Just waking up, trying to find the ground

[Cijji Dubz]

Hello, I am an adult who has been voting for years, on “both sides” of the fence of American politics and has gotten disgusted with the state of things after realizing that they are all crooked bastards no matter which “end” of the false spectrum they align themselves with. I’ve realized that neither of the “viable” parties speaks for me nor even for long-term sanity. Yet I am coming to realize just how ignorant I am of the alternatives. Thus I am beginning my sadly delayed political education by doing tons and tons of reading. I have read a couple of books about Socialism, some brief writings about Anarchy, and have just begun the Portable Karl Marx.
As such, I am seeking the company of thoughtful Socialists, Communists, Anarchists, and others with whom I may seek to expand my knowledge in both theory and practical application.
I therefore beg your patience and indulgence as I am certain to make incredibly stupid statements in support of mindlessly parroted assumptions. I am also certain to miss your point on a regular basis I try to unlearn some deep programming. Thank you in advance.

[Nolan]

Welcome! :)

There's a Learning Forum with your name on it.

[Cijji Dubz]

I was very happy to see the Learning Forum and plan to spend much time there. Wanted to drop a line here, though, also, and de-anonymize. Thanks for the welcome!

[Q]

Welcome :)

[Veg_Athei_Socialist]

Welcome to Revleft:)!

[Reznov]

Agreed. I have been here for some time but I still find myself visiting and learning form our Learning forum all the time.

Its really cool, check it out!

And of course, welcome aboard Comrade!

[Cijji Dubz]

Hmm, this may be a tad off-topic, but I got the following message when I logged in today:

Cijji Dubz, You are member of RevLeft for a 5 days now but haven't posted anything yet. Be noted that we are deleting zero-posters from time to time. To avoid this please start posting soon. Click on this message bar if you wish to make an introduction thread now...It seems clear to me that the message is in error, so I hope that I am not in danger of having my account deleted... :confused:

[Jazzratt]

Hmm, this may be a tad off-topic, but I got the following message when I logged in today:
It seems clear to me that the message is in error, so I hope that I am not in danger of having my account deleted... :confused: I can't remember the last time I went on a 0 post account deleting binge, but it is advisable that you make a handful of posts (in forums that count toward the total like the ones in the General category) to be on the safe side.

[Cijji Dubz]

Ah, I see. Thanks for the clarification.

[ellipsis]

welcome to revleft, good to see people are beginning to reconsider the viability of the current economic system, if they had even considered it to begin with. also good to see a healthy intellectual curiosity. so... welcome comrade.

what parties or ideas/issues did you use to gravitate towards.

[ContrarianLemming]

Welcome to the pit of despair

Enjoy!

[Cijji Dubz]

what parties or ideas/issues did you use to gravitate towards.

I've got quite the checkered past. I was raised within a vaguely Liberal, Democrat family that never discussed politics at all. I joined the Army during the mid 1980's after a wasted year at college. During that time I bought into the mindset pretty well and voted Republican since Republicans were good about giving us little green men raises every year.
After getting out of the Army and trying to educate myself a bit, I went pretty far Liberal. However, I became disgusted with the ignorance and hypocrisy I saw among the Liberals I knew as well as among the Liberal mouthpieces in the media and elsewhere. Most of these people didn't know shit about history or government; all they knew were that Republican were eeeeevil, and that Tea Party people are eeeeeeeeevil, and that everyone who is different from them is eeeeeeeeeevil (all the while proclaiming how tolerant they are). I also started to see how repressive Democrats could be (Obama's a great example of this), and how all of our leading class are related (literally, in many cases), and just how alien their interests and concerns are from the common man.

What do you do when you leave the Republicans because they disgust you and you leave the Democrats when you find that they are no better? Many today are becoming Harry Browne Libertarians and Sarah Palin Tea Partiers, but I don't see any interesting solutions on their ends, just more of the same under a different brand name.