From Neo-Conservatism to Libertarianism; My Political Journey to Enlightenment

My political journey has been an interesting one. Much like my personal journey to Christianity I grew in my ideology over the years and have become something much different than what I was when I started. A lot of people claim that they are open minded and are willing to learn. Very few take it as serious as I did and truly seek to find understanding about a topic as serious as politics.

Growing up I struggled with depression and the bipolar disorder. I was the kid in school everyone thought would come in one day guns blazing, taking out everyone in sight. That wasn't my plan but neither was staying in school. After several years of intense counseling, medication and failing grades I dropped out and went about my lifestyle of drinking, smoking pot and depression. To make the story short I began to attend church thanks to my girlfriend's (now my wife) mother. Over time I became intrigued by the teachings and soon became a Christian. My life changed at that point and I have never been the same since.

My political journey has been exactly the same. Before I became a Christian I had very little interest in politics but thanks to my politically passionate pastor I began to get involved. Soon after I registered as a Republican and started to research conservative politics. I fit the suit rather well. I opposed gay marriage, voted for Bush and defended the Iraq War; all without knowing how wrong I really was.

I was comfortable in my new found political ideology. I mashed together my personal religion and politics without thinking for a second how little the two should have to do with the other. My personal understanding of freedom was greatly flawed. What I didn't understand was that my personal lifestyle should not in any circumstance be forced upon anyone else. Personal moral law should not be made national law. In my ignorance I dwelled for several years. I voted for Bush twice, I even voted for McCain in the last election.

Then something happened. I began to ask myself questions a neo-conservative should never ask themselves unless they wish to be given a rude awakening. "Why do I believe what I believe?" The months up until the elections things in my brain had already started to boil over. I was always asking of a Republican candidate, "are they conservative enough?" The frustration grew as I realized none of the candidates were conservative enough. Perhaps the Republican Party isn't conservative enough? Maybe I'm not a conservative if this is what a conservative is supposed to be?

The reality was that the Republican Party had long forgotten what it meant to be conservative. How could Bush's massive spending be conservative? How could the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan be conservative? How could the Patriot Act be conservative? The same people that claim to live up to the so-called great standard that is Ronald Reagan were acting very un-Reaganesque. If this is what the Republican Party has to offer perhaps I should waste my vote on someone else.

Then it got worse. That crazy Ron Paul guy that made all those stupid comments at the Republican debates started to make sense. Wait a second, I said, this crazy Ron Paul fellow really isn't so crazy. In reality, he sounds a hell of a lot like the kind of conservative the Republican Party claims to be. I know, once you start listening to Ron Paul crazy things happen. A light bulb turned on in the dusty attic that was my head. I began to read about liberty, began to turn off the MSM and realized how wrong I had been all along. Freedom should be free. This altered state of freedom I was preaching onto others was not freedom at all.

At that time my understanding of politics was completely shattered. I no longer had a left or right scale. I realized that the only thing that really mattered was freedom. I had a right to live as a Christian, to worship as I deemed necessary, to maintain the type of lifestyle that I felt was right. Forcing others to respect my personal choices beyond permitting me to live them is wrong. The desire from people on the right and left to control our lives for any reason is wrong. If no one is hurt by our actions but ourselves than we should be free to do as we please.

There is no secret formula to converting a neo-conservative to a Libertarian. The truth is that a lot of them don't want to change. They aren't willing to face reality. They aren't willing to re-evaluate what is wrong or right. If something is wrong does that mean we should force people not to do what is wrong? At the end of the day if we incriminate everything that we feel is inappropriate have we accomplished anything? Is the world a better place because a pot smoking teenager is behind bars?

In the end the key to my conversion is simple. I had a passion for conservatism because I was a believer of small government. As I delved deeper into the subject I realized that I really, really loved the idea of small government. Hell, if you took it all away I'm pretty sure we'd all be better off. But that's a whole other eggs waiting to be hatched. At the end of the day human nature is to desire freedom. Let people chose what freedom means to them. If that is donating every penny to charity, let it be. That also means if their idea of freedom is smoking pot until their eyes dry out and Pizza Hut runs out of pizza then let that be as well.