All these words are what I evolved out of. They put you in a box and most end up defending positions they would never normally and most of the names don't even follow what they mean. So in reality we need to all drop these names and talk. I also realize if you talk to someone without the talking points of the day, most will go against there supposive base. So in reality it's like a club thing, you better go along with the club, thats nonsense. F these names, lets evolve past them.

Another evolution for me is that I actually have civil talks with kasz

Just realize these names do exactly what they are meant to do, divide us. Wake up. They really have no meaning, there fluid and change without notice, so why have them. Sometimes people will just fight because someone says he's a conservative or liberal, if we break these stupid words we would get somewhere.

At any given moment we are all of these things in some way or an other. So join with me to push back. Imigine if these words where gone and the lines of seperation died off, how much we could achieve. Now thats evolving.

Well, that all depends on the maturity of the people involved. A "label" is great for quickly descerning the basics of a person's philosophy - also, the label that a person gives themselves can also give you a great idea about how much thought they put into it.

For example, if you ask a person what their beliefs are, you don't want to hear a 5 hour lecture regarding absolutely every view that they hold, a simple word or label will give you a brief idea of what they stand for. Nothing wrong with that. If you ask them, and they respond with a party name, you'll know that they will have a particular set od views, but that definition will be very broad. It's also safe to assume that they are also quite apathetic, and probably haven't put much thought into why their views are what they are, and their views will probably change with the opinion molders.

If the person responds with generic, non-partisan label like "liberal" or "conservative", you have a slightly less broad spectrum of what their views are, slightly less apathetic, but probably still heavily influenced by the opinion molders.

If people respond "anti-war moderate", "pro-life liberal", or whatever, you'll know that they typically hold standard views of their label, with the exception that they point out.

And, finally, if they respond with a far more descriptive label like "anarcho-capitalist", like "utilitarian", like "libertarian", "classic conservatism", "progressive liberal", "marxist", or whatever. You'll know that they are, generally, more interested and willing to discuss their views than others, you also know that they're probably better informed, and have spent a long time developing and evolving their views. You also have a great idea of where their views are, and the odds are, they didn't hear those views from Fox, CNN, BBC, or MSNBC.

You were home-schooled, right?

Centrist -> Conservative -> Libertarian.

I've always been in favour of things like same-sex marriage and abortion, but I've become softer on crime recently as I've become more of a libertarian.

I don't see myself making that switch to anarcho-capitalism that so many people seem to make. We do still need a government and currency to keep society somewhat stable. But the government should be employees of the people, not the other way around.

http://www.mises.org/media/6121/Only-the-Austrians-Understand-Interest-Rates

It's precisely because of centrally planned money that we have the current crisis of today.

What was the reasoning? Were your parents against the education system, period? Or, did you just have particularly shitty schools?

(Basically, I'm trying to work out if your parents are politically engaged, and aware of the fact that public education is really just 12-odd years of pro-state propaganda).

I don't think this is anywhere near the answer that you wanted, god knows it wasn't what I wanted, but I just asked my mother why. She said she put us in private school because my brother was really anti-social, and she thought it would be a better enviroment for him.

It can be argued that the private schools around here are actually worse than the public schools, the first one I went to was a really strict baptist school. Where we had the Bible stuffed down our throats. It was good academically though, since you were reading really well by Christmas in kindergarten. The second private school... it was just a joke, I was reprimanded for writing in cursive, and I finished all the problems in my math book by myself, and then the teacher just made me sit there... doing nothing for an hour a day ;_; 

My dad does do the occasional rant about how they are propaganda machines, so that might have had a bit to do with it to. 

I started fairly republican/conservative. I used to love Rush Limbal – He would in a fair way criticize as well as praise Bush (the first one) and had sketches and jokes in his show. They were really funny. Then in the summer of 1992 I saw his TV show and realized he was serious. I thought he was joking when he said, “you don’t have to think, I will think for you,” but no, he was totally serious.

Then I caught Limbal blatantly lying about democrats and started to question all sorts of things. It eventually lead me to be more of a democrat/libertarian. I become more interested in buying stocks and mutual funds – which lead me to looking at how health care was in the USA – because the mutual fund was so, oddly, profitable. I went from anti universal healthcare to a reluctant supporter as I saw so much of the money people pay into it, used to pad others pockets. So much health care money in the USA is wasted on administration that I actually think the government would do a much better job. I still think people should be able to buy private stuff – like the police, everyone has access to them, and some people hire extra security.

Then, owning my own company, and having people work for me has made me more into someone of the ‘green’ party (yes the opposite of what most think.) As an owner I see so much exploitation of workers, in other companies, it’s quite disturbing. I’m not against people making a living, but when you make more money than your great grand kids could spend in their lifetime, every month, and your workers are barely making it, then I don’t mind those people, paying higher taxes, to help others get something basic like health care.

So not to the extreme, but the basic view:

Republican > Democrat > Liberal Libertarian > Green/Socialistic tendencies (like Universal Health Care)