Ch-Ch-Changes

Markos has an interesting post at Daily Kos about his transition from Republican to Democrat. It’s always interesting to see how others made the same journey I did. The times were greatly different–almost 30 years–but the circumstances were similar. In both cases, the political beliefs that we developed as teenagers did not survive into adulthood. Markos says something that sounds very familiar:

...[A]s socially liberal as I am, I am still and always will be a strong supporter of fiscal responsibility and a healthy, robust entrepreneurial business climate. I was a Libertarian Republican in a party already moving toward its present authoritarian foundation.

Looking back 40 years, I see that my Republican sentiments were largely a product of my local environment. I was a white boy in the south during the civil rights era. My hometown was the scene of violent confrontations between civil rights demonstrators and local authorities. My father had died a few years earlier and my mother was spiraling into depression so I had little parental guidance. What I did have was a community that was highly resistant to demands for social justice and I bought into that.

When Barry Goldwater voted against the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, my path was set. I was one of his most vocal supporters. Of course, I couched my actions in the rhetoric of states’ rights but I cannot truly say that the words were anything more than window dressing for policies that aimed at denying fellow human beings their right to full participation in the political and social life of this nation. It’s always embarrassing to look back on those days.

Fortunately, those benighted beliefs did not survive even the first few years of college. What survived my conservative past, however, was my interest in public affairs and the realization that government does matter. And even as I veered far left in my social beliefs, I did not give up the idea that, as much as possible, government should leave individuals alone to make their own decisions insofar as those decisions do not harm others. Like Markos, I still retain a strong libertarian streak. That’s why I am still undecided about the propositions to ban smoking in Arizona bars and restaurants. I can and do chose non-smoking establishments.

As for economics, I am still uneasy about federal deficits. Not so much that they exist as the fact that the deficit seems out of control, piling up a debt that will saddle future generations and putting America in debt to foreign nations. I recognize the utility of deficit spending but would like to see some proportion and sanity to federal economic policy. Unlike Markos, I gave little thought to the business/entrepreneurial climate for many years. I have been more concerned with the economic injustices and polarization of wealth under capitalism. These days, however, I recognize value of entrepreneurship and wealth creation so I understand the need to encourage business. But my concern for social and economic justice are not at all lessened; I am still skeptical toward economic policies that favor large corporations and fortunes over small business and modest incomes.

As a Goldwaterite I was ready to pound North Vietnam into rubble and confront the evil Soviet Communists at every turn. My beliefs changed dramatically between 1964 and 1970, partly because I began to understand Vietnamese nationalism (they would have fought us from the rubble) and came to see the Soviet Union and international Communism in the broader historical context of Russian chauvinism/imperialism. Perhaps the greatest influence on my thinking in this area came from my study of diplomatic history where I saw the stark contrast between the informed realism of America’s founders and the messianic dreams of their 20th century successors.

And then I went to Vietnam. I’ve written a lot about that experience and won’t repeat all that here other than to say that in my five months as a combat infantryman, I learned the ultimate truth about war: it’s wrong, wrong, WRONG! Looking through gun sights at my fellow human beings, their villages and their land, not caring what became of them as long as I survived, was about as degrading an experience as I can imagine. I’ve spent three and a half decades arguing with myself about it. And even though I have come to some resolution about that experience, it will always inform my opinion and actions.

All this is to say that I am very much a product of my environment but also that I can learn and change. Maybe that’s why I describe myself as politically liberal, personally conservative and philosophically anarchic. It makes life interesting as I sort my way around and through my contradictions.