At this time in my life I would say that my thinking has ranged through everything listed in your question. I have been mostly conservative in my thinking and will remain so on some social issues. I have tempered my feelings though, and can see where the conservatives and liberals could come together and find common ground if they really wanted to make this world better. As I have moved from a mostly rural area to a more cosmopolitan area here in West Virginia, and have embraced the African American society, I have found myself becoming much more liberal thinking in my ideas. There is a need for the government to help those who are without the great American dream of getting ahead or more simply having enough to eat, having decent housing, affordable health care and good education for their children. I can see where policies, both Republican and Democratic, are in place that will keep the poor – poor. I would have us meet in the middle. I can see where we must stand up for what we feel is right. Those in power do not give in to change easily. I don’t think we need to use violence but would see Dr. Martin Luther King’s policy of strong love and courage as the model for us to effect change in the world. I would say now that I have a role model and Dr. King is that role model. I become very cynical when I see that both sides lie so easily about the truth. They spin and deceive. They even believe we are so dumb as to believe all that they say. When this happens I want to retreat and not become involved. I became cynical about the whole political process. I have often been idealistic also. This idealistic feeling has been my reason for not becoming involved before. I thought that there is no way that my idealism would ever meet with reality so I didn’t try. I have started to temper my idealism with reality and see that if I don’t become involved I have become part of the problem. I don’t want that but I want to become part of the solution.

I admire those politicians who go into politics for those high moral ideals of trying to right the wrongs that they see around them, whether they are local or national issues. They stick to the issues and let the issue decide the end result. There are those who still try. What I don’t like about politicians is that they often become jaded and become part of the system and that makes them become part of the problem. They learn how to manipulate people and push the right buttons. They “spin” the issue (lie). They think they are smarter than us ordinary people. As one politician said in Montana, “If we can only educate the people of Montana they will vote a sales tax upon themselves.” Or they might say something like, “You can trust us, we are only enacting these laws for your own good. We know what is best for you, trust me.”

I now consider myself an Independent. I will vote for the man who can present his platform without having to tear down the other candidate’s ideas. If you can’t stand on your own ideas you don’t have much to offer. That is idealistic again but I will temper it with reality. I have changed much in the last several years from strictly Republican without giving their ideas any real thought, too becoming much more liberal. I am starting to weigh what is being said. I have started to look at what is being said on both sides of the fence, becoming educated about the issues and being able to make an informed decision of what I choose to believe. I have changed because that’s life, politics is not so simple and cut and dried as some would have us believe. As a case in point my boss came to work on a Monday when the election was still being contested and said that anyone who voted for Gore was an accomplice to murder because of his stand on abortion. I asked him if that was trued what would that make a person that voted for a President that would enact laws that would guarantee people would continue to be forced into economic situations a places where they would be forced to make that type of choice in the first place. They would become an accomplice to murder also, wouldn’t they? I don’t want us to continue to polarized our society but bring it together. I don’t like it that the pendulum swings so far in either direction. When one side wins they want to impose onto the others. All this does is create more polarization and the fight goes on. I would be for working together and getting something done where we can all win.