who here is a recovering former wingnut?

I'd be interested in hearing stories from anyone who is a recovering fundie and/or neocon. Was there any particular incident that was a turning point or just a general evolution without any particular catalyst?

But I did use to vote exclusively Repug. Mostly as a result of being politically unconscious and easily influenced by friends with stronger political convictions than I had.

The funny thing is, both my parents always voted Democratic, they just never talked about it. I've always had very progressive beliefs, but for some reason I never made the connection that that made me a DEMOCRAT. Sigh. I do remember being horrified after reading a story about wealthy Japanese paying for blue ice that came from a prehistoric glacier for their swanky parties. One of my right-leaning friends said, "You're a bleeding heart liberal!" At the time I was horrified, but today I would say...

Damned right, sister!

What caused my conversion? It was the shrub, actually. His first day in office he re-instituted the gag rule. That was the tipping point...don't ask me to explain, but from that day forward I questioned everything about the government's motivations. I also started reading independent news sources. The repressed liberal in me came screaming out and has been here ever since. At last! :P

Good question. I think there will be many, many more converted before November.

RV

until I was 18. Thank gawd I wised up before I cast my first vote, Clinton in 92. It wasn't anything specific that changed me, just a realization that Bush Sr. was an asshole. During the 90's, idiots like Limbaugh changed me into a fully engaged Democrat/Progressive.

This was back when I was taking Econ 101. I later grew up and realized that the real world doesn't conform to such trite theory.

I never voted Republican though.

However, it's not my fault. I was in the first grade. I went to a Baptist school, where unbeknown to my parents, they fed us Republican ideology as they taught math, science, history, English, and the Bible. I and my classmates actually referred to the Republicans in congress as "The Moral Majority", Bill Clinton as a pro-abortion criminal, and the ACLU as the "Anti-Christian Liberties Union."

My parents eventually got wise to my backward political affiliation and alerted me to Republican hypocrisy, swinging me around into the direction of reason. According to a mock election the school had, I was one of three Clinton supporters in 1992. The other two never revealed themselves.

Despite this, it was not until the fourth grade, when I read a news article they gave us alleging that Disney's "The Lion King" was sacrilegious (Mufasa says Simba is "the one true king," but only Jesus is the true king!) that I suddenly developed the ability to think for myself and learned to separate the Gospel Truth from the Republican Lie.