hardcore liberal, seemingly overnight. Albert's is not unusual because he basically went from being a slightly right leaning moderate to a slightly left leaning moderate.

I was a Democrat in college and even favored single payer healthcare until my third year clinicals in medical school where I saw what was REALLY happening in healthcare and how government, albeit with good intentions (maybe), continually screws things up. I first voted for Carter (I even was a campaign volunteer when I was 18) but voted for Reagan in his second term .. gradually voting for more and more Republicans as time went on. But even then my political philosophy was not very different. I still suffered from the delusion that government could and should try to solve every problem, social or economic.

As I have grown older I have realized that government does not strive to solve anything, whether it be a conservative or liberal government. Instead, government programs grow and strive only to ensure their own survival first and foremost. The overwhelming majority of politicians only care about their own power and prestige. The higher in government a politician rises, the less likely the care about anyone else but themselves.

As such, I have become more and more libertarian in my beliefs .. and much of that is credited to the arguments Wayne and hic cabal () have made here and on the WHAB.