What issues have you changed your stance on?

I've changed my stance on several issues in the last few years.

The ACLU. I used to dislike them, even a few years ago. I thought they were soft on crime and too hardcore on church/state issues. I started getting mail from the ACLU a couple of years ago, probably because of my donations to drug policy and gay rights groups. (Sometimes groups will ask if they can share your info with like-minded groups, and I said Yes.) At first I didn't want anything to do with them, but then I looked at some of their stances and realized that I agreed with them more than I disagreed with them. I started hearing their name pop up during stories of important cases that I cared about. I also realized that they were the religious right's #1 enemy. I finally joined in 2004. After November of 2004, I became a monthly donor in response to the horrific election results. I'm glad I did!

Another issue I have changed my view on is the war in Iraq. I was never a hawk, but I wanted to believe that America was doing the right thing. I guess I was just hoping for the best, and I was bothered by what I saw as partisanship by both sides on the issue(I was still an independent in 2003). My feelings started to change when we started losing more and more troops after the "mission was accomplished" and the war was supposed to be over. Later on, of course, we found out there were no WMD's and even Bush admitted that there was no 9/11 connection.

The most recent issue that I've changed my opinion on is the death penalty. I used to be a pretty rabid death penalty supporter. My opinion started to waver a little when they had to have a moratorium in a state because it was discovered that there were innocent people on death row. I totally supported the moratorium. The more I continued to hear about wrongful convictions, the less I supported the death penalty. I am now opposed to the death penalty because I don't think INNOCENT people should be executed. Since we don't have a perfect justice system, and mistakes are made, I can no longer support a policy that has killed innocent people.

that has happened in the last few years.

Always supported the ACLU, always knew the war was a scam, have always been against death penalty. Got any others? Don't mean to toot my own horn, but you asked!

answer what you are asking about. Kerry both DID become our next president and DIDN'T become our next president, depending on your definition of "be our next president," as in, say, actual votes cast for him vs. actually taking a seat in the Oval Office.

The best I can say on that is that right before the election, a local Democrat Party campaign office volunteer said "I think it's gonna be a landslide (for Kerry)." I said, "Um, I don't think so. I hope you're right, but I don't think so." (For one thing, I couldn't get any bumper stickers from them to show my support!)

I did tell my class two days before the election that it would come down to Ohio or Florida again, and I was (genially) making fun of one of my students who was originally from Ohio that day.

everything.

I don't think any of us can honestly claim that.

personal life! I get that wrong all the time! :-7

(BTW, always take my posts with a grain of anti-facetiousness salt.)

through reading a ton of information in the gundungeon, i have changed my mind on what the "AWB" was...big time...thanks BenEzra, Silverhair, Wcross, crankybubba...others....:)

:P

Sorry. I suck at acronyms.

Actually, not sure what they are talking about either. World Bank?

people are still working on me with the anti death penalty, but for now, i'm still for it...

:)

I had forgotten all about that crap!! :rofl:

...are the first three I can think of.

DP: I used to believe that DP was a deterrent, and all that other rot. Now I am 150% anti-DP, under ANY circumstances. (Sure, I'll defend my position, if anyone really wants to know why.)

Guns: I used to think "gun control" meant they wanted to take my guns away. But then I grew up and realized that in gun control (registration, background checks, waiting periods) is sanity.

Abortion: 100% against it in concept, but 100% pro-choice in practice. When I was a teenager, I was for the concept as well. (Funny, but after I left Catholicism and embraced a more natural spirituality for me, then I began to view abortion in a different light.)

the evolution of one's philosophies, morals, values. Thank you for posting this.

during the Vietnam war, i was a stereotypical anti-war hippie protester ... and part of the "script" that came with was being totally against the troops who went to Vietnam ... i saw them as willing agents of a murderous policy ... i no longer feel that way ... i think i was wrong ... it is far too easy for the weakest, poorest citizens to become pawns of the State ... it's horrible what we've done to our troops in Iraq ... hearing their stories, the stories of their families and even the stories of DU'ers who know someone about to go to Iraq is very moving ...

i've also changed my view of the American people ... i used to wonder how this country got more than its allotment of stupid people ... i no longer think that either ... i find most people are very bright ... the problem, i've come to believe, is that too many people lack information and awareness ... with the right information, i believe Americans would make the right choices ... we need to do a better job educating the public and making them understand the connection between policies in Washington and their everyday lives ...

that's a great question you asked, btw ... it really made me think ... i'm recommending this thread ...

... I could have written that myself. And on particularly the second point-I like to bitch about Americans but it really is the propaganda that is the problem...

Growing up I was highly pro-Israel and anti-Arab. This started changing once I came across and sought out non-mainstream news sources. Now I am much more empathetic to the Palestian nationalist cause than I am any Israeli "right" to occupy disputed lands.

I've done a complete 180 on I/P. On which I shan't elaborate lest the whole thread end up in the I/P dungeon. :)

As a person of vaguely Jewish descent, I was raised to think that Israel was always in the right. I've changed my position not a lot, but basically to recognize that Israel has done a LOT wrong and Palestine deserves the right to exist.
I'd say I'm more sympathetic to P. than to I. causes, if I can reduce it to that.

I have always been "pro-Israeli," but have never been "anti-Arab."

I used to think that the GOP was a principled opposition party, but the last 25 years or so have pretty much stomped the shit out of that misconception.

death: against killing - period. Israel: against apartheid. Guns: not for me, but go ahead if you have to.


Abortion: personally against (to be consistent with anti-death penalty), but feel like America needs to fundamentally change it's anti-woman policies before moving on to the abortion debate - period. I would only begin to even discuss laws restricting the procedure in certain cases IF we can assure mothers that:

1) Free daycare can be provided for all children in need.
1 1/2) Free prenatal care for all moms in need.
2) Birth control is FREE and readily available.
3) ABC (Abstinence/Birth Control) is taught honestly in schools.
4) Gay couples are not restricted to adoption regulations (public or private) any more than any other domestic partnership.

These would provide real options for women, and reduce the number of abortions in this country. Nobody wants to have an abortion, so let's stop making it something women feel they have no choice but to have.

I have always been pro-choice and pro-gay. I used to support the death penalty, but I no longer do. That change was not about innocence or guilt, but what did it actually accomplish. Even if criminals were 100% guilty, state-sanctioned murder only creates more victims.

Ironically, I have always been pro-Israel, just not strongly so, until I came here. I have become more of an ardent supporter of Israel since my exposure to anti-Semitic rants from the left. I was used to them from the right, but the left...well, that knocked the wind right out of my sails.

I used to despise guns, but now understand their need in our society, especially since there is NO way to get rid of them all.

I used to be a fan of a big and strong military, but now I'm beginning to fear it.

I would like to see the United States reduce its ground forces to the point where starting an offensive war on our own is a practical impossibility.

Double-Congressional Medal of Honor winner Smedley Butler had an interesting take on it. He decided that War is a Racket.

Butler had one idea to which I am particularly enamored. In time of war, the income of everyone, especially those in industries which stand to profit from war, should be capped at the pay rate of your average combat infantryman.

You may think that this is a fanciful idea, but what if it were to be applied retroactively, say, in 2009, when much of the Republican leadership is facing jail time and the profiteers are trying to make off with their loot?

A 99.99% income tax rate for those who profited from American blood is a fucking pittance, if you ask me, and the precedent would certainly make people think twice about starting another war for personal gain.

because many times, innocent people are shot by somebody thinking they're an intruder.

Now I've changed my stance on this. For one thing, how could you ever get rid of all the guns that are out there?

But mainly, we may need them because of how this country has changed since 2000.

I supported the invasion of Afghanistan until I realised that the removal of the Taliban wasn't going to be coupled with an attempt to set up a better regime in their place (although I still think that if it had been then it would have been a good thing).

I used to be strongly in favour of allowing schools to select pupils on academic ground (that one's more of a hot button issue here in the UK than it is in the US, I think); I'm no longer nearly as certain about that although I haven't changed my mind completely.

I used to think that the death penalty was immoral in all cases. I now think that, while the death penalty should never be *imposed*, that's because it would inevitably be wrongly imposed sometimes if it were imposed at all, but that there are some cases where it would be justifiable.

I used to be certain that tax rises for rich individuals and corporations were a good idea, reasoning that reducing inequality was clearly a good think. I now think that I don't know enough economics to be sure that the arguments about wealth creation and the passing on of the burden are not valid - I don't *think* they are, but I'm not able to make an informed judgement and I think it would be foolish to take a dogmatic position without one.

I never did and never will make a very good Nationalist, for which I have no regrets. But I understand that Nations exist and Americans are pretty much the same as most people around the world who usually have some sense of pride and/or affection for the nation that they are citizens of. The flag is meant to be a symbol for our whole Nation, it isn't a symbol for specific policies pursued by our current and/or past governments. I'm only speaking about Americans now, I think it is natural for people in other countries to see the American flag as a symbol of how America and its government effects their own lives.

Anyway, for too long I let the rabid Nationalists and power grabbers here "own" the flag as their personal political symbol. I would see the American flag, and I had trouble not viewing it as a representation of the Rights political agenda. That's exactly what they wanted me to think. No more. Now I am reclaiming my identity as an American Patriot proud of the Revolutionary strands of American history, fighting to preserve and extend the values enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. The American flag is every bit as much mine as it is Dick Cheney's, more so probably in that I revere more of what it is meant to stand for than he does IMO.

Same thing on a less profound level for "Support Our Troops" Ribbons. I have had one on my car for over a year now right next to my anti-Bush bumper stickers. When soldiers break the code of military justice, and international treaties, and intentionally engages in war crimes, they are no longer "troops" they are criminals, so I don't worry about that possible "conflict"

I am not a pacifist. I think Hitlers do rise up from time to time and more would if fewer people had the ability to defend themselves against them. So I understand the need for some military. Our troops don't set policy about how large a military the United States needs, civilian government does. And they don't decide when, where and who to fight, civilian government does. As long as the military obeys Congress and the Commander in Chief as set out in our Constitution, God Bless them for that discipline and their willingness to risk their own lives for what they must trust is our Democracy's agenda. So here too, I will not let the Right seize this imagery, and seperate Democrats from the statisticly over represented poor and working class families who make up our military.

...the death penalty. I used to be in favor of it. But after Sapph gave me lots of brain food about this subject, I did a full 180 and am now totally and completely against it.

Some of them have gone from mild to stronger as I watched the Bush disaster unfold, but none have really changed.

:shrug:

I used to be a Reagan Republican, so the list of things I've changed over the last 20 years is pretty long. In my defense, I was never enamored of the most draconian of Reagan's policies - and around the time of "catsup is a vegetable", I flipped decisively Democratic.

I went through a brief Libertarian period, I suppose that is why I really really don't like Libertarian philosophy when it comes to economics - ya know the old adage: there's nothing worse than a reformed fill-in-the-blank. But, to be fair, on issues other than economics/employment/distribution-of-wealth - I'm a textbook Libertarian.

I used to be a total supporter of Israel, but the last decade or so I find myself unable to stomach their bad handling of the bad situation they find themselves in - and even more dismayed that we are following in their footsteps and will fail similarly.

I'm also losing my support for the death penalty. If our justice system had even a modicum of integrity I might feel differently - but I'm to the point where I do not trust the system at all and I'm becoming unwilling to exact the ultimate punishment when there isn't a shred of certainty about the guilt of the accused.

I used to feel like economic globalization was inevitable and good for everyone. Now I think it's inevitable, and being done in the worst possible way.