So, how have the last 8-14 years changed you?

[KansDem]

For starters, I use more foul language than I used to. Probably because I ran out of "polite" nouns, adjectives, and such long ago trying to describe by feelings and thoughts about the Bushistas and the GOP. I don't know, when reacting to reports and stories of child rape, waterboarding, stripping of civil rights, murder, torture, along with the lies, thuggery and hypocrisy that has marked this Bush Administration and the GOP, phrases such as "I'm shocked..." or "This makes me acrimonious..." just don't cut it anymore. I'm at a point I want to make a yard sign that reads "Anybody but a fucking Republican" but my wife nixed that idea considering we're living in a Red State.

Secondly, I've lost all patience with GOPers. I used to really think that democracy was based on compromise--until Newt came to power in 1994 and told the nation "We'll cooperate, but we won't compromise." If ever there was slap in the face of democracy... I'm through "compromising" which currently means "go along with rabid, right-wing neo-cons." I now have just two words for the Republicans and they aren't "Letus worktogether."

Thirdly, I'm less tolerant of religions, especially fundamentalist Christianity as well as any other fundamentalist religions. I used to have a "live and let live" attitude toward these groups, but now tend to look on them with disdain, as I see now they exist to see to it I don't. I'm a believer in belief systems, but not when those beliefs are used to suppress freedoms and the human spirit.

edited for spelling...

[rockymountaindem]

1. I've grown up a lot

Literally... 14 years ago I was in 2nd grade!

[Warpy]

2. I'm a lot less tolerant of bullying

not that I was particularly tolerant of it before, but I've lost all sense of decorum. I don't care if I'm at a white glove tea party, if some idiot starts quoting Chairman Lamebawl, s/he will get a real earful from me.

I use my TV-B-Gone whenever I walk into any sort of business that has Pox News on a blatting TV set. I am nice enough that I turn it back on when I'm on my way out.

I'm more generous to anybody down on his or her luck and I refuse to tell them how to spend it. They know what they need. I don't.

I'm still on a spending strike even though I inherited enough for a certain amount of luxury. I just can't see supporting much of anything while the criminals are running this country.

As for the religious, I firmly but politely turn them down. If they persist and demand to know if I'm saved, I just say, "No, I'm recycled." It gives me a chance to make a clean getaway while they try to figure it out.

[SteppingRazor]

3. 14 years ago I was a 16-year-old kid who'd just got a license and didn't give a damn...

about who the hell was in City Hall down the street, much less who the hell was in Congress. Now, I care.

Eight years ago, I had just graduated from college with a Bachelor's of Journalism, a serious addiction to music, and a penchant for late nights and terminal weirdness. Now, I'd rather write about politics than music.

If anything, the last 14 years have made me more involved, more determined, and more passionate about the direction this country is headed. I blame that especially on the 2000 election (really, all the nonsense before that between Congress and the Clinton administration didn't get to me much. At the time, I saw it as less the right-wing conspiracy and more a troubled man who made a bad mistake and was being taken apart piecemeal by his political enemies, as political enemies are wont to do.), though ensuing events have only hardened my stance against the wrongheadedness of the modern Republican Party.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Similar to you. More foul language, detest anyone who would call themselves a

Republican, and less tolerant of religions. Also, no longer believe I should live in the USA and detest the empire.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. I would say that I have become more at peace with myself

I see it as the first step in bringing peace to the planet.

I have found the power of the internet, and related it to the power of the mind and of thoughts and ideas.

I find myself more an observer of matters, especially religion. I truly think that religion as it is commonly known is breaking down so that new concepts of Self and its relationship to everything may emerge. I think the new paradigm will be less about structure and more about individual spiritual growth and individual responsibility.

[mac2]

6. Yes...I dance around the family room shouting at the TV

more than I used to in the past. Also...not a day goes by when I read an outrage about our leaders. They seem insane to me. I have to watch and sign petitions all the time.

I refuse to enter a church unless they obey our Constitution and Separation. Many are lawless regarding immigration too. I can keep my god at home.

It's much more expensive since I send money to political action groups, web new talk hosts, etc. My candidates run for public office and drop out before Super Tuesday, etc. It is wasted money.

I want my Constitution, freedoms, rights, country and old life back. It's been stolen.

I might turn my TV and radio completely off in the future.

[peacetalksforall]

7. Instead of learning history and background that can make me tear up

with pride at something heroic that a leader did for us, I am sick about what I'm learning about Dem leaders and their involvement in the military-industrial problem.

I am sick that we bacames a nation of torturers, invaders, plunderers, killers, theives, liars.

I am sick that our vote was stolen and a tiny per cent of our leaders are concerned enough to do anything, including NOT SPEAKING OUT, not following the exposure of the thefts, even to the point of admitting that they didn't know some of the proof. They have not called anyone a thief. They have not facilitated any stop to the theft - EVEN within their own states? And, including our State leaders.

I understand totally why so many people use the F word in their writings.

[lonestarnot]

8. OMG! I don't think you really want to hear it! LOL

[OwnedByFerrets]

9. I lost hope.

I have no hope left at all....I am just going thru the motions. My wife and I will attempt to do some small things that entertain us, but they have to be done with ZERO budget for such things. We are ONE incident/accident away from being on the street. And we even live in an area which has not been directly impacted by the loss of jobs.
And yes, there are still joys in life, but one must look harder to find them. Its sometimes easier to do what the sheeple do and just stick your head in a hole and not think about all the problems facing amerika. Sometimes, I think its a curse to be as knowledgeable as some of us are here at DU.
Flame away.:silly: