Reply #38: I was a Republican before 2000. I grew up in Mississippi. I believed in the Repub talking points.

[Selatius]

Specifically about liberals and big government and how it's preferable to have small government with weak regulatory powers. Then again, that's the information I soaked up from the environment at a time when I was not interested in politics. In 2000 I was still in high school. Most of my classmates voted for Bush, citing the same propaganda.

Today, I am fully aware of economics, American history with respect to the third world, and the power of money over politics. I dabbled in the labor histories of the United States and several European countries such as France and Spain. I am now a form of free market socialist after studying various economic models from pure unregulated capitalism, mixed economies, and socialist/trending-socialist economic models.

My economic stance seeks to take the strengths of the free market (regulated) and combine it with the strengths of socialism. Looking back, I've come a long way in seven years.