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I don't think you meant "hypocritical", but to answer your question: I think that rarely will a person tend to switch from a conservative point of view (fiscal restraint, morality, equal justice under the law, etc) and suddenly believe the exact oposite. I just do not believe it possible. But we have seen people on the extreme left become conservative. Rarely the other way around.
I'll use my own life as an example. In the 70's when my wife and I first met, we were little "hippies" on the beach in La Jolla, CA. We voted for George McGovern.
As we began working for a living (even the beach life isn't free) and struggled to improve our lot in life, we saw the "holes" in the liberal mindset. Little by little, we realized that "there is no free lunch", and that if you wanted anything in life, it was going to require hard work. (A conservative point of vies).
We began to realize that some of our "friends" were "slackers", living off the government dole, and that we were paying for them. We became more and more conservative, not the other way around.
You're right, hypocritical isn't the right word, for some reason I can't think of the word I mean. Anyway, I think it's far more common for people to stick w/the same party throughout their voting lives. However, I've known some people who voted republican when they were younger simply because they were voting along the lines of their parents w/out thinking about it, then once they started doing a little research or developed their ideals, they started voting democratic. If people think the OP is nutty for switching to the democrat party, I have an even nuttier story (in my opinion). I was friends w/someone who is a republican, we had many heated arguments about politics. This friend voted for Hilary in the primary. I was shocked to say the least, but she explained that being a female, she wanted to vote for Hilary. Ok, I thought, that's fine however strange that she's basing her vote on gender lines. Then, when Hilary lost the primary, she switched her support to McCain because....you got it, his running mate was a female. She even put a call out to all females to support women & vote for McCain/Palin. At that point, along w/many other things, I knew our friendship was doomed. I just could not continue a relationship w/someone who threw her support around so stupidly. She's also a blatant racist, but that's another thread.
And today, I became a Democrat. It's the best thing I have ever done. I like some of the progress I am seeing right now. It's not going to happen overnight, but good things are happening, and changes did need to be made. The Republican party was too busy treading water to make the changes that needed to be made for our country to be great again. I cannot and will not support that.
I didn't give up on the GOP. The GOP gave up on us. I am happily moving on.
I'm a Democrat who has never voted for a Republican (not because I won't, but because the GOP candidates who run where I have been living have been too far to the right or too friendly with big business for my taste), but things aren't exactly paradise in the party, either. I will no longer vote for Patty Murray for a whole host of reasons nor will Governor Christine Gregoire ever see her name punched on my ballot again, either.
Then you have the Blue Dogs, who are basically Republicans with D's next to their names. Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson are two of those.
The unfortunate fact of our modern political life is that due to the deeply intrusively personal nature of opposition research and media coverage plus the often eighth grade inanity of what now passes for our political dialog, the only people willing to deal with those indignities are overweening narcissists who have to be in the spotlight no matter what they have to endure to get there. And too many of them are little more than hustlers.
So for me, being a Democrat is definitely a lesser of two evils proposition. That sucks, but it's reality. Welcome to the party, but I just hope our representatives live up to the stated ideals so you don't get driven into apathy.
The Republicans sure are melting down again. If they are not running off to Argentina for a fling, they are quitting their job as gov. Palin I think is showing how unpredictable she really is. Its down to Perry, Palenti and Romney. Not to much to choose from. I am already seeing the right start to give up the idea that 2012 can be won. Anything is possible but the conservatives have done this to them self, Bush has taken this country to a war based on a lie and drove the economy into the ground. Giving big business anything it asked for at the expense of the people. Spending billions each month on a war to show daddy he is a big boy too. Did we ever screw up electing this dodo. It will take 8 years for the Dems to repair and remove the stains of Bush.
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