Leaving the Left (How I learned to stop worrying and hate the terrorists)

Front Page Magazine ^ | Monday, June 19, 2006 | Seth Swirsky

[TheZMan]

Could you please explain your tagline? Thanks.

It came out of the thread titled "Coulter's Murtha 'Fragging' Comment Draws Fire".

The actual post where the tagline was added: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1650579/posts?page=80#80

It formed in the posts preceding the change.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I came along in 1948 and remember Ike in the 1950s. I thought he was the only president we'd ever had...

[L.N. Smithee]

But when I was about 27, in the late 1980s, cracks in my liberal worldview began to appear. It started with an uproar from the Left when Tipper Gore had the audacity to suggest a label on certain CDs to warn parents of lyrics that were clearly inappropriate for young people. Her suggestion was simple common sense and I was surprised by the furor it caused from the likes of Frank Zappa (and others) who felt their freedoms were being encroached upon. It was my first introduction into the entitled, selfish and irresponsible thinking I now associate with the Left.

I actually bought the Tipper Gore book ("Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society") and when Al Gore ran for President back in 1988, to me he was Tipper's husband. If only it remained so.

In retrospect, the recording industry acts as if the PARENTAL GUIDANCE label is a blessing in disguise, claiming that every artist wanted to have one on their album cover because it boosted sales. I have yet to see an actual analysis of that claim, and it belies the fierce fight Zappa, Dee Snider, and even John Denver fought against the label.

[lowbridge]

bump

[daviscupper]

I would say you were politically precocious. Maybe your family had political discussions at the dinner table. Not all families are like that.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

We were stationed in Japan, 1951-1961. Dad worked for the at the Army's Japan Procurement Agency.

[Archytekt]

A man of twenty and not of the liberal persuasuion hath no heart;
a man of forty and not of the conservative persuasion hath no head!

;)

[WellsFargo94]

I used to be a liberal, until I went to a college that offered a great education, as it was reading & writing intensive. Our January "breaks" were spent on either independent study classes or working full-time at on an internship in your field of study. Either of which wasn't much of a break. Papers or projects would always be due after fall and spring break, summers meant a list of "recommended reading" (mostly liberal or feminist related). Our Senior year it was required to attain high scores on either the mandatory GRE, LSATs and MCATs, a Senior Thesis and a comprehensive exam on top of a full load of classes to graduate. Small class sizes were an asset for discussion/debate...or not, depending upon the professor's political leanings.

I was disappointed by the lack of real debate in most classrooms. I learned real quick to keep my mouth shut whenever the radical lesbians started to make their ridiculous claims, as most professors agreed, or at least didn't allow interjection of opposing points of view. As well, I quickly learned that most of the professors (females mostly) would grade poorly, despite performance, for Conservative points of view, or any dissention from the radical left.

This is why I am very happy that Wells College is now co-ed. It was sad only because a single sex education can be beneficial in many respects, but most of the women's colleges are sadly overrun by radical liberalism...at least in the northeast that is. They wonder why their enrollments are down and they have to go co-ed. They are too stupid and stuck in their academia eutopia to see and understand the real world.

I'm glad to embrace my parents' political views and values, even though I never thought that I would. There were smarter than I ever knew.

[EQAndyBuzz]

I am 45. I was a kid that laid on the ground with the protesters when Kent State happened. I played one of the four dead in Ohio. As a 12 year old, I marched with the older kids to protest Vietnam. I drew peace signs and wrote "Impeach Nixon" all over my textbooks and notebooks. As I got older, I marched in NYC with radicals, protesting pretty much everything. In 1978, I went to Israel and participated in the Peace Now movement.

Then in 1980 I joined the Airforce. I have been a Conservative ever since.

[XR7]

bttt

[jbenedic2]

Ping

GREAT POST!

[cricket]

Great letter; I hope it makes the 'e-mail' circuit; and those w/family, friends in our Liberal Bastions of 'Education' send this along as well. I can think of a few books I would like to stick this in. . .and drop. . .leave. . .at Starbucks. . .a car, with a Gore sticker or worse. . .Kerry. ..too good not to share.

[cricket]

Another wonderful testimony! Thanks. . .

[Sam Cree]

I think this author is still a lefty, but at least he understands political correctness, threat of Islamic terror and his party's choice to support one and ignore the other.

[woofie]

bump for later read and Hey Sam ,hope all is well!!!

[ADemocratNoMore]

From my homepage...

I've been a Democrat all my life. I voted D in the last nine presidential elections. I was a leftist in my youth.

For the last several years I've chaffed at the silliness of the political correctness movement and recognized the need for a strong military, but still drank the liberal Kool-aid. I suffered from the selected not elected angst of the 2000 election. I couldn't stand resident Bush.

Then 9/11 happened and I saw the President stand up in the aftermath as the leader of our country and the Commander in Chief. I started defending our policy of liberating Afghanistan to my liberal friends who complained about how we were just bombing rocks. I started seeing the Democrats become more interested in partisan political gain and less interested in standing in a united front in our war on terrorists. I started listening to Glenn Beck and saw how the media misrepresented the efforts to support our troops. I discovered Fox news when we liberated Iraq and was shocked, awed and profoundly disappointed at how the MSM was reporting the war. I started agreeing with Rush instead of loathing him. I discovered F**France and FreeRepublic.

To cut to the heart of the matter, once you start to see that a lot of the things you took for granted had been based on false assumptions you start wondering what else you were wrong about. I really no longer consider myself a Democrat. I've moved on.

My most sincere thanks to those of you in combat for your service to our country. My most sincere thanks to your brothers and sisters in arms, those in military service around the planet, those who have served in times past and those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom. A special thanks also to our Police, Fire-Rescue and EMS personnel here at home. You are True Heroes, all.

[Sam Cree]

Everything is fine, woofie, I hope the same for you!

[rogue yam]

I am 45. I was a kid that laid on the ground with the protesters when Kent State happened. I played one of the four dead in Ohio. As a 12 year old, I marched with the older kids to protest Vietnam. I drew peace signs and wrote "Impeach Nixon" all over my textbooks and notebooks. As I got older, I marched in NYC with radicals, protesting pretty much everything. In 1978, I went to Israel and participated in the Peace Now movement.

Then in 1980 I joined the Airforce. I have been a Conservative ever since.

I am the same age as you and the author of the piece. Your pre-enlistment experiences are much the same as mine. I went to college in 1978 and remained a leftist through the late 1980s. Then the fall of the Soviet Union, the liberation of Eastern Europe, the ongoing and mounting self-loathing and treachery of the Democrats, the election and administration of the Sinkmeister, and my own continued study of politics, economics, and public policy led me ever-rightward. There had been aspects of leftists all along that never sat well with me, but it took me a long time to break free. By 1997 I had for some time realized that I was no longer a leftist, but it was only after I started surfing the web, and in particular Jim Robinson's FreeRepublic, that I was able to really come to understand my previous wrongheadedness. I'm glad that the young people of today will not have to wander through the desert for as long as I did.

[ladyinred]

Excellent!

[CGVet58]

an excellent, bttt ping morale booster.