Doc Rampage has a very interesting post discussing the difference between stubborness and principle. His comments interested me because I completely understand what he is discussing. I can be extremely stubborn. I just like to be contrary and don't like to be told what to do. Probably, as Doc states, due to the smug satisfaction that stubborness brings
We aren't stubborn for no reason; we are stubborn because it gives us a feeling of smug satisfaction. If you have that feeling, maybe you should reconsider.
In our culture everyone receives a moniker, liberal or conservative, redneck or hippie, Republican or Democrat. In order to defend our chosen affiliations it's often much easier to simply react to our counterparts across the aisle and do the opposite than it is to make decisions based on what we know is right. Too often people in our society spends more time not being something (liberal, religious, etc..) that we don't bother to make our own decisions.
I encourage anyone who reads this to contemplate this next time you take a political, philisophical or idelogical position on a topic. What are your goals? Does your knee-jerk response to the question at hand actually help achieve your goal, or are you just being stubborn?