This topic is funny because on the KQ Morning Show that I listen to here, they were talking about the same thing..what made them identify with one party or another.
I am going to answer the original topic of the post, and will avoid going off on a debate on abortion, as it is the only topic that I am profoundly against, and it's also the only one that makes my BP go up...and as I may be prego again (yay!) I do not need the stress. Plus my day hasn't been all the best. But it's a full moon, and there will be a tomorrow.
ANYWAY..enough rambling.
I am conservative because I finally started to actually listen to the conservative side, because the liberals pissed me off. I was one all my life, as I was told (indirectly) by the educational system and family influences that Republicans are bad people. No actual reason, as well as I was basically 'told' how I should think because it is politically correct. So anytime a member of the conservative side would talk, I would not listen, because I was always given the idea that they were stuck-up, racist, greedy people who want to control your life.
Everything started turning around when a friend and I went to attend the memorial service of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone. It started out really nice, and I even found the heart to talk to our Governor, Jesse Ventura. I am aquaintences with his wife due to my competing in many horse shows that she was in. I thought he was arrogant and didn't really want anything to do with him.
sorry, getting off on a tangent. My Jesse encounters are another story for another day.
When the beautiful memorial service started turning into a pep rally to get votes. Not support, not mourn his loss, but just get votes, I started looking at what the liberals represented. Their thirst for the limelight is readily apparent when they get any opportunity, no matter if it is appropriate or not. It's all about them. I then started actually listening to what the conservatives had to say. Something clicked. A lot, not all, but a lot of what their messages were, I agreed with because they were logical and made sense. Was I truly a conservative? Could it be? Was I moving over to the 'other side'?
I then took a look back at what I used to believe, and why. I believed at one time, all the stuff that liberals believe now, but I didn't have an actual reason of my own, other than the fact that i was basically TOLD to think this way, because it was the 'cool' and trendy way.
I am conservative because I think that people should be held accountable for their actions, and not by just gettinga slap on the wrist. If there are no penalties, or the penalty is not harsh, where is the deterrent to committing another crime, if not repeating the same offense?
I believe it is not the government's job to pay your way through life. If you want something, work for it.
I don't believe that it is the JOB of someone wealthy to take care of someone poor. If that is what they WANT to do, more power to them. But it is their money, so who are you to tell them what they have to do with it? People like Bill Gates have the right to live how they want without someone on the liberal side harassing them about how he should pay more taxes 'just because he can afford it". Leave the guy alone. He invented several things that helped revolutionize this country and our information technology, and basically how we communicate, as well as helped businesses grow. God Bless him. Now if he wants to hand some of what he earns, out to me, I won't stop him (who would?

) but it's his perogative and I have no problem with him keeping all his profits if he wants. It's his money.
I believe that changing the definition of marriage for everyone, only to accomodate a few, is destructive. Just because one little group wants something, doesn't mean that they should get it. There is alot of stuff that I want. But I may not necessarily get it. And if I don't, the worl will not end, and the sky won't fall. I have lived without it for this long, so I can deal with it.
Which brings me to another point. I also left the lefties because I was sick of the whining, bitching, and the whole "I am entitled to x or y!" or the message that it's ok to be lazy, as everyone else will pick up your slack. I was also sick of the liberals telling minorities that they can't succeed in life without government help. What a load of crap. ANYONE, no matter what background you came from, OR your skin color, can succeed without government help. Abraham Lincoln didn't have any formal schooling, but he gained knowledge through hand-on experience. Yet he became our 16th Prez.
see biography:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/al16.html
There are other factors in my becoming more conservative, but these are the main ones.