Honestly, discussing how the Bernie or bust movement has evolved since 2016, and their evolution into socialism, really begs the question. How much have my views really evolved since 2016? I'll be focusing on politics only here. While I have changed my spiritual views a lot, reverting to nondescript general spirituality after spending 7 years as an atheist, my political views have barely changed at all. And that's kind of the problem. The world has changed a lot around me, but my views remain very similar. And most actual evolutions are more in reaction to events, rather than internal ideological changes.
When this blog started, if you asked me what I considered the biggest issues, I'd say my priorities were basic income, medicare for all, and free college. If you asked me now, I would say the same, but perhaps add climate to the top tier of issues, given the existential threat it is to humanity these days. Even more salient as we enter summer, and it's hot as heck, there's droughts all over the west, and some places saw temps recently as high as 120F+. But ultimately? My main platform is the same. I may have refined how I would pay for such things, but the core principle isn't much different. Just a refinement.
Otherwise on economics, my views havent changed much. I read Karl Widerquist's book on basic income as the power to say no back in 2013-2014 when he released it free on his website, and it always influenced my thought. I didn't call myself an indepentarian until recently, but I considered it very good at the time, and it really does fit. Given my views on the world about work, and about how we should free ourselves of it, I don't feel like I've changed a whole lot there. It just took me a while to realize how influential it was in my thinking and how even today, it scratches an itch no other ideology can. Conservatism, liberalism, social democracy, socialism, communism, anarchism, they all lack that special something. Indepentarianism/social libertarianism is what I've been for years, I just didn't really properly define it until now.
I admit, due to my presence among the Bernie or Busters (hence my recent distaste of them, I have an inside perspective at how they evolved), I did take a brief detour into socialist ideology, but eh, in recent months, as I regained my ideological footing, I really ain't that much of a socialist. You see, I dont care enough about socialism to be a socialist. Socialists treat socialism as an end all, you know, like I treat UBI. THey go on nonstop about how socialism solves all of these problems, and I just don't see it. While there is something conceptually attractive about workers owning the means of production, I only value this within a decentralized market based economy. And even then I just don't see it as doing more in practice than any other solution. On the other hand socialism seems to have downsides. It kind of destroys individualism and could greatly inhibit the creation of small businesses. I mean all things considered, I dont have any issues with capitalism, it just has to be an indepentarian form of capitalism. While I agree with socialists that capitalism is screwed, I just fundamentally have a different set of solutions, due to a slightly different problem definition. In reality, the most I would support in terms of socialism would be like, codetermination a la Germany. Where small businesses are capitalist but larger ones become increasingly socialist depending on size. But even then it's not a super high priority. As long as UBI works I couldn't care less if socialism is implemented and I feel like progressive solutions under capitalism would be better anyway. This actually goes back to my 2016 position more or less, so my views changed, and then changed back.
Speaking of bernie or bust, I dont think ive changed too much there, it's just that my views and those of other bernie or busters have diverged. Bernie for me was always about realignments and moving the overton window. I hoped by electing him, we could have a debate about UBI in 10 years. But...it seems that these guys arent interested in the idea as theyre fixated on socialism and more explicit anti capitalism, and it seems like they're bcoming increasingly purity testy on this front, to the point I'm considered a neoliberal shill. Funny, given i hate actual neoliberal shills too.
Speaking of which have I warmed on the establishment at all? Nope. Not really. I hate them. I have a visceral negative reaction to their arrogance and open hostility of anything progressive. And I see them as more caustic than even the worst bernie bro. Nothing has really changed here.
Has Andrew Yang changed my views? No. But he did kind of represent my ideas in politics in recent years. Just in a flawed form. My own ideology is slightly different than yang's, but im not so purity testy I wouldnt vote for him. Much like bernie, im hitching a ride in hopes it gets me closer to my goals. I would say im slightly more mainline progessive than yang, where im more a hybrid of bernie and yang. Bernie is to my left on a traditional scale, and yang is to my right. Of course its hard to define where UBI falls on that spectrum.
Moving onto social issues, have I changed much? Well, Ive become more anti SJW, and more dismissive of critical theory. Now, once again, I respect the intellectual theory behind it. But that's not saying much as I also respect the intellectual theory behind, say, marxism or georgism. You can respect a theory without being a hardcore adherent to said theory. And my own theory is different than CT and not really compatible. I actually view CT as somewhat of an ideological threat since it seems to be about dividing and conquering people based on racial resentment and undermining change via privilege shaming, rather than actually solving problems. It just seems to undermine any meaningful conversation ever and lead to meaningless infighting that doesnt have to happen. CT is valid, but yeah, looking at its political utility, I see it as a net negative, and I've become more openly hostile to it. This is more an evolution of views existing in 2016, rather than something new. I was more willing to use kid gloves on those guys in 2016, but these days, nah.
I guess the other big issue I shifted on since 2016 socially is guns. Probably one of the few bona fide changes in my perspective thats actually a break from previous views. Since shifting left ive been mostly in a weird position on guns, wanting to adopt more regulation, but feeling inconsistent on it. Well, Ive concluded my own views more recently and in line with libertarian principles. Im pro gun. I do believe in some regulation, and believe mild improvements mostly related to fixing loopholes should be made, but mostly, I'm not in favor of unnecessary and excessive gun control like democrats are for.
On foreign policy, Ive largely remained unchanged, but I would say I'm more critical of China, and see more reason to try to oppose them on the world stage. China is crazy, they're a dystopian society that would make George Orwell's 1984 blush, and they are poised to be a superpower to rival the US. Say what you want about the US. China is going to be unequivocally worse.
But yeah, how much have I really changed in the past 5 years? Not a whole lot. Most views are more refinements and reaction to the times, rather than ideological shifts. I fundamentally accept the same views I did back then. I did diverge a bit to the left due to my involvement with Bernie or buster communities, but with them going too far left for me, I really wonder how much I will have in common with them. If they remain cordial to me I'll be cordial to them. After all, we agree on a lot. But if they get purity testy to death, well, two can play that game. All in all, the world has changed around me a lot more than I've changed. Most changes in battle lines reflect that. Me discovering something about myself and what I stand for vs them. It's not that I haven't held these views for the most part, it's that changes in the world have forced me to take a side on things that I didn't see as important in the past.
I guess that's been what my views have been since, say, 2014. Since my shifts in 2012, and rebuilding my worldview in the two years after that, I always sorta knew what I want. But, the world is a lot different than it was in 2014, and many alliances I would have held at the time have been broken. Not because I have changed, but the world has.
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