I was in the same boat. I was a Scoop Jackson Democrat in my younger days. That due in part because of the Cold War. I was also pro Second Amendment as well. The change started when George McGovern ran for President. I found the direction of the Democratic Party at the time somewhat disturbing. Something about the Hard Left heavy head trip. Then while in college in the inner city of Newark NJ, it was the destruction and dependency wrought by the welfare plantation. It wasn’t about a hand up, it was about the hand out, and destroying any incentive. It was the crab bucket in action, and it was the welfare bureaucrats as well keeping the crabs in the bucket. Ronaldus Magnus completed the transition.
What a fascinating story. I always wondered about you, because of your stellar screenname. It sounds like you made a much more rational, logical, step-by-step critique of liberalism and ended up rejecting it for purely, but entirely apt, analytical reasons. Very impressive.
I wasn’t old enough to vote for McGovern. I did end up as a student delegate to a massive youth convention—one that sought to replicate a national political convention in every detail. I went [blush blush] as a McGovern delegate. I dutifully voted for him on the first ballot, but for the second I was gung-ho for Shirley Chisholm. Couldn’t tell you to this day the details of her campaign platform, but what a dynamic speaker!
Yes, I was very far to the left. So far, if I were to relate some anecdotes, I’d probably get banned. Even though that was a long time ago and I’ve thoroughly reformed, I may have been a little TOO left at one time.
We’ll never know; my lips are sealed.
Btw, have you seen the Hayek/Keynes rap video? I turned it off in a fury the first time I tried to watch it, because I thought it favored Keynes. Later I tried it again, and if you can stick it out, Hayek comes out just fine, and Keynes nearly dies of a hangover. Heh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0nERTFo-Sk