I was raised in the deep south by church going rock ribbed republican bigots. (I'm not saying all Republicans are bigots). My childhood was filled with casual racism and calls to the almighty. It seemed normal to me as i swatted mosquitos on hot, sticky Mississippi nights hearing the grown ups discuss Nascar, guns, politics, Jesus, and slews of racial epithets pointed at black folks.
Since i was 3 i always loved books. I read as often as i could. When i was 12 i read the autobiography of Malcom x and roots. Malcom x changed the entire world view i held up until that point. I had always been bothered by racism because i went to school where i had lots of black friends. It didn't make a lot of sense to me. But that book really made it hit home.
I began searching. I no longer accepted what the adults in my life told me without looking for other answers. Other ideas. I sorted through facts and logic and built my own belief system.
By the time i was 20 i figured i must be a liberal. I believed gay people should have the same rights as everyone else, that discrimination and bigotry was awful and should be eradicated, drugs should be legal, and that war was a brutal disgusting act created to serve the interests of banks and corporations. And since that was the opposite of the conservative Republicans in my life then i must be a leftist. A liberal.
And i wasn't wrong.
So i spent many hours reading and regurgitating left wing authors. I got my friends interested in politics and moved many to the left. I was making a difference!
2008 the stock market crashes. Barack Obama is the fresh young charismatic face of the democratic party. Although I considered myself a liberal, i wasn't a democrat (i hate parties). He was new and different. I was excited.
I campaigned hard for Obama. Wore out shoe leather and the patience of my friends and family. I was a true believer.
I became increasingly alarmed with the Obama administration rather quickly. The lobbyists. Goldman Sachs guys. The bankers. Ramping up drone strikes. Domestic surveillance. NDAA. Clamping down on whistleblowers. Mass deportations.
I took my concerns to liberal forums on Facebook and became a pariah. I was shouted down. Insulted. Unfriended. Blocked. Banned. It was baffling to me. These we the same people that were upset with Bush for the same things. And i wasn't rude or nasty. Just curious and concerned. But the tolerant left wasn't tolerant to being questioned about obvious hypocrisy.
Because i was being shut out everywhere else i began talking more and more to conservatives, libertarians, and anarchists.
I was forced out of my echo chamber. Best thing that ever happened to me.
I landed on agorism. I didn't make the usual trip through libertarianism and minarchism. It was anarchy for me. I never really realized how government is a religion we were all brought up to believe in until then. Once i realized that government was the enemy i abandoned any support i previously held in my capacity as a liberal.
More and more i see the left abandoning decency. I think what bothers me the most is how they seem to abhor free speech. I despise racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia. But i would never resort to violence and government control to stop you from thinking and speaking things i don't agree with. I only defend against actions; not words.
So here i am. A former lefty with a desire to see people free. But i can't get my old pals to listen because the left has decided that speech and thought are worth listening to if they agree with it.