mitt versus Hillary and that's just not a choice for anyone with any grasp of economics.

Answer 7

Politics: Yes. I was brought up a far-lefty, almost socialist. However I was intellectually curious and interested in finance and economics, read a lot about income mobility and distribution, and I realized that the whole Dobbs/Krugman "middle class falling behind" argument is a shell-game - we're all getting ahead, just sometimes at different rates. Also the freedom thing - I read Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom" and he really hit the nail on the head too. I'm now a registered Libertarian and when that's not a choice, I vote Republican - - I'd vote for a reasonable, financially-knowledgable Democrat like Richardson, or if he ran, Robert Rubin, over some of the "social issue" Republicans like Brownback, but it looks like Mitt versus Hillary and that's just not a choice for anyone with any grasp of economics. Later in my life after I was married and we were planning for our own first child, I started to educate my self on the new life that was growing in my beloved wife. I learned to see how unique and wonderful it already was. How its life as a human had already started. I rethought all the arguments I once made for the right of a woman to choose to terminate her baby up until it is born. I found I could not support a single one of those arguments. They just did not hold up.

Answer 8

Later in my life after I was married and we were planning for our own first child, I started to educate my self on the new life that was growing in my beloved wife. I learned to see how unique and wonderful it already was. How its life as a human had already started. I rethought all the arguments I once made for the right of a woman to choose to terminate her baby up until it is born. I found I could not support a single one of those arguments. They just did not hold up. But I was still searching. Last year I read a book that introduced me to reality rather than religion and I have to say it has changed my life. I've made about a 180 degree turn from where I was. In this recently published book 666 The Mark of America Seat of the Beast the parts of Revelation that made it hard to understand have been put back in and it shows the folly of religion and how the religious leaders have used religion to control the minds and thoughts and thereby the lives of people. This book is ONE GREAT read. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to know the truth.

Answer 9

I started to educate my self on the new life that was growing in my beloved wife. I learned to see how unique and wonderful it already was. How its life as a human had already started. I rethought all the arguments I once made for the right of a woman to choose to terminate her baby up until it is born. I found I could not support a single one of those arguments. They just did not hold up. But I was still searching. Last year I read a book that introduced me to reality rather than religion and I have to say it has changed my life. I've made about a 180 degree turn from where I was. In this recently published book 666 The Mark of America Seat of the Beast the parts of Revelation that made it hard to understand have been put back in and it shows the folly of religion and how the religious leaders have used religion to control the minds and thoughts and thereby the lives of people. This book is ONE GREAT read. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to know the truth.

Answer 10

I was brought up a far-lefty, almost socialist. However I was intellectually curious and interested in finance and economics, read a lot about income mobility and distribution, and I realized that the whole Dobbs/Krugman "middle class falling behind" argument is a shell-game - we're all getting ahead, just sometimes at different rates. Also the freedom thing - I read Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom" and he really hit the nail on the head too. I'm now a registered Libertarian and when that's not a choice, I vote Republican - - I'd vote for a reasonable, financially-knowledgable Democrat like Richardson, or if he ran, Robert Rubin, over some of the "social issue" Republicans like Brownback, but it looks like Mitt versus Hillary and that's just not a choice for anyone with any grasp of economics.

Answer 11

Absolutely.
When I was much younger I blindly accepted that there was a great, grand GOD in the sky, watching all my moves and judging it all to decide if I would go to heaven or hell. Then I actually thought about it and realized that it was silly to spend the gift that is THIS life worrying about what's going to happen when I die and if I just live a good, compassionate, generous, moral life then I will have done MYSELF proud and if it ends up that there's really that GOD up there then he/she will be cool with my decisions, too.
I also used to be a registered Democrat, mostly because my mom and best friend were. Their arguements made sense at the time. But then I got a bit older and I started a business and somewhere along the way I opened my eyes and saw that the Dems seem to always want to create programs that take more taxpayer money to take care of people that they're convinced can't help themselves. Instead of smaller government and less control they want BIGGER governement and more rules and more programs. I believe in people and I believe we all have great opportunities. I am not in favor of spending more money to make whole groups of people less empowered and so now I am a registered Republican.
And way back when, I listened to the hype about how great a career would be and how I should work hard to have a good one. What a crock . Being a housewife is the greatest gig on the planet! It may not be for everyone, but I bet a lot of husbands would be a lot happier with a good housewife keeping the house spotless and smelling fresh and clean, always having the laundry done, creating delicious meals, etc.

:)