What made you more politically conservative ?

I grew up in a family of "yellow dog democrats", I had the most wonderful mother and father that I can imagine except that their democratic ideology directly contradicted everything they said was good and right. My father refused to consider welfare and we were dirt poor, he worked 20 hours a day during the week and about 12 hours a day on weekends. I looked around at the world I lived in and the poorest states seemed to be democratic strongholds. I grew up in West Virginia and every other highway or school or public building is attributed to Robert Byrd, but those projects were completed by out of state companies and the only benefit to the people of the state seemed to be labor for a year or two and then these people had to wait for the next election to make sure he could wrangle another pork barrel project after re-election. I watched Water Gate and the Vietnam War on the news every night as a child and decided that the first step for me should be the military, I turned 18 in 1984 and voted for the first time in that election, Reagan and Bush or Mondale and Ferraro. The democrats had liberal ideas for the military and I was on the delayed entry program when I voted and it was easy for me to pull the lever for Reagan. Since 1984, I have voted almost exclusively for independents or republicans. A few democrats have been included because I thought their message was better than their opponents but I have always shared my fathers idea that if I have to work harder to make it on my own, then so be it. The liberal idea that the government is here to take care of you is contrary to what I believe. I think people should stand for themselves and a few may fall through the cracks. Limited welfare is one ting, 180 different programs redistributing wealth is something else. I want the government out of my business, out of the schools, out of the healthcare. Out of everything except what they are constitutionally obligated to take care of.