In my defense, my family was lefty, and I was brought up thinking conservatives were either stupid or evil. My dad was an avowed Marxist when I was a kid. He changed because he was stationed with UNIDO in Tanzania, and saw a comparatively 'enlightened' Marxist society (enlightened in that there weren't large numbers of executions) in action. For most people, Marxism in practice is an excellent antidote to Marxism in theory.