[FullMetalJacket]

Describe your ideological journey.

Libertarian
"If everyone stay's out of everyone else's business we'll all be fine."
Socialist
"The complexity of the market combined with destructive corporations necessitates collective action."
Communist
"The nature of capitalism creates an irreconcilable conflict between classes. Historical materialism shows markets coming under the dominance of ever-growing corporations. The bourgeois and their mode of production is historically redundant."
Fascist
"The masses are incapable of leading their own revolution. They need great leaders like Marx, Lenin, Mao, Che. The farce of democracy. Historical materialism (determinism) is defeated by man's consciousness. (Our perception of the world has thus changed it. -Hegel) A return to Plato. A new way forward.

[Cheesecake_Marmalade]

I am not necessarily a "fascist", but my ideology is pretty similar to that of fascism minus a bunch of stuff I think is bullshit.

Liberal
My parents were liberals, what can I say? Growing up in California, you're either deeply religious or deeply liberal. I was unfortunate enough to be born to the latter.

Minarchism/Classical Liberalism
The stuff of fools, I assumed that if left to their own devices, people would be essential good and noble. I thought that the portrayal of big businesses as nefarious was just a stupid farce. Mainly backlash from my liberal roots and discovering that every stupid thing I thought was just a bold-faced lie.

Paleoconservatism
This is when I first started cultivating my nationalism, and it took the form of misguided hoopla about freedom of association and protection of our borders, along with a healthy amount of love for militias and civilian groups. My vision shifted from "free" economics being the ever present force of good in our lives to nationalism and mercantilism.

Authoritarianism/No ideology/Reactionary
This is when I made the transition from atheist to ethical nihilist. Now I only have respect for power, and the ability to assert this power on the majority, because that's basically what every successful system manages to do. Sure I have my own little ideas about how government should be run, but I have no tolerance for a clear system of morals. I phrase everything in terms of social utility and approach every question with the health (spiritual and physical) of the nation in mind.

[Il Duce]

Conservative/Communitarian Came from a strict Catholic family. Believed in social conservative values, but at the same time the market should be controlled to a small degree. Age 17-19

Socialist Once i got involved in studying social sciences, i started to dislike the current system more. Hated free-market capitalism and all it stood for. Opposed globalization and such. Age 19-21

Fascist/National Syndicalist Disliked socialist attitudes towards conservative and cultural values. Believed there needs to be order and citizens should have duties for the collective good. Democracy has proven to be ineffective in determining long term policies. Knowing how socialism failed the economy, corporatism seems to be the best alternative. People are ultimately selfish when given too much freedom. People should be loyal to the community more than being interested in their own agendas. Globalization must be defeated through the use of nationalism. Age 21-23

[starman2003]

I first became a fascist, albeit never a racist, around age 17. I became fed up with the enormous chasm between US potential--to solve problems and expand far into space--and reality: stagnation and decadence, thanks to democracy.

[Dr House]

Not a fascist, but certainly an authoritarian far-rightist.

Liberalism

I first became politically conscious after taking economics 101. My first reaction was, however, to take what I learned in microeconomics and make my own macro conclusions which, being completely ignorant of actual macro (back then) and a lateral thinker, translated into becoming an economic progressive. Back then I also flirted with the idea of autogestionism, which would in my view be as efficient as a free market economy but without the workers getting screwed. One quirk about my fiscal liberalism though was that I was a strong supporter of free trade and globalization, which I believed was the key for the development of the third world.

I was also deeply anti-religious and a strong social liberal.

Classical liberalism

My interest in economics flourished after taking econ, and I started learning about macroeconomics by myself. I learned about GDP, GDP growth and its effect on wages and quality of life, and I started reading economics books. My move to the right was clinched by my reading freedomnomics by John Lott, which explained real-world applications of supply and demand metrics, the importance of reputation to industries and thus why regulation was less important than I thought it was, and I quickly shifted to the economic center. Around that time I discovered Pofo, and upon reading the rather compelling arguments made in the libertarianism sub-forum my position as a moderate classical liberal was cemented.

I was of course still a steadfast supporter of free trade, free migration and a strong social liberal.

Geolibertarianism

Even though I was fairly neoliberal when I joined Pofo I still shied away from actual libertarianism, because I believed letting people just die from exposure was wrong. Further, I considered universal healthcare (as well as universal mandated insurance of all sorts) to be an optimal system, as it spreads risk across the entire population. My shift to actual natural rights libertarianism was, ironically enough, inspired by a pro-anarchist clip Abood posted, which explained that property of land isn't legitimate because land was not made by the hand of man. After seeing that I became interested in the concept of geolibertarianism and its relation to Lockean natural rights, and I concluded that people have a right to the products if their labor, outside of land. At about that time I discovered that strong price deflation had not been an economic problem in 19th-century Amerca, and further while it was a shithole laissez-faire US featured very strong GDP and wage growth, which conclusively pointed to the free market as the best path to prosperity, and the Fed and fractional-reserve banking as the source of today's economic ills. At that time I considered producer credit immoral as I saw it as labor usury, but I thought that it would disappear if the Fed and FRB did.

Classical liberalism (again)

My definitive shift away from natural-rights libertarianism coincided with Dave's arrival on the forum. His introduction thread mentioned that he had grown disillusioned with libertarianism as it was an "ideological straitjacket", which along with a rather compelling argument from Vera Politica on natural rights definitively led my shift away from deontological libertarianism, although for a time still I remained a libertarian on a strictly utilitarian basis. Around that time I temporarily dropped support for the LVT, as I considered it a garden-variety property tax that particularly hurt farmers. Instead I became a supporter of the FairTax.

Jeffersonian democracy

At some point I came to believe the American constitution is inherently libertarian--but only at the federal level. It places very few restrictions on state governments, other than the fact they must have open borders with each other. I thought herein lay the key to an efficient government--finally. If all functions the federal government was performing "illegally", namely regulation and welfare, were transfered to state governments then entitlements and regulations would be subject to political competition and ultimately reach a market equilibrium. Too much regulation would cause business to flee, and too little would cause consumers and workers to do so. Taxes too high would cause business and workers to flee, and too little welfare would cause beneficiaries to move to areas with better benefits.

Redistributionism

At one point I started discussing economics with Dave in-depth and personally, which led me to become more moderate by the day as he makes some rather compelling arguments. My first conversion to "Daveism" if you will, was the emergence of my support for forced savings. Then another compelling argument by a Marxist (Potemkin this time) led me to another fundamental ideological shift... this time as I realized the unavoidable link between politics and economics, and its implications. As I considered the separation of labor and capital and the conflicts associated with it inherently dangerous (since I still believed that pro-business government policy was necessary for economic progress), I became a "redistributionist", that is, an advocate of equal distribution the nation's stock of capital assets by means of forced savings and subsidies on capital investment paid for via high progressive taxes. I still supported extreme decentralism at that time.

National liberalism

Eventually I realized that most of Dave's economic arguments made sense and my support of neoliberalism was intellectually dishonest, and I became more friendly to economic interventionism and protectionism. I became aware of several points rather important to my fundamental change in ideology, which are that 1) protectionism is necessary for industrialization and free trade fundamentally benefits the developed world (the opposite of my thinking up till that time), 2) the development of a nation individually is separate from that of any other nation in the world, so locationally the state of the world economy is irrelevant as it's only an average, and 3) I was not and had never been a true internationalist. My strong support of free migration and free trade was nothing but Latin American chauvinism in disguise. I can't remember at what point I fully embraced Dave's economic ideology, but it took several months of political arguments with him, which mostly happened in private.

Ultimately my support of democracy also whittled down and crumbled as I increasingly realized that democracy doesn't actually have a better track record than nondemocratic regimes (that is, only a minority of democratic states are "successful", just like only a minority of undemocratic ones are), but successful nondemocratic regimes are actually wealthier and have more sustainable economic models than Western democracies. Later I realized that my idea of redistributionism was my last-gasp attempt to "save" democracy, as it was an attempt at making the general population more pro-business and thus more likely to vote for governments with sound policies, the purpose of which is defeated if the government is non-democratic, which led to my eventually dropping support for the idea (as it is inherently dangerous in that it puts capital in the hands of people who will probably mismanage it).

Reactionary

Even after fully embracing Dave's views on economics I stubbornly held on to my strong social liberalism. I eventually started letting up on that when I realized that that, too, was intellectually dishonest. I was taking a life view I could personally handle ("happy" nihilism) and expecting society to conform to those standards, out of a knee-jerk hatred of religious authority and social rules I've been harboring since high school. Once I realized that from a strictly pragmatic perspective there is some merit to traditional values being socially optimal, I started to support social conservatism more and more by the day. My views evolved to what they are today.

On economics I've started flirting with the idea of market socialism, meaning basically a state-run or mostly state-run economy where state enterprises operate commercially for a profit as if they were private. The rationale being that if the economy is owned by the state it will have less incentive to push for anti-labor policies such as free migration, as the state has a vested interest in the well-being of the nation. I've also become more strongly Georgist, as I've come to realize that properly applied LVT can effectively replace all federal-level taxes, or just easily double government revenues without anyone actually feeling the tax rise.

[Metal Gear]

I became convinced that racial and ethnic differences are "real." I noticed that society was in a collective state of denial about them and got interested in anthropology websites. However, I do not consider this as important as national socialists do.

I became convinced that the free market doesn't "work" and needs patching and repairing. You define this as socialism. It made me reject libertarianism.

I still believe competition is a good thing but it needs intensive regulation. The needs of the state must be superior to the needs of business. Both should complement each other.

I got involved with populist politcal parties.

I realized true technocracy requires big government to manage dissent from religious and business groups.

I started to blame outsourcing for difficult job searches (it is relevant in my field). I started to equate liberal capitalism with globalism. I realized that liberal capitalism is more responsbile for globalistic extremism than Marxism-Leninism is. Stalin, Mao etc. were not radical globalists. I became disgusted with other "dissidents" who focused on "the Jews" and "Communists" instead of liberal capitalism as the problem.

I read Benito Mussolini. I agreed with most of it but I advocate more of a pan-nationalism fascism and less of an imperialistic fascism.

I read Karl Marx. I became convinced that he was well intentioned but outmoded. He made interesting materialistic observations, but they turned out to be wrong and he focused too much on class conflict. Yet I dislike liberals more than Marxists.

I started a website and wrote articles about how the two party system is a false dichotomy in America. I realized Democracy was just an opiate for idiots. The Democratic system is minor league politics. Real rebels think outside of the Democratic system. When it is all said and done, Republicans and Democrats are on the same side.

Even though I have an ideology similar to fascism, I believe Hitler (not a true fascist, an economically illiterate judeo-obessive) ruined fascism and Mussolini was WRONG to get behind Hitler.

[telluro]

Liberal-leftist
Almost by default as a reaction against the Catholic-Conservative society I emerged from and following the artsy academic Liberal-Left "elites" I came in touch with.

"Europeans are the criminals of history; all other races are victims and would have created a great good society without European interference; nationalisms and religions are the curse of the world; without them we would have world-peace and finally realize our citizenship of the world." - this is something of a parody obviously, but I do remember believing some of that stuff literally, and I do know liberal-leftists, even in power, who are still at this very naive stage.

Anarchist
It was a continuation of the above. I think it was Nietzsche's initial influence, even though the conclusion is thoroughly Roussean.

"It is best if people are moral without coercion; we evolve from coercive morality to nihilist freedom to a true understanding of what morality is, and thus free morality."

Nazi/Revolutionary
The nihilism that touched nationalism and religion touched also liberalism, and under the influence of a few persons in particular, I came to the realization that our world and the world which I looked forward to was full of illusions and double-standards. It started as a form of rebellion. After some sudden realizations, I progressed from "communitarianism" to racism and "nazism", although at this point I was very much politically illiterate. What I saw as the status quo and the rebellion against was however reversed completely. Whereas before, authority, states, religion, nationalism,... were the status quo against which one should rebel, now it was the knee-jerk anti-authoritarianism, the contradictory and baseless globalism, the anti-communitarian, anti-organic, anti-religious instinct to uproot people from their local reality and toss them to an abstract global citizenship, an instinct belonging to two sides, left-communist and right-capitalist, which presented themselves as opposites, when in fact they were not. It was this Orwellian anti-status-quo status quo against which I started to rebel.

I was never a hater of races, although I did believe and theorise about the superiority of races.

I remember making compromises between racism (which I didn't wholly accept) and what I saw as the superhumanism of Nazism, to which I was truly attracted. It was always a problem for me justifying my "membership" in such groups on the basis of this superhumanism. I cared little about purity of the race, and they cared little about the new philosopher-commanders of the future. What these people wanted was what already existed, liberalism, whatever, but in exclusively white colours. So for the most part, ways were parted.

"Fascism"/Revolutionary Authoritarianism
Now I'm in free-form mode. I'm still a product of that late teenagehood revelation, so it is something I appreciate and value a lot. I call myself fascist to identify a number of elements in my thought and attitude which are also found in historical fascism, but also as a form of opposition in the world itself against all acceptable routes and opinions, apparently in conflict and opposition, but in reality moving together towards the same end, towards the happy death of all. I'm not just a law-and-order fascist. On top of that law-and-order communitarian society, I believe in an experimentalist attitude, a superhumanism, a rule of doubt and by heretics.

In analogous development to what I believed as an Anarchist:

"No longer then, heretics that oppose and antagonize orthodox tradition, and an orthodox tradition that pursues and oppresses heretics, but an orthodox tradition subordinate to a wiser heterodoxy that values liberty, understands the necessity of a tradition that guides and shapes, and moves above and beyond it. Here therefore is a polarity made vertical, no longer a harmful dichotomy but a harmonious imperative.

The dangers of a dogmatic tradition that loses its consciousness and becomes a tradition-for-itself would be met by heretics, heretics-beyond-tradition or a tradition-beyond-tradition in the sense of it being understood by persons who remain conscious of what tradition exists for, never allowing it for themselves to be an end but a means through which they shape society."

[Fasces]

Catholic socialism and political conservatism led me to Falangism, and eventually, to national syndicalism.

[Inexorable]

edited

[ComradeDX]

My first political interest was in Communism and Socialism, and at around 17 I joined the Communist Party of Britain. After 3 years in the Communist Party I got sick of their inability to live in the real world, for their incessant ability to jump on anti-war band wagons, and their rejection of human nature. Increasingly as I got older I became more conservative, rekindling my interest in the Catholicism of my youth, began practicing (for the most part) again, and after some time, left the Communist party. After a few months out of politics, I began looking into Conservative politics, standing somewhere between Conservative and libertarian. Then as I became increasingly nationalistic, I began to see the importance of the state in peoples lives, thus moving away from libertarianism, moving instead towards a nationalistic conservative worldview. I began reading more into the life of Mussolini and Franco, read up on Corporatism and national syndicalism, and saw that it matched my political views completely. I am currently a member of the Scottish National Party, whom I am a member of despite their centre-leftist views, because I am practical and believe in unity amongst those that wish to make my country independant. Since then, I have been more open to using the term fascist/national corporatist to describe my political standing.

[Plaro]

Monarchist: 0-19 I guess this is the best way to describe my ideology prior to my age, of thinking for myself. This ideology comes primary from my parents and community, which is Russian. When people say, that for most Russians, there is a cultural tendency to have sentiment for authoritarian governments, it is true, I heard my father say on many occasions, that Russia needs a person like Czar to govern and keep order properly.

Socialist/Communist: 19-22 This is when I went to collage and university, and being that most professors are dushe bags, they have bestowed this view upon me. Although they did not do this directly but rather in indirect way, they will criticize the government and then portray themselves as socialist/communist, naturally being in admiration of them I wanted to associate myself with their ideology.

No Ideology: 22-24 I just did not have one, even at present, I do not have a strong Ideology, I just have a direction.

Nationalism (this is not an Ideology though, I just recognize that Nationhood is an essential part of a healthy society): 24-Present. After leaving school, and reading and thinking for myself, I came to see how the world is actually, in reality, and realized that other ideologies did have some good aspects to them, but for most part they failed, and they have brought no batter system, since the collapse of Feudal/Aristocratic order in Europe, but only instability and social disorder. I became aware that economics how it was presented in school was just a market liberal indoctrination and in reality functioned diffirently. Anyways there are many experiences and realizations that moved me to change my ideology, however, the biggest one was the realization that humans differ not much from an ants living in a hill, and in essence a humans society is living organism, that has to be up kept and treated accordingly to the laws of nature that have not evolved much since the first civilizations or even tribal times, and the way it is treated by today's policies is only deteriorating it and leading to eventual self destruction. One of these policies which has become a dear struggle for me, is mass immigration policy, where clearly most native populace is against such a move by the government, yet it is still being invoked upon the people. This showed me how much the government is disconnected with its own populace, that it is willing do destroy the native culture of their own nation, consciously or not. This was very devastating for me and once and for all sealed the move to Nationalism and thus Fascism, I fear calling my self Fascist because I still have very little knowledge about it, thus I can not say I agree with them.

[telluro]

edited

Why did you remove that post, Inexorable? It was an excellent post.

[Inexorable]

Why did you remove that post, Inexorable? It was an excellent post.

After re-reading it I didn't feel that it flowed together coherently, I had just returned from a drunken party and was distracted. It didn't make sense to me so I figured it wouldn't make sense to anyone else. But if it made any sense to you, feel free to comment.

[Bosnjak]

Allthough my Grandfather and Father were member of the Communist Party of Jugoslawia, were they both secretly Bosniak nationalists.

In School in socialist Yugoslawia I was quiet and followed like a sheep, because if I had said some wrong words my parents could end in prison, then started the war, and later I left with my mother Bosnia towards Switzerland my father stayed to fight in the Bosnian Army. In Switzerland I nearly allways disagreed with my liberal teachers unlike the most of my classmates who followed like sheeps.

I was at first a truly National Socialist, I admired Adolf Hitler and Bosniak Handzar SS (where several members of my mothers family joined during WW2) , later I saw Hitler in a other light, the sole thing which disturbed me on him was the fact that he slaughted women and children, so I throw my "Mein Kampf" and my Bosniak Nazi-Flags away.

Then I believed in Socialism after reading the book "The Young Stalin", but this changed, because i recognized that greed is natural human feeling.

After being a member in this forum I recognized i am politicaly illiterate so I started to read nearly all political books I got, (Machiaveli, Orwell, Konfuzius, Sun Tzu, Marx, Ayatollah Chomeini, and Biographies from nearly all famous leader, from Cesar to Abraham lincoln over Che Guevara, Tito, Fatih sultan mehmet etc.)

But the editor who most impressed me was Plato.

[Aekos]

I was at first a truly National Socialist, I admired Adolf Hitler and Bosniak Handzar SS (where several members of my mothers family joined during WW2)

That went so well for you guys, right? I'm sure a lot of your countrymen agree.

[Metal Gear]

An important part of becoming a fascist is to realize that the race is nothing without the state.

[Jackal]

Catholic Conservatism + Liberalism
Being raised in a Catholic family was a factor in my generally conservative beliefs. I am also Cuban so obviously I supported Liberalism (especially America's style of government) because it was anti-Castro.

National Bolshevism
I toyed with the NazBol ideology for a little, but eventually dropped it because I didn't find that it suited me.

Fascism/Quasi-Fascism
Have been one for about 3-4 years now. Found it closest to my beliefs and the most pragmatic. That coupled with my growing hatred of liberalism and the American government.