Ideology Shift Quotes

Everyone is a liberal until they have something to conserve. Then they become a conservative.

Since the end of the 1970s, free-market capitalism has been in, and socialism has been out.

The capitalist process shapes things and souls for socialism.

I used to be a Democrat, now I'm basically a Republican.

If we ever do find a better system, I'll be happy to call myself an anti-capitalist.

A classic liberal is more like a libertarian. I'm sorry. Classic liberal, actually, from the 1800s has a totally different meaning than a liberal who is [modern] classic.

As a teenager I was more of an anarchist, but now I want people to thrive and be harmonious.

It is one of the truisms of politics that a conservative is often enough a former liberal who has been 'mugged by reality.'

What is considered 'conservative' and what is considered 'liberal' changes in any given era.

I took the liberal view for many decades, but I believe I have changed my mind.

There's no longer a monolithic evil empire somewhere, spreading a different philosophy of life. That doesn't exist.

Lest conservatives be too proud, it's worth recalling that conservatism's rise was decisively enabled by liberalism's weakness.

The old harlot, German philosophy, has finally turned into a church lady.

It is said that a neo-conservative is a liberal who has been mugged by reality.

The day of reckoning came by 1946. This year marks a watershed. As it dawned, it was becoming clear to most that the looked-for post-war World Revolution had been aborted, or at any rate, was not going to come off. A basic reorientation was forced on us [Communists].

Once I was, yes. But now I have turned my direction away from anything that's racist.

For years after I resigned, I was still faithful to their way of thinking. But not in the American Communists.

There were definitely Nazis who saw the error of their ways.

Two significant developments in the past several decades have been the collapse of communism as an ideology and the general acceptance, in rhetoric, if not practice, of liberal democracy.

To be conservative at 20 is heartless and to be a liberal at 60 is plain idiocy.

Not so long ago people believed in ideologies, systems, and institutions to save all societies. Today, they have given up such hopes and have returned to relying on the individual, on individual freedom, individual initiative, individual creativity.

There are Marxists and there are people that are socialists. But the label of Marxist takes on a whole new meaning. Even socialist for a while took on a whole new meaning.

When the Republican Party is no longer the party of fiscal conservatism then clearly I would argue that we've lost our way.

It cannot be so very surprising that I adopted a Communist viewpoint in the 1930s; so many of my contemporaries made the same choice. But many of those who made that choice in those days changed sides when some of the worst features of Stalinism became apparent. I stayed the course.

Before, revolutions used to have ideological names. They could be communist, they could be liberal, they could be fascist or Islamic. Now, the revolutions are called under the medium which is most used. You have Facebook revolutions, Twitter revolutions. The content doesn't matter anymore - the problem is the media.