Did you used to have completely different political views?
 

Do you have liberal views now but converted to more conservative views or visa versa?

By "liberal" I am referring to the Blame America First, “I'm above everyone because I took a Poly-sci class in junior college” crowd. By "conservative" I’m referring to the gun toting, copenhagen dipping crowd.

[color=blue]If yes, explain why -and- what influenced the scales to tip to one side
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I've always been a moderate/conservative dem. Basically you can't tell the difference between myself and a rep. unless you look at me issue by issue. My mother's side consisted of my grandfather, with an 8th grade education that made a great deal of money by starting a painting company, and my dad came to the US when he was 20 from a relativly poor family in Liverpool, England and was lucky enough to make a great deal of money in IT and is now CIO of Factory-2U. Because both sides of my family had basically poor beginnings but have now achieved upper-middle class to upper class status we have a pretty good take on both sides of the spectrum.
I think one of the biggest problems with people's political views, and one of the major reasons their views change with age/income is that we all get too caught up in our own current status and want to vote in a fashion that will best suit our needs. When we are poor we want overly liberal/socialist representatives that will take from the "rich" and give to the "poor" regardless of whether or not it is deserved. On the flip side, many wealthy, or even just "comfortable" adults couldn't care less about the lower classes. They just want to ensure that they keep their fortune. We need a little of both. Some people have an unfairly hard time in life, and it is our American duty to help them. Some of us have had it maybe a little too easy, or have been better rewarded for our hard work, and shouldn't have that money unfairly taken away (after all, isn't the american dream to get rich?) More people need to become more moderate and look out for the greater good and not just what best suits our current needs.

-Chris