Brown student’s transformation from leftist to libertarian
Daniel Prada at Brown University describes his own transformation from progressive to libertarian on combating poverty and the role of the state:
…. During my time here at Brown, I learned thoroughly of colonial Latin American repression, U.S. military and economic imperialism, as well as how race, class, and sex perpetuate the hierarchies of oppression, which still shape society today. Augusto Pinochet, Fulgencio Batista, Rafael Trujillo, Castillo Armas, Plan Colombia, Leopoldo Galtieri, Francisco Franco, United Fruit Company, Maquiladoras, Operation Wetback, Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Operation Condor, the International Monetary Fund, the School of the Americas — these were part of my everyday vocabulary. From my studies, I came to the conclusion that distributive justice to the generations of indigenous and black people is not only ethical but necessary to ensure the kind of equality necessary for a just society.
I viewed the state as the Robin Hood that could bring about that justice, and I felt confident in the ability of a democratic society to fulfill a vision whereby a person’s voice and rights would matter more than the amount of money in their wallets. Had you met me as a freshman, I would have proudly claimed myself a socialist and as a champion of those people unheard due to the power structures currently in place….
But here I am four years later, a committed libertarian. I don’t think it is intellectually honest that I “reached the age of reason” or I “finally made up my mind.”
This was part of a slow but ultimately radical shift in the way I viewed my world. I still share similar ends behind progressive political ideology, and my vehement defense of capitalism is not out of an indifference to the indigent. Rather, it is a conscious realization that a society that employs the voluntary interdependent forces of the market, as opposed to the involuntary coercive forces of the state, will succeed best at those concerns driving the left….
On Our Responsibility to the Poor (Brown Spectator | Conservative Magazine)
Comments
Excellent. I have total empathy for these students b/c I also became a conservative during my college years. That was 30 years ago, and I’ve never looked back.
Back in the 60’s I watched my peers, those that are now the core of the boomer progressives act out this same idealogy and instinctively I went the other way. I grew up in a small business home where we lived making payroll 24/7, we went without so employees that were loved and revered by my dad always had their paychecks. I worked small jobs from 11 yrs old on, including cleaning his office, and all through college. I know who these progressive spread the wealthers were back then…they were the sons and daughters of rich parents that had everything paid for, didn’t have to work and had time to march down the street. They did not offer to help anyone else with their own funds, they just liked to march about it. Not much has changed with them…lots of drama and talk that does not match up with their walk.
Now I have a 20 yr old daughter that is a junior in college and seeing much the same view as the student that posted here. She was delighted to tell me after one week at school that in her communications class they discussed political ads and she gave an analysis following a strident Obama supporters diss of an ad, and pointed out that the Republ/Dem ads were virtually the same, when broken down to task analysis. For once a professor that didn’t jump on the liberal and wagon, but actually praised her analysis. She was elated at this small accomplishment. Welcome to liberal arts!
Though raised in a Republican family, I got my full share of Democrat indoctrination at school in the sixties. The result of that was forty years of liberal emotionalism in the voting booth.
It wasn’t until we started having to cannibalize our savings to keep our shop open that I realized what all that liberal emotionalism I’d been voting for was going to cost.
I consider myself a relatively bright individual but years of propaganda from the liberal education establishment were nearly impossible to overcome. Without the real-world experience of seeing our savings depleted I’d still be championing the feel-good policies of Dems.
So to that extent this born-again Republican is grateful to Barack Obama.
College students, you have the great good fortune to have had the professor open this blog for you. You will read the truth here. Bring your friends.
Brown professors: The Devil is Prada.
Why so many thumbs down on this post?
+11 likes and -337 dislikes? Hmm, this post must’ve just gotten reposted somewhere.
The Hatenazis (you know, the left) are monitoring this blog.
They must think it’s Digg or Reddit and that they can bury articles they don’t like.
Yeah, hard to know where though. In order to vote thumbs up or down, you don’t need to be logged in, unlike for comments.
337 “dislikes”? Wow! Looks like you struck a nerve, Bill.
Finally figured it out. We forgot to turn on the feature that limits the thumbs up / thumbs down to one vote per ip address (which is how it is at LI), so someone was able to sit there hammering the thumbs down over and over. That has been fixed now.
I wish you had waited until I could hit the “like” button all day before fixing it.
That’s a relief. It was beginning to look like this blog wasn’t going to be the smashing success we expect it to be.
Paranoia retired for the nonce.
#Occupy Thumbs Down