Though I was raised as a Conservative Libertarian Republican by my father:

 In College I realized how limiting this point of view was as I was exposed to how awful conservatism tended to be upon Minorities and the economically disadvantaged people and people whose health (mentally or physically) was difficult or almost impossible to survive.

So, in college I saw how selfish many Conservative points of view were, especially the "Trickle down theory) which is mostly bullshit too.

However, as I grew older I also realized that I was moving more towards a more Moderate stance on everything simply because you need enough wealth as a country to even be able to care for those economically disadvantaged or physically or mentally disadvantaged too. path

So, without the "Idea People" who tend to be more conservative and educated in their approach to life you cannot have a wealthy enough society to help care for those economically or physically disadvantaged for whatever the reason. 

This has been my path from being a Conservative Libertarian as a child growing up to becoming more Liberal in college so all the poor of the world didn't have to die horribly to realizing that without the more educated and conservative thinkers (the IDEA people) everyone was going to die anyway and no one at all would survive here in the U.S. because of forces throughout the world beyond the control of the U.S. or any other nation on earth.

So, now I would call myself a Moderate in my thinking just out of basic practicality of trying to keep enough people alive in a compassionate way so that we all don't hate ourselves all the time just being such bastards about everything.

There was a line or two in "The White Lotus" that went something like this. The daughter wanted to be a Buddhist Monk but after one night she realized she was addicted to privilege and realized she didn't want to live without this privilege and began to cry.

We are very fortunate here in the U.S. It's sort of like living in Disneyland compared to most other countries on earth. 

I have been to India and watched birds eat the eyes out of dead people and was horrified in 1985 and 1986. 

Though it likely has evolved a lot from those days in India now nothing will erase how horrific it was for the poorest of the poor in India then from my mind.

This experience made me more real and less idealistic about everything when I experienced this and helped bring me to where I am today where I would call myself a

COMPASSIONATE PRAGMATIST. 

In other words be as compassionate as possible to yourself and all those around you while still being practical enough to stay alive yourself along with your family and friends.

By God's Grace