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Shifting Political Views
Topic Started: Jun 23 2013, 01:53 PM (328 Views)
flumes
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CLEVELAND ROCKS!
I was thinking about nationstates (the actual game) and thought it would be cool to restore Flumes to check it out. I had not voted on issues in almost 3 years and really probably haven't actively managed it in closer to 5+ years.

In looking at it, I am amazed how much my views have changed since then. I had a couple issues sitting in my box and in looking at them I realized I definitely would've picked the exact opposite choice of what I would've picked 5 years ago. That got me thinking about how much my views have changed since graduating high school. I am sure college and aging does this to everyone...

FWIW, I put Flumes in the African Continent. I am going to keep voting like I would have in the past because I want to see how highly it ranks in the economic rankings. I am going to start a new nation to accurately reflect my new world view.
Edited by flumes, Jun 23 2013, 01:54 PM.
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New Harumf
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Bloodthirsty Unicorn
I hope your New World View ain't communism - or being a hippie :angry:
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NRE
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Map Tsar and Southern Gentleman

New Harumf
Jun 24 2013, 10:29 AM
I hope your New World View ain't communism - or being a hippie :angry:
Oh come on, its like being in a party everyday :P

Posted Image

No but in all seriousness talking about your nation reflecting your views, I don't think a single one of my nation's reflects my political views. While I can't deny they reflect my own interpretation, I've attempted to answer issues with the mindset of how I see that nation. So, for example, tend to me more conservative and less democratic with Russia and more democratic an less conservative with my African Federation.

It would be interesting to see how a nation turned out if I did answer the issues solely on how I personally felt about them.
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flumes
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CLEVELAND ROCKS!
New Harumf
Jun 24 2013, 10:29 AM
I hope your New World View ain't communism - or being a hippie :angry:
I've always had libertarian leanings, but I was more of a "traditional" conservative on a lot of issues. Now I am pretty close to 100% libertarian.

edit:
Just missed out on top 1000 fastest growing economy with Flumes. Didn't have to wait long to find that out.. :lol:
Edited by flumes, Jun 24 2013, 05:24 PM.
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Margrave
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Is very much a holla-back girl.
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NRE
Jun 24 2013, 02:08 PM
New Harumf
Jun 24 2013, 10:29 AM
I hope your New World View ain't communism - or being a hippie :angry:
Oh come on, its like being in a party everyday :P

Posted Image




Thought this was appropriate.

OT: Most political movements have some sense to them. I personally think both sides have their merits, even anarcho-capitalism or communism. I have friends on both sides who I always enjoy debating.

All of my nations contain some part of my favorites of each form of government, but I think I enjoy BV more than the CMESS.
Edited by Margrave, Jun 24 2013, 07:21 PM.
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New Harumf
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Bloodthirsty Unicorn
With New Harumf and the Lambda League, I vote exactly as I would expect each country to vote. The Amish? Since most of the issues have something either to do with technology or war, I end up dismissing about 90% of them as not applicable (automobiles and infrastructure? Come on, these are The Amish); about 1 in 10 allows me to actually cast a vote. None of my countries reflect the real me.
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East Anarx
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Anarchitect

flumes
Jun 24 2013, 05:20 PM
New Harumf
Jun 24 2013, 10:29 AM
I hope your New World View ain't communism - or being a hippie :angry:
I've always had libertarian leanings, but I was more of a "traditional" conservative on a lot of issues. Now I am pretty close to 100% libertarian.
Can you point to anything specific, either in your personal life or in your observations of society, that caused you to reconsider your position? Or was it more of a gradual change involving innumerable small things?

What issues specifically do you find yourself disagreeing with your former self over? What positions do you still hold that you consider as disqualifying you of the "100% libertarian" label?

I'm not not trying to argue with you or judge, for the record, I don't currently consider myself "100% libertarian" either. I'm curious because I, too, have undergone several shifts in my political views over time, and most recently I feel like I've become quite a moderate, at least by my own standards.
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flumes
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CLEVELAND ROCKS!
East Anarx
Jun 25 2013, 02:11 PM
flumes
Jun 24 2013, 05:20 PM
New Harumf
Jun 24 2013, 10:29 AM
I hope your New World View ain't communism - or being a hippie :angry:
I've always had libertarian leanings, but I was more of a "traditional" conservative on a lot of issues. Now I am pretty close to 100% libertarian.
Can you point to anything specific, either in your personal life or in your observations of society, that caused you to reconsider your position? Or was it more of a gradual change involving innumerable small things?

What issues specifically do you find yourself disagreeing with your former self over? What positions do you still hold that you consider as disqualifying you of the "100% libertarian" label?

I'm not not trying to argue with you or judge, for the record, I don't currently consider myself "100% libertarian" either. I'm curious because I, too, have undergone several shifts in my political views over time, and most recently I feel like I've become quite a moderate, at least by my own standards.
I am not sure that there was anything specific in my personal life that caused me to go through these changes. I guess the largest thing influencing me socially has been further distrust in the government, but that has been gradual. Its not just distrust, but also the fact that I find the government very inefficient.

Economically, I've always been very libertarian. However, the bailouts nationally have led me to be less in favor of government helping out key industries... I still can understand tax incentives and such, but more of the local level than the national level. This is likely heavily reflective of living almost my entire life in the rust belt. I believe with Cleveland's branding problem, we need a certain amount of government intervention to make the area competitive in the global economy. This is complicated though.. And I do believe in a very basic tax for infrastructure spending and other basic services (fire, EMS, very limited police)..
There was one issue for my nation that involved some subsidization of a key industry. In the past, I would've supported that (partly because of the way the NS game engine works), now I would've said "don't waste taxpayer money."

My changes have more come on the social front. Less concerned with defense spending. Less concerned with national security spending. Less concerned with the government policing ANY personal choice (sexuality, drugs, really anything I consider a personal choice, which is a lot)
One issue I felt wasn't particularly libertarian that I thought about from nationstates after starting a new nation was a national ID card. I really think everyone having an ID card is worthwhile. While I don't think the government should need to know if an individual owns guns, or if they visit certain websites, I think it is worthwhile for every citizen to have something like a driver's license. At the very least, this should help tell us who is a legal resident... That is a major problem when when our southern border isn't secure, and when I support a very small flat tax that EVERYONE should pay.

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Quaon
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A Prince Amoung Men-Shoot First and Ask Questions Later
East Anarx
Jun 25 2013, 02:11 PM
flumes
Jun 24 2013, 05:20 PM
New Harumf
Jun 24 2013, 10:29 AM
I hope your New World View ain't communism - or being a hippie :angry:
I've always had libertarian leanings, but I was more of a "traditional" conservative on a lot of issues. Now I am pretty close to 100% libertarian.
Can you point to anything specific, either in your personal life or in your observations of society, that caused you to reconsider your position? Or was it more of a gradual change involving innumerable small things?

What issues specifically do you find yourself disagreeing with your former self over? What positions do you still hold that you consider as disqualifying you of the "100% libertarian" label?

I'm not not trying to argue with you or judge, for the record, I don't currently consider myself "100% libertarian" either. I'm curious because I, too, have undergone several shifts in my political views over time, and most recently I feel like I've become quite a moderate, at least by my own standards.
How so regarding moderation? I'm really curious.

I've moved increasingly left while simultaneously become increasingly cynical about politics in general.
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East Anarx
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Anarchitect

Quaon
 
How so regarding moderation? I'm really curious.

I've moved increasingly left while simultaneously become increasingly cynical about politics in general.
Moderation in my personal life, mostly. Rather than taking the approach of directly confronting social injustice through open civil disobedience, instead I've spent the past year or so focusing my energies on building the foundations of a more just society, "within the shell of the old," as the Wobblies would say. That is, I've been largely law-abiding, and haven't participated in much activism lately, at least compared to times past when I would walk around town wearing a bandana and a black flag and handing out bouquets of flowers, or participating in Keene's daily 420 celebrations, or the weeks I spent camping out in the park during Occupy, etc.

These days, I'm doing my best to be a chicken farmer. Get up with the sun, let the chickens out of their coop, water and weed the garden, practice yoga, identify and catalog the various species of plants, fungi, and animals in the area, observe and interact with nature with the intention of developing an integrated permaculture design, try to prevent the woodchucks and chipmunks from eating all my plants before they can grow, research companion planting, pull rotting logs out of the woods and build hugelkultur beds, rake up leaves for mulching, dig dirt out of the future pond, plan out the future location of edible and support plants in a multi-layer food forest, work on my passive solar earth-sheltered structure designs, water the gardens again after sundown, close the door to the chicken coop after the chickens put themselves away, maybe harvest something from the garden and cook something up for my lady, give her a relaxing foot massage, and usually fall asleep before midnight.

Quaon, Dec 1 2006
05:37 PM
E...

In ten years, will you really give a damn about anarchism?

No. You'll look back and think you were an idiot.
We'll see where I'm at in another three and a half years. But right now I still believe that voluntary communities composed of free individuals are a better way of organizing society than institutionalized aggressive coercion. This is still considered by most people to be a radical notion. By my own standards, however, I still fall short of my ideals and I'm constantly forced to make compromises, and so I consider myself a moderate of sorts.
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meh
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1st Lieutenant
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East Anarx
Jun 27 2013, 10:55 AM
These days, I'm doing my best to be a chicken farmer. Get up with the sun, let the chickens out of their coop, water and weed the garden, practice yoga, identify and catalog the various species of plants, fungi, and animals in the area, observe and interact with nature with the intention of developing an integrated permaculture design, try to prevent the woodchucks and chipmunks from eating all my plants before they can grow, research companion planting, pull rotting logs out of the woods and build hugelkultur beds, rake up leaves for mulching, dig dirt out of the future pond, plan out the future location of edible and support plants in a multi-layer food forest, work on my passive solar earth-sheltered structure designs, water the gardens again after sundown, close the door to the chicken coop after the chickens put themselves away, maybe harvest something from the garden and cook something up for my lady, give her a relaxing foot massage, and usually fall asleep before midnight.
Your life is poetry. Makes me wonder what I really want out of existence.

Personally, I've become fairly centrist over the past few years, swinging either which way for certain issues. Back in high school I was radically conservative, but I've mellowed out to a rather large extent. I'm not the fire-brand I once thought myself to be.
Edited by meh, Jun 27 2013, 02:17 PM.
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