What Made You Change Politically?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

My current ideology? Or my general changes over life? I’ll give the short story about my current, and largely consistent embrace of libertarianism over the last five years.

Ayn Rand *gasp*. Ayn Rand taught me that loving myself is ok. Having gone through elementary school and middle school being brainwashed by myself and others, her books, in particular The Fountainhead, woke a sleeping giant. I learned it is ok to love myself. I learned that it’s alright to do what I want to do in life, as long as it doesn’t harm others. For example, I wanted to work in political organizing, but never thought I could because I had no connections. After reading Atlas Shrugged, I walked into a campaign office and made those connections.

Don’t get me wrong, I do not embrace objectivism. I don’t believe in gutting a welfare system; in fact, I support an America first ideology in general with strong individualist leanings. If we are going to spend trillions of dollars at all, I’d rather see my neighbors have healthcare than see that money wasted on defeating ISIS. I’d rather see collectivism of any kind-racism, and anti-racism actions that are downright stupid (quotas, etc) torn down. I’d like to see the simple libertarian issues embraced (“muh cigarettes, muh guns, muh equal marriage) as much as I’d like to see a massive change in American culture from archaic community values that read like a cliché 1980s high school movie.

I believe in the individual as the first and foremost unit of life, and that the individuals rights should be protected at all costs. Which includes a government. What keeps one individual from impulsively killing another human being? A society with law and order. So I generally just consider myself conservative with individualist leanings.