re: #112 Scout

What if a person did not grow up in a liberal background but nonetheless decided early on that a liberal orientation was superior to a conservative (or moderate) one, and never wavered?

What if a person did grow up in a liberal background but nonetheless decided for whatever reasons (say a reaction to 9/11 for instance) to embrace conservatism, and then reverted to liberalism later?

Sorry, I’m probably coming across as sarcastic, which is pretty lame of me, but I can’t agree with you that the people whom you described deserve “more” respect. Respect? Yes. More respect? No.

I can respect people who come to their political philosophy so long as they’ve put some thought into why they believe the things they do. They might come to different conclusions than me, and that’s fine. What I have a problem with is people who can’t actually tell you why they are a Republican or a Democrat, a liberal or a conservative or a libertarian. Sadly, I deal with a lot of that in my family - I’m not sure that any of my immediate family members could tell you why they’re Republicans, they just know Team R good, Team D bad.