My name is Brick-in-the-Wall and I was a Neo-Con

[jcarcinogen]

Btw, great original post!

 

[mport1]

I've been a libertarian since I started paying attention in 2004.

 

[Jingles]

I went from being a typical, Fox watching, Bush cheering Republican to an AnCap. It has been a process of course, but To look back at myself when I was 16 watching O'reilly and Hannity as if they were somehow the best political minds disgusts me. I truly was young and dumb.

During/right after the General election McCain v. Obama I discovered Ron Paul (I had some friends that were libertarians and heard his name mentioned a few times. I decided to look him up), read The Revolution: A Manifesto and from then a lot of things just clicked and changed instantly for me. My conversion from Neocon to traditional conservative/minarchist libertarian was instantaneous. Every since then I just progressively became more anarchist and at this point I can I am an AnCap.

I think part of my issue was (looking back) I had so many libertarian leanings, but felt they were wrong because "Republicans are supposed to say and believe X". I was really stuck in the party/media mentality, but I always believed in limited government (It disgusts me to think at one point in my life I tried to justify the horrid actions of the state with any excuse I could come up with... So young, so dumb). That's why I think my conversation was so instantaneous because it was like opening your eyes for the first time and being like "Oh, well that's obviously wrong, this is wrong, this is right, this is what this is, etc..." Everything just clicked.

 

[affa]

I would say my first book I read just for the politics was Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers when I was 15. At the time I thought it was great but looking at it now he was advocating a Fascist Police State. However what he said about Western Democracies failing when the people learn to vote themselves money and entitlements was spot on I thought.

I love RAH, though agree Starship Troopers is essentially an endorsement for a near-fascist police state. However, I think his novel A Stranger in a Strange Land more than makes up for it; while I don't agree with everything in ASIASL (specifically, there are a few rare, but deplorable views on woman and homosexuality) it is, otherwise, a tremendous book. I credit it with helping me to awaken (thankfully very early in my life, as I was a voracious reader) more than any other single source.

This video right here Carlin did was just spot on. I know some old timer Carlin fans who didn't like his later stuff because he got too "preachy and bitter" but I thought that right before he died was some of his greatest work.

I owe Carlin a debt of gratitude. I remember being fairly down in the dumps (this is over 15 years ago)... at the time, I knew no like minds, which can be a surefire way to start feeling crazy sometimes. And I didn't own a television, but was watching someone's house for them, and flipped it on... Carlin was doing a routine. And it just floored me. He just went from topic to topic, dropping truth. I immediately realized I wasn't alone.

The next public speaker that I was so blown away by took years to find... and his name is Ron Paul.

 

[cajuncocoa]

I was probably a neocon before I had ever heard the word. 9-11 changed me; it was obvious that the W. Bush administration was just looking for a reason to invade Iraq. I was also thoroughly disgusted with the way they used the attacks to continue to frighten the public, beginning with the anthrax mailings immediately following the WTC attack. I'm not completely convinced that 9-11 was an inside job (I tend to believe Bush let it happen on purpose) but I do believe the anthrax mailings were orchestrated by the Bush administration. Anyway, by the time we actually invaded Iraq, I was completely awake and ready to make some changes.

 

[freeforall]

My oldest brother was and still is a Rush baby. He used to call me a pinko commie before I even knew the meaning of politics. You know, they days when if everyone would give one thing from their lunch box to someone who didn't have anything to eat there would be no world hunger. As I grew up, I thought about how the hierarchy works a lot and voted as a libertarian when I turned 18 believing we should all have the right to choose our own way. Then I started to focus more on local politics and took pride in tax hikes that supported local projects. I still see this as a beneficial way for government to work, however, that thinking spilled over into a federal level for a while. Ron Paul has opened my eyes to the fact that I strayed from the belief that government should be local and that the people directly affected by their decisions should be the ones that make those decisions.

 

[brandon]

I read the whole thing OP. You're a good writer. It was easy to follow and well organized. Glad to have you with us!

 

[Blue]

Ron Paul woke me up right after the '08 crash. I knew we needed to repair our broken system and Ron was the only putting forth real ideas on how to fix it. My life has changed for the better because of it. The message of freedom and liberty is just so great to spread.

 

[rp713]

for me, religion was a much harder battle to overcome. when i came to the realization that who knows if god is there or not. i felt extremely guilty for a long time, years. at first i was in denial, i didnt wanna accept it. then i was stuck in the middle, and thought i was gonna go to hell. after more research though the fear went away, and started to accept my agnosticism. now i have no regrets. im glad i kept at it, and kept researching. i still look at other religious writings/other theories for intellectual reasons and you never know what you might find out.

the switch from obama to ron paul though wasnt that hard. i always thought why cant we just mind our own business, why intervene in every little thing in the world? was always anti-war, and wasnt that knowledgeable to have an opinion on domestic policy. so after watching ron, and doing my research. i pretty much agree with everything he says.

 

[Brick-in-the-Wall]

for me, religion was a much harder battle to overcome. when i came to the realization that who knows if god is there or not. i felt extremely guilty for a long time, years. at first i was in denial, i didnt wanna accept it. then i was stuck in the middle, and thought i was gonna go to hell. after more research though the fear went away, and started to accept my agnosticism. now i have no regrets. im glad i kept at it, and kept researching. i still look at other religious writings/other theories for intellectual reasons and you never know what you might find out.

the switch from obama to ron paul though wasnt that hard. i always thought why cant we just mind our own business, why intervene in every little thing in the world? was always anti-war, and wasnt that knowledgeable to have an opinion on domestic policy. so after watching ron, and doing my research. i pretty much agree with everything he says.

Oh I agree religion was the one that I had struggled with for a long, long, long time.

My Neo-Con views started to change around 19 and by 22 I was a completely different person in my views.

Religion was something I started to question and think about when I was around 14 and it was something I struggled with for almost 10 years.

 

[rp713]

Oh I agree religion was the one that I had struggled with for a long, long, long time.

My Neo-Con views started to change around 19 and by 22 I was a completely different person in my views.

Religion was something I started to question and think about when I was around 14 and it was something I struggled with for almost 10 years.

well i always hated going to church. it was a chore and i was going through the motions. as a kid, it was boring. no matter what they did to make the youth classes fun, i just wasnt interested. i believed there was a god because thats what i was told and didnt question it. but i hated church. it cut into my important saturday morning cartoons. lol. sounds ridiculous but thats what was important to me at the time. school all week, cartoons in the morning on weekend with my 2 bowls of cereal. lol. then my parents started going to this church where they believed saturday was the sabbath day, and you werent suppose to do anything secular on that day and only think about god, and watch godly things all day from sunset friday to sunset saturday. i hated it because all we would do is go to church for like 4 hours in the morning, come home, eat lunch, take a long ass nap. wake up, read the bible and/or watch sermons on vhs till sundown. then got back to watching secular things. it was a routine that lasted for years. i hated it and was so bored. so when we finally got a computer right when the internet was getting popular, i started doing my own research around 16-17 and came to the realization. it was a long road, but i think it was worth it.

 

[Jingles]

Oh I agree religion was the one that I had struggled with for a long, long, long time.

My Neo-Con views started to change around 19 and by 22 I was a completely different person in my views.

Religion was something I started to question and think about when I was around 14 and it was something I struggled with for almost 10 years.

I went from Atheist to Agnostic personally. I was an Atheist NeoCon Republican and so were the majority of my friends. Religion was never a big thing in my family. I went through confirmation, but that was it. That was like the only time we ever went to church. From a young age I pretty much accepted there was no god. My family is all democrats too. So within the household of semi-christian democrats I became an atheist neocon republican to then find Ron Paul to become a tradition conservative/minarchist libertarian to progress over those years to now be an agnostic (religion wise) Anarcho-Capitalist.

How I made it here is beyond me, but I'm here. Let's keep spreading the message of liberty so others can find it as well!

 

[ConsideringRonPaul]

This whole forum has just reinforced one of my main issues with supporting Paul: the fact that its social liberals, atheists, 9/11 "truthers", former democrats, drug users, etc. all support ron paul. I don't think I could put myself in a category with such people even though I do strongly love Ron's strict Constitutionalism and fiscal genius. I was the one person so far who clicked option four on the poll, and, as of now, it's posts like these that are keeping me on the "dark side."

 

[Jingles]

This whole forum has just reinforced one of my main issues with supporting Paul: the fact that its social liberals, atheists, 9/11 "truthers", former democrats, drug users, etc. all support ron paul. I don't think I could put myself in a category with such people even though I do strongly love Ron's strict Constitutionalism and fiscal genius. I was the one person so far who clicked option four on the poll, and, as of now, it's posts like these that are keeping me on the "dark side."

I was never a democrat/liberal nor am I a truther (and never have been). I just thought the Republican party stood for limited government so I supported it. Then I realized it didn't and Ron Paul showed me what limited constitutional government was and how to defend it by sticking to your moral belief in liberty and sticking to principle.

Also remember its about the individual. We unite to defend/fight for liberty, but we come from all walks of life and etc... What matters is our belief in what the role of government ought to be and we are to be free to believe/do as we wish as long as we don't infringe upon the rights of others. You don't have to endorse someone else's religion or lack there of to support liberty and etc...

 

[Ronulus]

This whole forum has just reinforced one of my main issues with supporting Paul: the fact that its social liberals, atheists, 9/11 "truthers", former democrats, drug users, etc. all support ron paul. I don't think I could put myself in a category with such people even though I do strongly love Ron's strict Constitutionalism and fiscal genius. I was the one person so far who clicked option four on the poll, and, as of now, it's posts like these that are keeping me on the "dark side."

I don't get your point. People come from all different social views and beliefs. You can't simply state everyone agrees on every single topic. I am not an atheist, 9/11 truther, former democrat, drug user, or 'social liberal'. As far as social liberalism goes, I think there are things that are acceptable and those that are not. However it is not the governments job nor my job to try and force everyone to my viewpoints. It is my duty to raise my kids and family to be as moral and respectful as possible to others.

How can you say you don't want to associate with 'those people' when you are not sure about who we are.

 

[ryanmkeisling]

This whole forum has just reinforced one of my main issues with supporting Paul: the fact that its social liberals, atheists, 9/11 "truthers", former democrats, drug users, etc. all support ron paul. I don't think I could put myself in a category with such people even though I do strongly love Ron's strict Constitutionalism and fiscal genius. I was the one person so far who clicked option four on the poll, and, as of now, it's posts like these that are keeping me on the "dark side."

No one is trying to associate you with any of "those" types, you are doing that in your own mind. Ron Paul is for freedom above all else, if you like freedom join the club. Stop worrying about what the rest of the world thinks, people change. I used to be a lot of things but now I am just a farmer. At the end of the day, we are all made of the same stuff. If you aren't ready to include yourself for the better of your country, you aren't ready for freedom, the rest of your worries are trivial in comparison...

 

[Eric39]

I'd say I'm still a progressive, but I see Ron Pauls plans as the best for achieving the society I would like.

 

[Brick-in-the-Wall]

This whole forum has just reinforced one of my main issues with supporting Paul: the fact that its social liberals, atheists, 9/11 "truthers", former democrats, drug users, etc. all support ron paul. I don't think I could put myself in a category with such people even though I do strongly love Ron's strict Constitutionalism and fiscal genius. I was the one person so far who clicked option four on the poll, and, as of now, it's posts like these that are keeping me on the "dark side."

Funny this sounds a little bit like me in regards to my story.

Social Issues

Where in the Constitution does it say anything about marijuana or gay marriage? It's automatically a 10th amendment issue which Ron Paul has stated. How is this wrong?

Atheist

What's wrong with Atheist again? I do Relay for Life every single year at my college, volunteered at the Veterans Hospital, give to charity, and try to be a good person. How is that bad? I'm actually almost exactly like a Christian, I just go one god further in my disbelief.

9/11 Truthers

While I don't buy Loose Change, do you disagree with the notion that our Government has done terrible things in the past? The Clinton Administration killed people in cold blood at Waco and Ruby Ridge. Ever heard of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments? How about the entire Gulf of Tonkin lie to get us into Vietnam? Our Government has lied and done very bad things in the past so they must always be questioned and put under the microscope.

Former Democrats

The option leading in the poll is "Neo-Con" and I'm pretty sure that's Republican.

Drug Users

Alcohol is considered a mind altering substance. Rush Limbaugh was addicted to the consumer version of heroin. George W. Bush snorted coke. The past three presidents have gone on record stating illegal drug use. Marijuana is scientifically proven to be less harmful than both of these substances. The U.S. Government has a patent on medical marijuana. Which drugs are you talking about? What's wrong with them?

 

[Justinfrom1776]

This whole forum has just reinforced one of my main issues with supporting Paul: the fact that its social liberals, atheists, 9/11 "truthers", former democrats, drug users, etc. all support ron paul. I don't think I could put myself in a category with such people even though I do strongly love Ron's strict Constitutionalism and fiscal genius. I was the one person so far who clicked option four on the poll, and, as of now, it's posts like these that are keeping me on the "dark side."

Welcome to the forum... I hope you stick around.

 

[dolphin]

I reposted this exact same poll in another forum.

This forum is not a political forum, or a Ron Paul forum.

Here...
http://lunaticoutpost.com/Topic-POLL-Did-you-change-because-of-Ron-Paul