I am a completely different person now that I am 64 compared to what I was at 18. I was career military, right wing, thought the peace and equal rights protesters were a bunch of hippy whiners. I thought that Johnson was trying to kill me, therefore all Democrats were idiots. Up until the Reagan convention I was a staunch supporter and office holder in the Republican Party. I also thought that all drug users should be put in jail.
After years of experience and departure from the military my views are exactly the opposite (except that I still hate Johnson).
In my opinion, only drug dealers that sell to or recruit children should be sent to jail, at least until their death penalty is completed. I believe that the government has an important place in society that capitalism must be regulated. I also believe that we absolutely must limit the influence of corporations, especially international ones. I also believe that the supreme court no longer serves the best interests of our country because they have been co-opted by the far right fascist component of the Republican party.
I now have much more in common with the hippies than I ever did with the Republican party. I understand that the Republican party once fought to free black people from slavery and even worked to insure that they had the right to vote. The Republican party now works to limit the voting rights of all minorities and any one with a liberal bent.
Lest you believe that I have sold my soul to the Democratic party, I disagree with most of them also, especially the “Blue Dog” types like Ben Nelson. The main-stream or conservative democrats need to either change or drop out of the party. We need progressive legislators, not disguised conservatives. I would personally support a clean sweep of the House, Senate and the Supreme Court. We also need to tell the President that he needs to go back to his progressive roots. Only Progressive ideas can save this nation. The time for conservative, do nothings has passed.
So I would say that life and experience have changed me, hopefully for the better.