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Many of use here at one point or another used to be Republicans. I used to be one up until around 2000. I am curious why you were a Republican and what made you change. Were you raised by Republicans? Did you have some views of Democrats that made you a Republican for a time? What sorts of views did you have on both economic and social issues? What happened that made you change?
Here's my story:
For me, I affiliated as a Republican when I was a youngster. The first time I could vote was 2004 and I voted as a Democrat, but I was politically aware from 1992 onward and I first supported George H.W. Bush and then Dole in 1996. My parents disliked Clinton and I personally did on my own too. At the time I was a miniature moral crusader who heavily identified with Catholicism. Arguably I was far more conservative than my parents were as they are basically libertarians who drift back and forth from election to election. I viewed the Democrats as being anything from immoral to snobbish because most of my experience with Democrats growing up was with Mercedes Benz liberals from Whitefish Bay and the upper east-side of Milwaukee.
I was absolutely convinced that big government was bad for people's character as I bought the argument against Wisconsin's welfare program hook, line, sinker, and rod. I thought everyone on welfare was just a lazy criminal who didn't want to work and wanted to suck off the public's teat. I also supported damn near fascist policies regarding criminal justice including greater use of the death penalty and extreme punishments because in my mind deterence was effective. In the later 1990s I became the ultimate free marketeer supporting lower taxes, less regulation, and practically letting corporations run everything because I had drunk the kool-aid that corporations are more efficient than government even though my maternal grandparents, with a combined 8 decades of federal government experience behind them, told me otherwise.
This all changed starting in 1999 when a close aquaintence(I won't specify who) of mine got mixed up in the criminal justice system and I became fully aware of how my simplistic views of right and wrong in the world were terribly misplaced. I saw that the system that I viewed as the envy of the world was hardly anything like what I thought it was and instead was horribly flawed with grave injustices and terribly disproportionate punishments. My unforgiving "fuck the world" views softened dramatically and I increasingly trended toward forgiveness as that situation moved on through the months and years that it took to get resolved. When I saw the ugliness of conservatism toward the misfortunate I went through a rapid conversion.
However, I still was prepared to support Republicans in 2000 until two things happened. One was the primary run of George W. Bush and the other was the stock market crash of the same year. In early 2000 I scraped some money together, $250, and socked it in a mutual fund that had a very low minimum with remarkably terrible timing as you can see. I was fascinated by the stock market and wanted a piece of it with the impatience only a 13 year-old can have. As I followed the situation closely, my view of the infallible free-market collapsed as I saw the inefficiencies and delinquencies of the market first-hand. I became a successful investor out of the experience of it all, but my philosophical view of the market changed forever. I forever support the role of government intervention in reining in market excesses now.
As for Bush, he sealed the deal. What did it for me, largely due to my reformed views on criminal justice, was his insensitive and cavalier attitude on the death penalty. I found his lack of concern for human life appalling. Further, after seeing the world of Wall Street crumble in 2000, his insistence on market solutions for everything frightened me. Further still, and this was even before the implosion of the NASDAQ, was his dispicable campaign against John McCain, who is certainly with his own flaws, but appeared to be a saint compared to Bush. All of these things had me completely over the edge to the point not only did I support Gore to the max, but I found myself wanting a Speaker Gephardt and Majority Leader Daschle, even though just a year previously I hated both of them. Suddenly I realized just how horrid a Republican government could be led by Bush and that crop of Republicans.
I have to put this explanation on some of what I used to support. It was not that I was poorly educated. Far from it. Our household is its very own university with constant discussions of public policy, history, culture, etc. However, it is possible to be well educated and well informed and hold those views if you look at all the information in front of you with the improper lense. Information is not sufficient, but it requires a proper perspective and a good measure of experience. This is why when some here simply think "informing" people is sufficient I nearly want to scream. It really isn't.
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