Ten Reasons Why I Am No Longer a Leftist

Front Page Magazine ^ | 05 Nov 2014 | Danusha V. Goska

[Yashcheritsiy]

How far left was I? So far left my beloved uncle was a card-carrying member of the Communist Party in a Communist country. When I returned to his Slovak village to buy him a mass card, the priest refused to sell me one. So far left that a self-identified terrorist proposed marriage to me. So far left I was a two-time Peace Corps volunteer and I have a degree from UC Berkeley. So far left that my Teamster mother used to tell anyone who would listen that she voted for Gus Hall, Communist Party chairman, for president. I wore a button saying “Eat the Rich.” To me it wasn’t a metaphor.

I voted Republican in the last presidential election.

Below are the top ten reasons I am no longer a leftist. This is not a rigorous comparison of theories. This list is idiosyncratic, impressionistic, and intuitive. It’s an accounting of the milestones on my herky-jerky journey...

[smokingfrog]

Interesting. And a good reminder to us to not become like those who oppose us.

[marron]

“Show me a young Conservative and I'll show you someone with no heart. Show me an old Liberal and I'll show you someone with no brains.”

That always annoyed me. Conservatives are people of good hearts and good souls by and large, young or old. Young and old.

[ontap]

When Communism fails, Communist think it’s because there wasn’t enough Communism!!!

[Dr. Sivana]

Long read, but worthwhile. This enlightened woman, by the way, is still teach Women’s and Gender Studies. I wonder how her class runs these days.

[dhs12345]

Excellent. This article sums it up very nicely.

The Left needs a good house cleaning. Unfortunately, that will never happen.

Worst of all, people such as minorities, women, etc. believe the lies.

[dhs12345]

Yup.

[SunkenCiv]

Nice piece.

[BitWielder1]

No wonder Leftists and Islamists get along so well (at least at a distance).
They both overreact to minor slights but let many real problems slide.

[dhs12345]

Actually, a lot of Conservatives started out as Liberals. And an important point: it is people who started out as Liberals who make really good Conservatives.

Why? Because they know first hand.

I was a “Liberal” when I was younger — until I figured out that I was being lied to. I was naive and a little ignorant. A fool.

[Navy Patriot]

I might be impressed with Danusha’s getting out of bed with Satan, if she had included a list of leftists she had sent to prison with her inside knowledge of the evil segment of the human race.

[Balding_Eagle]

I think shortening it would lose its message.

I agree.

It is very long, but also very interesting.

[dhs12345]

Young people are drawn in by the promises of great things by the Left. Much like a religious cult. Some, like me, realize early on that it is all a lie.

I am still driven by my heart and truth and fairness. But I have found that Conservatism is the real truth.

[SE Mom]

An extraordinary young woman. To make a change of this nature requires becoming honest with oneself- a difficult task in itself but even more so when looking squarely at what you believe and what the truth is.

There’s plenty of hate on the right as well. ..sometimes I feel it myself and notice
how it poisons my mind and ability to think clearly.

[Robert DeLong]

Communist or Capitalist, it is power that corrupts. Which is why we need to vote out those that have been there too long and vote in new blood that does not possess power.

[Cowboy Bob]

I supported Goldwater when I was 6. Got into a fight after the election with a boy who supported LBJ.

[Fantasywriter]

Ten reasons, and never touched on the single biggest reason I ceased being a liberal. [For me it was a multi-step process. I didn’t become a conservative the day I stopped being a liberal. That took a while. It was a huge, titanic shift, after all.]

Anyway, I chucked liberalism when I realized the extent and frequency with which they outright lie. Honesty & integrity have always mattered to me. When I was a liberal, I was an honest liberal. Slowly but surely, I noticed I was in an increasing minority. The mainstream liberals all around me lied relentlessly, without shame, and often seemingly without any self-awareness of the deceit. I became very depressed when I realized I belonged to a political ideology that had institutionalized lying/dishonesty—and indeed, which could not exist in the absence of wholesale, fundamental deceit.

It took a while to get from there to here. But as I said, it was the realization symbiotic relationship between liberalism and dishonesty that began the seismic shift. I guess those of us who have converted each have an individual story to tell.

[dhs12345]

I wonder what button Ronald Reagan wore? ;)

Or Charles Krauthammer, etc. etc. etc.

Many of us were drawn but the promises of great things from the Left and we know first hand that it is all pretty much a lie.

And that is the biggest tragedy of all — some people still believe it. They never look below the surface.

Is the Republican party much better? Sometimes I wonder. But it is a healthy introspection that can purge the evils. Sadly, that rarely happens.

[dhs12345]

Spot on. My story too.

What bothers me is that so many people still believe the lies. And that is the major flaw with the Democrat party.

[alrea]

Anyway, I chucked liberalism when I realized the extent and frequency with which they outright lie. Honesty & integrity have always mattered to me. When I was a liberal, I was an honest liberal. Slowly but surely, I noticed I was in an increasing minority. The mainstream liberals all around me lied relentlessly, without shame, and often seemingly without any self-awareness of the deceit. I became very depressed when I realized I belonged to a political ideology that had institutionalized lying/dishonesty—and indeed, which could not exist in the absence of wholesale, fundamental deceit. It took a while to get from there to here. But as I said, it was the realization symbiotic relationship between liberalism and dishonesty that began the seismic shift. I guess those of us who have converted each have an individual story to tell.

seismic bump & thanks

[Fantasywriter]

Well I had some help in spotting the lies. It was called The Boston Globe. The ‘journalists’ writing in it went, I don’t hesitate to say, a little—or more than a little—crazy during Reagan’s eight yearn tenure. They vilified him daily, and yet at the end of his term, his Veep still won for yet another four years.

I think that’s when the last vestiges of sanity at The Globe went down the drain. It was during the next few years, as they depicted squishy, mild-mannered George H. W. Bush as a three-headed baby-eater, that I came around. I didn’t care for the elder Bush, but I could see he was not Satan embodied.

So in a very real sense I have the Boston Globe to thank for opening my eyes. Liberals; they’re always tripping over unintended consequences.