Between the ages of 14 and 17, I was a neocon.

[arbusto_baboso]

It's true. Back then (I'm 38 now), I used to believe that the United States could solve all the world's problems and "make everyone free" if we just invaded the nations of all those "evildoers". The inconsistency of the position never occurred to me, and it certainly seemed possible.

Then I encountered the real world. I found out that things didn't work in the way that I had assumed. I discovered that there were ALWAYS AT LEAST 2 sides to every dispute (usually more). And my army service brought all those realizations into sharp relief for me.

So, slowly, since then, I have become more and more liberal.

But this just forces me to conclude that neocons have all the emotional maturity and experience of the world that a 14-year-old has. It would explain a lot, wouldn't it?

[SheepyMcSheepster]

1. i confess, i used to watch Rush on TV as a teenager

i naively thought he was out to make fun of all politicians. lol, yeah i know.

[A_Possum]

2. Actually, my 14 yr old nephew...

Marooned in Texas in a freeper school, with a nutty fundie for a mom, has figured out all on his own that Kerry is his man. And he has good reasons, too.

But he knows he can't talk to anyone but me about it, or he'll get bashed. So he keeps his mouth shut.

So, age and inexperience are no excuse. :P

********

LOL, ps, actually I think they are, and he's a VERY special kid.

[arbusto_baboso]

3. Bright boy! Let's try to give him a good future.

[A_Possum]

4. There's nothing I'd love more than to see him grow up under Kerry

The next 8 years, 14-22...that would be a fine thing. And his younger bro (who of course is for Kerry cause big bro is for Kerry) could get a dose of Edwards after that!

[arbusto_baboso]

6. Let us hope. Keep 'em both from being drafted for....

the PNACers planned wars.

[tedoll78]

5. In the 1988 mock election at school..

I voted for Poppa Bush. :silly:

My excuse? I was still 12, quite a bit closeted, in a Catholic grade school.. and it was easier to chant "Bush!" than it was to chant "Dukakais!" I remember the margin at our school being around 55-45 for Bush.

I came-around to the light side in time for 1992's mock vote in high school. :)

[CO Liberal]

7. Hmmm... 14 to 17.....

Wasn't that the age range when George W. was using firecrackers to blow up frogs???

:shrug:

[Warpy]

9. it's certainly the age at which his emotional development stopped

[lanparty]

8. Me too ...

I identified with Alex P Keaton. By the time I made my first presidential vote in college, I had switched over to the Democrats.

Since then, I have also grown away from neo-liberalism foreign policy that would have us intervene so often overseas. I used to believe we SHOULD have gone taken out Saddam in 1992. But I figured out the error and obligations of that.

Idealism can be a terrible thing if it isn't weighed against practicality. The realism of foreign intervention is that people must make their own futures. We cannot FREE someone who doesn't WANT to be free.

I believe in the prime directive as foreign policy. I believe we should view the world as a global neighborhood. We respect the heads of household down the street, but we don't necessarily like them. We realize that what goes on in their house is mostly their own business and not ours. We chase the neighbor kids out of our back yards when they're not supposed to be their. We lone our neighbors tools when they ask and expect them to be returned. If a neighbor is sick, we pitch in to mow the lawn and trim the hedges.

I used to be VERY anti-gun. But now I realize it's a matter of pragmatics. If some guy invades your house, shoot the fucker. I don't care anymore. He shouldn't be there in the first place. And it would take your own home being invaded to understand this.

[lanparty]

10. I think Randi would call us all ...

... REAL MEN. Because real men no how to listen, observe and change their mind. They know how to admit their faults and fix them.

Fake men swagger and when confronted with their faults, they swagger twice as much.

[NightTrain]

11. Been there, done that.

I'm 38 myself and thought I was a conservative until I was 22 years old!

[fob]

12. Sums it up quite nicely. Do you still have your Mickey Mouse

Fuck Iran T-shirt? They were all the rage around that time.

[arbusto_baboso]

14. No. But I had my Ayatollah Khomeini pistol targets up until a few years

ago.

Had to toss 'em out. They reminded me of what a fuckwitted moran I was.

[fob]

15. I congratulate you, there are plenty of people who never got over

their teenage angst, and now they run OUR government.

[sweetheart]

13. Its a teenage thing

I was busy getting eagle scout, and considering applying to the
air force academy.

Honestly, with a fucked up home-life, i was a teenager looking for
"attaboys" and "pats on the head" from the forces that be, and it
seemed that pretending to be a good nazi youth was the best way.

As an adult, i grew up and am embarassed for my behaviour.

That said, it indicates, that a generation of freeper kids does
not necessarily mean that they will be so in 10 years. Growing
out of infantile neocon'ism is part of leaving puberty it seems.

[Va Lefty]

16. It's where I was at '78-'81...

First vote was for Reagan. Easy answers, no shades of gray and don't forget those "scary" Russians. Once I got to college, I realized how simplistic and wrong those views were. Thankful I grew out of it as quick as I did!