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The latter part of a wise man’s life is taken up in curing the follies, prejudices, and false opinions he had contracted in the former.
- Jonathan Swift
How I became a Liberal in the first place is a different story. Long story short: In college, I came to perceive large corporations as a bigger threat than large government. (Reading the stories of how Ford Motor Company calculated that is was cheaper to incinerate passengers and drivers than it was to fix their gas tank problems ($11 per car )is one thing that has always stuck with me.) I thought the Democrats were more likely to regulate than the Republicans, so I started voting Democratic. I did not swallow the full meal - I was always vehemently opposed to illegal immigration and "comprehensive reform" to legalize them - but I sat at the table for many years.
However, in 2007, things changed. I became aware, early that year, of the astounding housing Bubble and the insane mortgage bubble behind it - and that many if not all the major banks were actually insolvent when (not if) it all fell apart. I was so convinced that I started taking steps to sell the house I had purchased in late 2005, (when I was not aware of much of anything financial). Unfortunately August 2007 happened before I got it together.
August 2007 was when the prices of houses stopped going up and the foolishness of all the assumptions based on the Grand Assumption of ever-increasing house prices became more evident; the subprime securitizatoion markets died in a matter of weeks, if not days.
What that instructed me was: not only was the system a house of cards, but that sometimes it can get very windy in a hurry - even after a long, seemingly calm period.
I thought that things stood a chance of going into a Great Depression or worse at any time - and this Liberal decided that he wanted guns. And ammo. Preferably lots of each.
I went shooting with some buddies, whom I had jokingly called "gun nuts" for some time - "really, why do you need so many guns?" - who gently beat me about the neck and ears about the safe handling of guns.
They also patiently explained to me that the "people" referred to in the 2nd Amendment really, really were the very same "people" referred to everywhere else in the Bill of Rights - no matter what some goofy Liberals thought "all that stuff before the commas" said. The "people" were all of us - not the National Guard or some State or Federally designated organisation - the "people" is us, "we the people".
Then I started reading some facts and some more facts - and I realized that all politicians lie, but nobody lies like gun-grabbing Liberals.
And that was the start.
(update 20120225 - The original title of this entry was "My Name is Bobn and I Am A Recovering Liberal". This is an erroneous take on a manner of introductions used in 12-Step meetings. For example, in AA it would be: "My Name is Bobn and I Am A Recovering Alcoholic". The error in my application is that the take in 12-Step programs is that you never stop being alcoholic - you avoid the consequences of being alcoholic by never drinking. However, I have stopped being Liberal. )
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