NorvilleBarnes
Footballguy
I'd say my transition from Obama supporter to Trump supporter happened in three phases. One was simply a move away from the left. No the Democrats didn't leave me, I left them. The second was a period of keeping everyone at arms length and equally mocking/ridiculing both sides and binging Joe Rogan. The third was realizing that I was a citizen of the greatest nation on Earth and that red, white, and blue were the greatest colors and our military was the greatest - sorry, got carried away. Third phase was simply realizing I was far more aligned with the right and Trump.
Spoiler: this is probably going to be boring AF. Also, I don't have precise political definitions and tend to conflate terms like left and liberal.
Spoiler 2: At my peak I was only about 60% left and 40% right so this isn't about my going from 100% Dem to zero.
I supported Obama when he first ran, before he won Iowa, and I thought I was "throwing away my vote". I thought Hillary was everything wrong with politicians. Peak Obama support was election night, partying in Nashville, drinking champagne, hugging total strangers, and thinking we'd all just saved America. Good times.
I also supported marriage equality for several years. That was my last "cause". After the SCOTUS ruling, the pride marches in Nashville were no fun. At first, it was LGBTQA - where A stood for advocate. But somewhere along the line A was dropped and it seemed that straights and advocates were not welcome at any parades or events. It's pretty common for excluded groups to first want inclusion and then, later, self exclude. Anyway, with marriage equality settled, there wasn't really a cause any more.
In 2010 Nashville flooded and I learned that "Volunteers" wasn't just a state slogan - people in Tennessee really took it to heart. During the cleanup and recovery it seemed like everyone was volunteering for everything. It was awesome. People were rolling up their sleeves and digging in. There was such a strong sense of self reliance everywhere. I didn't care much for the disdain for FEMA or the hostility towards Obama "He don't need to come here!" but I really liked seeing the community come together and recover. Now, I was dating a really hot girl at the time so my flood memories are intermingled with that particular romance. To this day, a weather alert can get me pretty excited so I am not well.
I really shifted away from the left during Occupy Wall Street. It just seemed like a big dumb tantrum to me. It wasn't like the 1% were all going to say gee you're right, we have too much, here it is, and walk away. I hated it, and I hated discussing it because I didn't agree with it.
As a side note I also shifted from Christian to atheist just in time to put me at odds with all my new found conservative friends. And from pro-choice to pro-life.
The 2016 election was weird. Again, not a fan of Hillary, but also no fan of Bernie. But even less of a fan of Bernie getting screwed. Was really cheering Trump going though the Republican nomination and treating the candidates like chew toys. I had resigned myself to a Hillary presidency and didn't vote. I don't think illegal immigration is the biggest problem we're facing - but there's certainly nothing wrong with enforcing our laws and supporting legal immigration. I don't agree with everything Trump says or tweets (ugh) but yes in general, I support him and will vote for him against anyone running on the left. I haven't attended a Trump rally and don't really feel the need.
Sorry for going on so long - I edited out some stories here and there but this is the gist of it for me. I'd be very interest to hear of anyone else changed or went the other direction
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In my opinion left and right aren't really the correct words to be using to describe the two parties. It sort of implies a single line with the two on opposite ends. But to me it's more like two completely separate lines on different planes. Not only do different things matter to different parties, but they even disagree about them using different language. Warning: these are generalities. Yes there are exceptions and single anecdotes don't undo the whole thing. But generally the left seem to talk in terms values and morality and the right seems to talk in terms of policy. It seems like I see this everywhere - even on this board. Vote Bernie, he's a decent human being. And don't vote Bernie, he's a socialist. Yes there's lots of policy talk on the left (See Elizabeth Warren) but generally it seems like the morality is driving the policy. And yes, there's lots of rhetoric about who is good or bad on the right, but generally it seems to be driven by policy. It's as though one side is shouting "Blue and yellow make green and that's TRUE and if you disagree you're BAD (or a bigot, homophobe, etc)" and the other side is shouting "Two plus two is four and that's TRUE and if you disagree you're DUMB (or crazy or unAmerican, etc)". A few poor hapless souls saying "I can reach across the aisle and add four plus . . .green" and everyone hates them.
So for me, in absence of a candidate or platform that perfectly align with my beliefs (and that's never), I choose which I emphasize and which I overlook. Some of you may go "I don't overlook anything" and good for you. Statistically speaking there has to be some that align almost perfectly with their candidates and I envy you. Go away.
For me, supporting Barrack Obama meant going with the fact that I truly liked the guy. I liked the generalities he was promoting and didn't get into too much detail on the policies. I was tired of Bush and war and Republicans. And Obama had done the impossible - he won the nomination. Anything was possible.
Like I said earlier, after marriage equality was settled, I wasn't really interested. I didn't hate Obamacare, I was mostly indifferent and sort of thought of it as Romneycare anyway. I was planning on voting for Jeb! He was a really good governor and I thought he'd be a pretty restrained President. Watching Trump tear through the entire field of Republican candidate was quite impressive. I really liked the fact that he didn't cave in to media pressure. I remember early on him losing a lot of sponsors, and he just doubled down. No one had ever done that. Ever. Even the things he did or said that I didn't like, I appreciated the fact that he would just move on. I was very (pleasantly) surprised he defeated Hillary. I'm not a racist or a homophobe or a misogynist - so when my liberal friends went on rants I didn't get too defensive. I saw it more along the lines of "OMG you didn't vote green, you're bad". But it never stopped. It was like Trump broke the Democrats. being called a bigot was sort of like being called Japanese, it didn't upset me but I often was left simply going 'Am not." I tried to reason with some (ok, you have two, and then add two more, and that's where I'm at . . . four). Thousands of people ("blue" states) voting for "the black guy with a funny name", twice, and THEN turned racist?
They say things like "Don't give me that LEGAL immigration nonsense." No, sorry, I am for legal immigration and I'm against illegal immigration. I'm a second amendment supporter. It's never been a voting issue, but if the left is going to try to restrict it, then I guess it is. I'm pro life. I'm very patriotic. In general, I'm simply more aligned with Trump than any of the Dems running. I fought for marriage equality but I don't need drag queen story hour. I wanted to expand voting rights - but not for illegals. I'm for freedom of speech (including freedom to burn the flag) but not for de-platforming, banning or shouting down other voices. I'm pro life and it wouldn't really be a voting issue for me unless the left tried to remove all restrictions.
Again, apologies for being so long winded, and not even funny, but that's most of it.
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- This thread was mostly in response to the one about the person attending a Trump rally and I was a little disappointed she was so focused on "good" and "bad" people that seem to be more a liberal preoccupation. "OMG I thought they were horrible people but it turns out they were good people!" It reminded me of my reaction to visiting a Raider bar in Oakland.
- I apologize in advance if I frustrate anyone by not having perfect information or fully thought out positions on every question that interest you. I'm paying pretty close attention to things but I don't have any inside info and I'm not a constitutional lawyer or anything.
- I am conservative but I'm not a lifelong Republican or lifelong conservative. Technically I'm an "unreliable voter" because I didn't vote in 18 or 16, and I've voted for both Rs and Dems in the past. I like the idea of neither party being able to "rely" on my vote. I know that's not for everyone. This election will probably bring out a lot of unreliable voters and "non-voters" (people registered to vote but have not in more than the past 2 elections)
- Like my analogy before where some people are saying blue and yellow make green, and that's true, and some people are saying 2 plus 2 is 4 and that's true, the green people are probably going to be frustrated with the numbers and math people for not being interested in discussing colors. That doesn't mean the math people are dishonest, or just repeating "talking points". It simply means they have a different set of criteria. The people saying Trump is "bad", and "not a good example" cannot understand how people support him. But many of the Trump supporters are simply using different criteria. Inevitably the color people will be caught mixing blue and red and the math people will point out they're not getting green. To which the color people will predictably respond "I thought you didn't care about color! NOW you care about color." And the math people will say "I'm not point out the lack of green because it's important to me, but because you've claimed it was important to you." Everyone ends up talking past each other and accusing the other of dishonesty because it seems dishonest by their own criteria and not the others criteria.
Spoiler: this is probably going to be boring AF. Also, I don't have precise political definitions and tend to conflate terms like left and liberal.
Spoiler 2: At my peak I was only about 60% left and 40% right so this isn't about my going from 100% Dem to zero.
I supported Obama when he first ran, before he won Iowa, and I thought I was "throwing away my vote". I thought Hillary was everything wrong with politicians. Peak Obama support was election night, partying in Nashville, drinking champagne, hugging total strangers, and thinking we'd all just saved America. Good times.
I also supported marriage equality for several years. That was my last "cause". After the SCOTUS ruling, the pride marches in Nashville were no fun. At first, it was LGBTQA - where A stood for advocate. But somewhere along the line A was dropped and it seemed that straights and advocates were not welcome at any parades or events. It's pretty common for excluded groups to first want inclusion and then, later, self exclude. Anyway, with marriage equality settled, there wasn't really a cause any more.
In 2010 Nashville flooded and I learned that "Volunteers" wasn't just a state slogan - people in Tennessee really took it to heart. During the cleanup and recovery it seemed like everyone was volunteering for everything. It was awesome. People were rolling up their sleeves and digging in. There was such a strong sense of self reliance everywhere. I didn't care much for the disdain for FEMA or the hostility towards Obama "He don't need to come here!" but I really liked seeing the community come together and recover. Now, I was dating a really hot girl at the time so my flood memories are intermingled with that particular romance. To this day, a weather alert can get me pretty excited so I am not well.
I really shifted away from the left during Occupy Wall Street. It just seemed like a big dumb tantrum to me. It wasn't like the 1% were all going to say gee you're right, we have too much, here it is, and walk away. I hated it, and I hated discussing it because I didn't agree with it.
As a side note I also shifted from Christian to atheist just in time to put me at odds with all my new found conservative friends. And from pro-choice to pro-life.
The 2016 election was weird. Again, not a fan of Hillary, but also no fan of Bernie. But even less of a fan of Bernie getting screwed. Was really cheering Trump going though the Republican nomination and treating the candidates like chew toys. I had resigned myself to a Hillary presidency and didn't vote. I don't think illegal immigration is the biggest problem we're facing - but there's certainly nothing wrong with enforcing our laws and supporting legal immigration. I don't agree with everything Trump says or tweets (ugh) but yes in general, I support him and will vote for him against anyone running on the left. I haven't attended a Trump rally and don't really feel the need.
Sorry for going on so long - I edited out some stories here and there but this is the gist of it for me. I'd be very interest to hear of anyone else changed or went the other direction
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In my opinion left and right aren't really the correct words to be using to describe the two parties. It sort of implies a single line with the two on opposite ends. But to me it's more like two completely separate lines on different planes. Not only do different things matter to different parties, but they even disagree about them using different language. Warning: these are generalities. Yes there are exceptions and single anecdotes don't undo the whole thing. But generally the left seem to talk in terms values and morality and the right seems to talk in terms of policy. It seems like I see this everywhere - even on this board. Vote Bernie, he's a decent human being. And don't vote Bernie, he's a socialist. Yes there's lots of policy talk on the left (See Elizabeth Warren) but generally it seems like the morality is driving the policy. And yes, there's lots of rhetoric about who is good or bad on the right, but generally it seems to be driven by policy. It's as though one side is shouting "Blue and yellow make green and that's TRUE and if you disagree you're BAD (or a bigot, homophobe, etc)" and the other side is shouting "Two plus two is four and that's TRUE and if you disagree you're DUMB (or crazy or unAmerican, etc)". A few poor hapless souls saying "I can reach across the aisle and add four plus . . .green" and everyone hates them.
So for me, in absence of a candidate or platform that perfectly align with my beliefs (and that's never), I choose which I emphasize and which I overlook. Some of you may go "I don't overlook anything" and good for you. Statistically speaking there has to be some that align almost perfectly with their candidates and I envy you. Go away.
For me, supporting Barrack Obama meant going with the fact that I truly liked the guy. I liked the generalities he was promoting and didn't get into too much detail on the policies. I was tired of Bush and war and Republicans. And Obama had done the impossible - he won the nomination. Anything was possible.
Like I said earlier, after marriage equality was settled, I wasn't really interested. I didn't hate Obamacare, I was mostly indifferent and sort of thought of it as Romneycare anyway. I was planning on voting for Jeb! He was a really good governor and I thought he'd be a pretty restrained President. Watching Trump tear through the entire field of Republican candidate was quite impressive. I really liked the fact that he didn't cave in to media pressure. I remember early on him losing a lot of sponsors, and he just doubled down. No one had ever done that. Ever. Even the things he did or said that I didn't like, I appreciated the fact that he would just move on. I was very (pleasantly) surprised he defeated Hillary. I'm not a racist or a homophobe or a misogynist - so when my liberal friends went on rants I didn't get too defensive. I saw it more along the lines of "OMG you didn't vote green, you're bad". But it never stopped. It was like Trump broke the Democrats. being called a bigot was sort of like being called Japanese, it didn't upset me but I often was left simply going 'Am not." I tried to reason with some (ok, you have two, and then add two more, and that's where I'm at . . . four). Thousands of people ("blue" states) voting for "the black guy with a funny name", twice, and THEN turned racist?
They say things like "Don't give me that LEGAL immigration nonsense." No, sorry, I am for legal immigration and I'm against illegal immigration. I'm a second amendment supporter. It's never been a voting issue, but if the left is going to try to restrict it, then I guess it is. I'm pro life. I'm very patriotic. In general, I'm simply more aligned with Trump than any of the Dems running. I fought for marriage equality but I don't need drag queen story hour. I wanted to expand voting rights - but not for illegals. I'm for freedom of speech (including freedom to burn the flag) but not for de-platforming, banning or shouting down other voices. I'm pro life and it wouldn't really be a voting issue for me unless the left tried to remove all restrictions.
Again, apologies for being so long winded, and not even funny, but that's most of it.
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- This thread was mostly in response to the one about the person attending a Trump rally and I was a little disappointed she was so focused on "good" and "bad" people that seem to be more a liberal preoccupation. "OMG I thought they were horrible people but it turns out they were good people!" It reminded me of my reaction to visiting a Raider bar in Oakland.
- I apologize in advance if I frustrate anyone by not having perfect information or fully thought out positions on every question that interest you. I'm paying pretty close attention to things but I don't have any inside info and I'm not a constitutional lawyer or anything.
- I am conservative but I'm not a lifelong Republican or lifelong conservative. Technically I'm an "unreliable voter" because I didn't vote in 18 or 16, and I've voted for both Rs and Dems in the past. I like the idea of neither party being able to "rely" on my vote. I know that's not for everyone. This election will probably bring out a lot of unreliable voters and "non-voters" (people registered to vote but have not in more than the past 2 elections)
- Like my analogy before where some people are saying blue and yellow make green, and that's true, and some people are saying 2 plus 2 is 4 and that's true, the green people are probably going to be frustrated with the numbers and math people for not being interested in discussing colors. That doesn't mean the math people are dishonest, or just repeating "talking points". It simply means they have a different set of criteria. The people saying Trump is "bad", and "not a good example" cannot understand how people support him. But many of the Trump supporters are simply using different criteria. Inevitably the color people will be caught mixing blue and red and the math people will point out they're not getting green. To which the color people will predictably respond "I thought you didn't care about color! NOW you care about color." And the math people will say "I'm not point out the lack of green because it's important to me, but because you've claimed it was important to you." Everyone ends up talking past each other and accusing the other of dishonesty because it seems dishonest by their own criteria and not the others criteria.
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