[–] Broc_Lia 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
It was in this time I fell in love with the US. Like many Canadians, I had been raised in a very anti-American household. My family and friends would constantly look down their noses at Americans with an unmerited sense of superiority.
Interesting, even the conservatives? Incidentally, I genuinely do look down on most of the US government, but the people are pretty based in some places.
I don't have any single road to damascus moment, it was a gradual chipping away at my statist tendancies. The biggest shifts came from reading libertarian texts and encountering differences between public and private organisations first hand. I think the TV licence was my first really major departure from admiring government.
[–] acheron2012 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago (edited ago)
In high school when we were studying The ISMs it was blatantly obvious to me that the ONLY differences between Fascism, Communism, Monarchy, Socialism and plain old Tribalism was:
How many people are in the ruling class
How one gets into that class.
They are all the exact same monolithic dictatorship where not only the means of production but also the most basic human choices are restricted by arbitrary edict of the ruling elite and administered through the simple expedient of unlimited violence against the citizenry. [Yes yes please don't bother with the tripe argument about only in communism does the state OWN the business -- just try to open an unlicensed shop cutting people's hair and see how quickly men with rifles show up to close you down.]
Democracy is an equal non-starter. This is just organized mob rule and probably the most vicious form of government ever devised in all human history. The instant poll and 24x7 news cycle has largely, and tragically, transformed the US from a Republic to a defacto democracy.
I Never had any use at all for Philosophy. My brief exposure in school was to the most outlandish sociopaths history has to offer e.g. Karl Marx. As a field of study it seemed to be where people too manically insane to get steady work as bank robbers went to score cash from witless fools.
Then a friend mentioned Ayn Rand. Unsurprisingly I had managed to make it all the way through college without ever even hearing her name. Because as George Orwell so astutely observed - if you don't ever mention an idea then it doesn't really exist. I devoured her philosophy! Everything about it rings of WELL DUH!
So that makes me a proud Objectivist.
I observe that most "Libertarians" have at least a moral inconsistencies wherein they just can't quite let go of state sponsored violence - most notably the anti-abortion crowd. That is a shame. Because if you can use a government gun to prevent that woman from having an abortion then I can use a government gun to make you pay for my healthcare; and we are right back where we started.
Libertarian is the least evil of the political parties. I just wish it was more morally consistent. But then it does seem the "average man" doesn't really want to live in a world where he cannot turn to government violence to change things he dislikes in others. So until and unless Libertarians become morally consistent they are no more fit than any other political group to run the world. They'd just screw it up in new and different ways.
[–] WalkerFuenteWalther 0 points 6 points 6 points (+6|-0) ago
I was a punk rock kid in the '80s, which made me a lefty by default. I saw a lot of things I didn't like, but couldn't quite get my head around it. Eventually I went back to school and had an econ professor introduce us to the works of Dr. Thomas Sowel. For me, that class was like someone focused the camera.
[–] [deleted] 0 points 6 points 6 points (+6|-0) ago
[–] oddjob 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
The thing is, the Southerners are more religious than they are Libertarian.
To over simplify, The Democratic Party used to be very strong in the south because they were religious. Democrats wanted to use the govt to give money to the poor and used Jesus's teachings as justification. Then communism came and the same actions that Democrats wanted to do had a new reasoning and dropped the religious reasons. Republicans started picking up Southerners by catering to their religious beliefs and now they practically have every political office in the south that isn't in a major city.
[–] Groff 0 points 6 points 6 points (+6|-0) ago
Easy. I've lived on this planet for 62 years - which is more than enough to reject the government and its supporting corporate elites. There is only so many lies that you can take and so many assaults that you can suffer. The choice is die or rebel. Submission is death!
[–] BlackSheepBrouhaha 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
I just want to be left alone.
And I understand economics.