Comments on: Teen Assailed For Outgrowing Conservatism

By: llferrell

llferrell — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 11:24:00 +0000

I changed to. As a disabled veteran, I changed when the Republican president (Bush) and the Republican Congress refused to pay for VA Health care (mandatory funding,not after PORK), even while making more disabled veterans with their wars of choice. In a questionare by the American Legion before the 2004 election, Bush even said he owed it to the taxpayers to keep spending down, yet the veterans mostly still voted for him. Go figure.

The Democratic controlled Congress in 2006 finally passed mandatory funding.

By: CharlieW

CharlieW — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 18:50:00 +0000

I use them to EMPHASIZE a point.

By: Arvid123

Arvid123 — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 17:50:00 +0000

It’s good to be open minded, but if you are too open minded, your brain might fall out.

By: phantomoftheopera

phantomoftheopera — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 17:47:00 +0000

it also could be we don’t have, or don’t know how to use, underlining and italics for emphasis in these posts. something that really needs to change.

By: phantomoftheopera

phantomoftheopera — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 17:47:00 +0000

no wonder the right wants vouchers and charter schools. one way to control what kids learn.

By: nomaster

nomaster — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 17:12:00 +0000

It is always wonderful to witness a growing mind that is not bound by plain ideology or party politics, right or left. That is true individuality.

By: cwalter711

cwalter711 — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 17:09:00 +0000

If one looks historically conservatives where the ones who insisted that the world is flat long after everyone realized that the ancient Greeks were correct the world is a sphere. One other person who still think the earth is flat is Osama bin Laden’s teacher. Afterall doesn’t the sun rotate around the earth?

Nice to see this kid mature. I wonder when the rest of the right will mature? Probably never.

Remember the classic definition of liberal is one who is open minded, nothing more.

What I find distressing is that by using labels like conservative or liberal one prejudices oneself and really does not listen to that person’s arguments and the logic used in their construction. We should listen to how one argues one’s belief and not close our minds to new intreptations and possiblities. In this way, one keeps one’s mind open and doesn’t sucumb to same narrow mindedness of those you disagree with.

If we sucumb to this narrow mindedness, doesn’t this make both of us blind?

What Krohn did was change his mind when he received new information. To say that this is the terminal point of his development would be a bit premature.

May be we should all learn from this and constantly re-examine our positions as new information becomes available. This way one continues to learn and not fall into the “earth is flat” trap.

By: Rebecca Garner Boyd

Rebecca Garner Boyd — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 17:01:00 +0000

I am a Republican who supports Obamacare. And I don’t support traditional marriage in “every case.”- even if just one case… I think Obama is trying to care for us as a people. It’s wrong for someone to be negotiating their health at someone else’s expense which could’ve been happening probably before this mandate.

By: howa4x

howa4x — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 16:42:00 +0000

The real struggle is between what Gail Collins of the NYT dubbed the open space people and the closed space ones. The OSP are used to areas that don’t really change much and really don’t see why people don’t work like they do, or go to religious services. They want to keep their way of life where everyone and every thing has a place. They believe in social darwinism and you are responsible for your lot in life. They see the news of the closed space people and worry about the crime, drugs , gays, Latinos, and women how are demanding the right to be treated the same. They as suspecious of government, and they see what they term Liberals catering to these stake holder groups and feel their way of life is disappearing and see it as a religious mission to lash out to keep it. Guns are seen as a birthright.
CSP are generally more liberal because the areas they live in change constantly. They are exposed to many different cultures through food, cinema, or people at work. They live in culturally diverse neighborhoods and care about issues like poverty and social injustice. Exposure to movements like Occupy and gay and womens rights are a common sight.
I grew up in a more rural setting in the 50′s and eveyone was a Republican. Democrats were seen as commies or do gooders. There was only 600 people in 25 miles, and everyone knew everyone. If you were poor it was your fault and the town drunk lived in an abandoned car. Since I went to college in the late 60′s my veiws changed radically and my parents still republican thought I had lost my mind which was partially true on weekends. They were appaled I had long hair and my GF didn’t wear a bra. Even though they still loved me, they were ashamed to be seen with me. Like I had broken a sacred vow to never grow up. What happend to that kid?
So this is the real struggle, how do we get people to change who never had to and don’t want to. How do we get them to believe, that this is all natural and good, that we are born and die and change in between. This is why the republicans always talk about turning back the clock and the rest look to the future.

By: Sweeeny

Sweeeny — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 15:58:00 +0000

My name is Sweeny which is taken so instead of Sweeny28 I took Sweeeny. If I was you I would have chosen siigrid or maybe sigggrid but, its a free country!