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NJP411
08-11-2013, 10:10 PM
I'm Nicole, born in/raised in Massachusetts, moved to Texas last year. When people ask "why did you move to Texas" my response is simple- "Liberty".

About me:
In the spring of 2008, I took a political science course. As part of the course, students were placed in a political internship of their choice. I chose the Democratic City Committee of Philadelphia, under the chairmanship of Democrat Congressman Robert Brady. I later volunteered on the Hillary Clinton for President campaign and assisted in bringing Chelsea Clinton to La Salle University for a campaign event. It was the natural progression for me to then vote for Barack Obama as president in the 2008 general election. I was caught up in the idea of hope and change, even though I didn’t actually know what I was hoping to change.


I can pinpoint my political transformation from uninformed Liberal to Tea Party Conservative to November 2009 through January 2010. At the time, I was a resident of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts away at an out of state school and voted via Absentee Ballot in the Senate special election that ultimately saw Scott Brown elected. I voted for Martha Coakley. That was the last vote for a Democrat that I ever cast. What happened between late November 2009 and January 2010 was that I began watching the news and reading. Every summer since 2005, I have read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, but it was not until I began reading authors like Smith, Hayek, Friedman, and the Founding Fathers that everything I had believed and agreed with in Ayn Rand’s fictional world began to make sense as it related to the America I lived in. I realized, rather abruptly, that I did not believe in the fundamental transformation of America that the President and the Congress wanted to see occur. I believed in the principles of the free market, limited government, and above all else, the Constitution of the United States. From that point on, I committed myself to advancing the ideals of limited government and freedom in Massachusetts- a difficult task to be sure, especially for a 20-year-old college student. I became involved in the local tea party movements, even speaking at a minimum of one event per month in the Boston area.
That was 3 years ago, and I've spent the past three years bouncing between center-right, war hawk neocon, libertarian leaner, and so on.


And then I decided to start reading again. Went back to the basics, re-read Rand, Hayek, Friedman, Goldwater, etc.
When I recently (at the start of the 113th congress) started looking into the backgrounds of the members of congress that I like it hit me like a ton of bricks- they are pretty much all liberty guys, and most of them were endorsed by Dr. Paul at some point. I've been lurking since then.

Deborah K
08-11-2013, 10:16 PM
http://i40.tinypic.com/96cjo0.jpg

TheTexan
08-11-2013, 10:29 PM
Welcome to the forums, and to the great* state of Texas!

(*least worse state)

lib3rtarian
08-11-2013, 10:32 PM
Welcome to the forums, Nicole.

Petar
08-11-2013, 10:32 PM
Welcome to Texas from a Canadian in Brazil.

ClydeCoulter
08-11-2013, 10:43 PM
Welcome :)

fr33
08-11-2013, 10:48 PM
Welcome aboard. It tends to be the self educated who stray from the "approved" reading that find their way into the liberty movement.

NJP411
08-11-2013, 10:52 PM
It tends to be the self educated who stray from the "approved" reading that find their way into the liberty movement.

I cringe at the thought of what I would think if I hadn't educated myself, and then educated myself again.

Matthew5
08-11-2013, 11:29 PM
Howdy, Nicole! Whereabouts in Texas?

Fairly decent reading list there...what's next on the to-read list?

TheTexan
08-11-2013, 11:30 PM
I cringe at the thought of what I would think if I hadn't educated myself, and then educated myself again.

Eh. It probably wouldn't be so bad to be ignorant again. Probably be happier.

NJP411
08-12-2013, 12:01 AM
Howdy, Nicole! Whereabouts in Texas?

Fairly decent reading list there...what's next on the to-read list?

I am in DFW.

It's not a book, but I am currently reading the entirety of Title 26 of the US Code. Thats kind of time consuming.
And I am in the middle of my annual summer reading of Atlas Shrugged.

fr33
08-12-2013, 12:17 AM
I've done Atlas Shrugged 3 times as an audiobook. I don't plan to listen to it ever again. I got it. It's an eye opener but a bit too descriptive and long for my liking. But listening to an audiobook doesn't classify as reading unless you do it multiple times IMO.

You might get some more dystopian book ideas from this topic (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?413672-Recommend-a-libertarian-some-fiction-audiobooks).

NJP411
08-12-2013, 12:29 AM
I've done Atlas Shrugged 3 times as an audiobook. I don't plan to listen to it ever again. I got it. It's an eye opener but a bit too descriptive and long for my liking. But listening to an audiobook doesn't classify as reading unless you do it multiple times IMO.

You might get some more dystopian book ideas from this topic (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?413672-Recommend-a-libertarian-some-fiction-audiobooks).

I've read a lot of other dystopian fiction. It's not for that purpose.
In high school I had someone (at this point I don't remember who) say you should pick one book and read it yearly for the rest of your life. The book never changes, but it will seem different every time because your perspectives change. In hindsight I probably should have picked a shorter book.

Matthew5
08-12-2013, 12:35 AM
I've read a lot of other dystopian fiction. It's not for that purpose.
In high school I had someone (at this point I don't remember who) say you should pick one book and read it yearly for the rest of your life. The book never changes, but it will seem different every time because your perspectives change. In hindsight I probably should have picked a shorter book.

Yeah, Objectivism seems too narrow of a philosophy to get locked into for life. I'd probably pick Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

Carlybee
08-12-2013, 12:36 AM
Welcome, although I don't consider Texas a bastion of liberty at this point.

NJP411
08-12-2013, 12:41 AM
Yeah, Objectivism seems too narrow of a philosophy to get locked into for life. I'd probably pick Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

I don't consider myself an Objectivist. There are definitely things about Ayn Rand I disagree with, but it has been an interesting 8 years of reading.

Bman
08-12-2013, 01:03 AM
I think this video sums up many things liberty real well and only needs about 8 minutes.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muHg86Mys7I


If you want to go back a bit more with regards to the basics...Bastiat (http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html)

NJP411
08-12-2013, 01:08 AM
If you want to go back a bit more with regards to the basics...Bastiat (http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html)

I've read (and love) Bastiat.

Matthew5
08-12-2013, 07:41 AM
I don't consider myself an Objectivist. There are definitely things about Ayn Rand I disagree with, but it has been an interesting 8 years of reading.

That's good, some (none on this forum, really) can really get sucked in to Ayn Rand worship. No, we just have different Rand to worry about around here. :D

NJP411
08-12-2013, 11:48 AM
That's good, some (none on this forum, really) can really get sucked in to Ayn Rand worship. No, we just have different Rand to worry about around here. :D

Oh yeah, I am all about THAT Rand!