UMASS-ISO
13th December 2010, 02:51
I'm from western Massachusetts.
The local majority politics follow mainstream democratic party lines, however my particular town is a slight majority of republican party followers. They do not seem to be outward tea party sympathizers. This may be in part due to the local military base.
I am personally aligned with the International Socialist Organization. While I realize that there are many subdivisions of leftist thought which I could list, my knowledge currently is too low to allow for a proper choice.
Which brings me to how I came to be a socialist. My father is a tea party sympathizer, and a man of considerable age. He follows the Lutheran church with strict devotion, and his politics largely grow out of a combination of theology and racism. My mother hardly engages in political discussion, and largely removes herself from current events. Her father served in the Korean war, World War 2, and Vietnam - so her politics are largely conducive to a right-leaning view of military appreciation.
I am an IVAW member and joined the military while still in high school. At the time, I was socially and economically conservative without any introspection to my political beliefs. During the 2008 election I began to doubt the republican party, and question them with a kind of vague disagreement - this, however, did not turn to me to the left. From the election night and on I became heavily, overwhelmingly involved in political studies. Yet, given my family and friends, I maintained a right-ward stance. I had nearly no left-leaning friends. I moved quickly through different titles, from all sorts of nonsense "paleo-conservative" types, to "libertarian" (Cut me some slack, I never watched Glenn Beck and even then thought he was mentally defunct).
The driving question for me, to which endured through all types of title changes and political ideals, was the question of "What is freedom"?
I, of course, was supposed to be a defender of freedom within the US military, as I was taught, but what did that mean? Luckily for me, my allegiance to general political knowledge and factual information over-rode my self-interest in defending my current viewpoint as correct. I'd even correct fellow libertarians over Marx when they began to throw out wild statements.
My time came when I could no longer, despite all of the Austrian economics I'd ingested, follow the train of thought that the majority of people were "free" in the same sense that the ruling class was. My acknowledgement of class was the awakening to socialism, an idea which right theory largely denies. I already read Marx, so this was a simple transition since I knew the basic gist.
At that, I joined the IVAW and my local ISO. Now all I've left to do is dedicate a life to activism. It has been a long time coming, and I'm ashamed of my past. However, I have a great knowledge of how the right thinks, and I may use that to appeal to them if possible. We'll see.
The local majority politics follow mainstream democratic party lines, however my particular town is a slight majority of republican party followers. They do not seem to be outward tea party sympathizers. This may be in part due to the local military base.
I am personally aligned with the International Socialist Organization. While I realize that there are many subdivisions of leftist thought which I could list, my knowledge currently is too low to allow for a proper choice.
Which brings me to how I came to be a socialist. My father is a tea party sympathizer, and a man of considerable age. He follows the Lutheran church with strict devotion, and his politics largely grow out of a combination of theology and racism. My mother hardly engages in political discussion, and largely removes herself from current events. Her father served in the Korean war, World War 2, and Vietnam - so her politics are largely conducive to a right-leaning view of military appreciation.
I am an IVAW member and joined the military while still in high school. At the time, I was socially and economically conservative without any introspection to my political beliefs. During the 2008 election I began to doubt the republican party, and question them with a kind of vague disagreement - this, however, did not turn to me to the left. From the election night and on I became heavily, overwhelmingly involved in political studies. Yet, given my family and friends, I maintained a right-ward stance. I had nearly no left-leaning friends. I moved quickly through different titles, from all sorts of nonsense "paleo-conservative" types, to "libertarian" (Cut me some slack, I never watched Glenn Beck and even then thought he was mentally defunct).
The driving question for me, to which endured through all types of title changes and political ideals, was the question of "What is freedom"?
I, of course, was supposed to be a defender of freedom within the US military, as I was taught, but what did that mean? Luckily for me, my allegiance to general political knowledge and factual information over-rode my self-interest in defending my current viewpoint as correct. I'd even correct fellow libertarians over Marx when they began to throw out wild statements.
My time came when I could no longer, despite all of the Austrian economics I'd ingested, follow the train of thought that the majority of people were "free" in the same sense that the ruling class was. My acknowledgement of class was the awakening to socialism, an idea which right theory largely denies. I already read Marx, so this was a simple transition since I knew the basic gist.
At that, I joined the IVAW and my local ISO. Now all I've left to do is dedicate a life to activism. It has been a long time coming, and I'm ashamed of my past. However, I have a great knowledge of how the right thinks, and I may use that to appeal to them if possible. We'll see.