Are there any former Republicans that hold the same feeling of betrayal as I do? I was a typical Neo-Con who once despised that term. I thought drug users should be locked up or even hung by a tree as Charlie Daniels advocated in Simple Man. I avoided anyone who could possibly be gay or just different in general. America was the greatest country in the world, Limbaugh’s Exceptionalism. Foreigners were weird. Anyone who disagreed was a communist. My first car was permanently tuned to AM Talk Radio after school. Friends hated driving with me because I outlawed anything other then Rush Limbaugh or Country music in my car. I carried “Let Freedom Ring – Hannity” to science class.
I thought war was necessary to kill all the bad guys over seas and even enlisted immediately after high-school. That is when I started to change because I thought the Navy was so dumb on so many levels. I obeyed but still had doubts about authority. I once asked my Republican father how the Navy is any different then the rest of government that he criticized. His response was, “The military is required to complete missions.” I understood that as not being allowed to fail and the amount of resources required to complete that goal was inconsequential. Somehow that vague answer justified my participation in the Navy a little longer. I did not have Navy pride like all my other “Shipmates”. I just wanted to go back to the barracks and play World of Warcraft with friends and take fishing trips on long weekends. I strayed away from the drinking culture that dominates the military. I thought alcoholism was a result of having to put up with Chiefs.
I went to college on the GI Bill and as a flag waving member of the Christian Right, I gravitated towards Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. Like in the Navy, I still did not fit in. These people were super excited about Christ and I preferred to keep it to myself and would rather have intellectual conversations and challenge accepted beliefs then sport a “Jesus Rocks” bumper sticker on my compact car. Like in government, all the ceremony seemed more superficial than actually living by example. I attended their events but was clearly seen as different. People never had conversations with me past small talk politeness. Eventually I was no longer invited to activities and quit going. I even lost all the so called friends I had since middle school.
Late one night, I was googling questions, questioning things and found Tom Woods. The End. All the great libertarian thinkers quoted historical figures, philosophy, and studies. Hannity and Limbaugh never talked about these things. It was not hard to accept these radical ideas since I knew my time in public school was a complete sham, without even knowing why. I never did homework and thought little of all the teachers. The teachers I did like were the old salts who knew their job was a joke and just did what they had to for a paycheck. Naturally those same teachers didn’t have friends at their work.
Now I can respect other peoples choices and can relate to people far different then myself instead of condemning their individuality. I only see individuals now instead of collectivist groups of people. For example, each and every refugee is an individual, not a homogeneous group of muslims with all the same beliefs that I should despise or profile.
I come from an ENTIRELY Republican environment. With the unpopularity of Obama, this is even truer then before. Friends, family, and co-workers are either Republican or lean that way. If I deleted every Donald Trump supporter on my Facebook, Christopher Cantwell would be my only friend. Just as before, I am alone in my support for freedom. Nobody else gets excited about the Austrian Business cycle and when I add a few things I have to learned to discussion, it is usually ignored. That doesn’t bother me though. The question I have is do others feel betrayed by the Right, the supposed limited government freedom flag wavers. Ronald Reagan is a hero of liberty? Ironically Reagan is probably one of 6 presidents these people know of. How do you feel when you see everyone around you, people you respect parroting Fox News?
