A supposed Libertarian turned to Socialism

[Warlord]

Yeah right. Do you believe this sh*t?

As a teen, he identified as a Libertarian-style Republican and spent hours watching YouTube clips of conservative provocateurs lambasting liberals. He served as a congressional intern for longtime Miami Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican, and joined a conservative college group.

But something began to shift during the 2016 election. Donald Trump and the Republican Party's increasingly hostile stance toward immigration alienated Vila, though he agreed with the party on other issues.

Course readings led him to question his beliefs further. He started attending left-leaning campus events, interacting with students of varying racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. He discovered a Miami beyond his manicured suburban neighborhood.

By year's end, he had developed a disdain for capitalism and the political right. Now the sociology and geography major wants sweeping reforms, including Medicare for all, free access to higher education and a Green New Deal.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/...ubans-65179094

[Anti Globalist]

I pray that young man somehow finds his way back to being a libertarian.

[nikcers]

Gang mentality and identity politics can be very alluring. Groupthink is a helluva drug.

when he began to embrace the same ideology his family had fled in socialist Cuba, she pleaded in vain for him to stop his political activism.

His socialism made Vila an outlier in his Miami community and opened deep rifts with relatives. He was briefly exiled from home, and his mother entered therapy to bridge their differences.

LOL

[Warlord]

I pray that young man somehow finds his way back to being a libertarian.

No way. Once the youth have been brainwashed there is no going back. The article says people like this teen will make up 37% of the electorate in 2020 and they're going to vote for free stuff.

[Anti Globalist]

No way. Once the youth have been brainwashed there is no going back. The article says people like this teen will make up 37% of the electorate in 2020 and they're going to vote for free stuff.

Agreed. The damage has already been done.

[nikcers]

These kids are making a hell of a bet, Rack a bunch of college debt and try to install a socialist who will wipe it all off and make everyone else pay for it.

[5Points]

He went to...college...therefore he was baptized into the church of collectivism. It's normal.

[Theocrat]

He's just another example of a person who builds his political philosophy upon the sinking sands of emotion and feelings, rather than the solid grounds of logic and absolute ethics.

[nikcers]

He's just another example of a person who builds his political philosophy upon the sinking sands of emotion and feelings, rather than the solid grounds of logic and absolute ethics.

I think a lot of it is social pressure, the left is very dogmatic when it comes to politics. He got kicked out of his house when he became socialist but he would get kicked out of his social circle if he wasn't.

[Theocrat]

I think a lot of it is social pressure, the left is very dogmatic when it comes to politics. He got kicked out of his house when he became socialist but he would get kicked out of his social circle if he wasn't.

You're right about his conversion being due to social pressure, but the root of his turning towards socialism is driven by emotional appeals that falsely allege that socialism is more caring than capitalism.

In addition to that, his fear of not being accepted by his own social circle is also an emotional motivation, not a logical one.

[nikcers]

You're right about his conversion being due to social pressure, but the root of his turning towards socialism is driven by emotional appeals that falsely allege that socialism is more caring than capitalism.

In addition to that, his fear of not being accepted by his own social circle is also an emotional motivation, not a logical one.

A lot of it comes from people not knowing what socialism really is, and what it does to countries... They've done some real movie magic to make socialism into something cool.

[Theocrat]

A lot of it comes from people not knowing what socialism really is, and what it does to countries... They've done some real movie magic to make socialism into something cool.

I agree. It also comes from the myths perpetuated about capitalism, in general, and what capitalism has done negatively to societies, in particular. But that goes back to your point about people not knowing what, in this case, capitalism really is. At the bottom line, it's a serious worldview issue.

[tfurrh]

What if this was the same kid who came on here and started this thread? Lol

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...locaust-denial

HazlittIsLit

[Pauls' Revere]

No way. Once the youth have been brainwashed there is no going back. The article says people like this teen will make up 37% of the electorate in 2020 and they're going to vote for free stuff.

And the one's just slightly older than this are starting to be elected, see AOC as an example.

[ThePaleoLibertarian]

Here's one thing I've learned; never be impressed by what someone used to be. Never. People go in all sorts of different directions. Despite what some want to claim, it isn't some predictable line of "progression." Yes there are trends, but that speaks more to faddishness than anything else

[Zippyjuan]

Here's one thing I've learned; never be impressed by what someone used to be. Never. People go in all sorts of different directions. Despite what some want to claim, it isn't some predictable line of "progression." Yes there are trends, but that speaks more to faddishness than anything else

Trump himself used to be a registered Democrat.

https://www.thoughtco.com/was-donald...mocrat-3367571

When Donald Trump Was a Democrat
It turns out you don't have to look far to find evidence that Trump wasn't always a conservative Republican.

Trump was registered as a Democrat for more than eight years in the 2000s, according to New York City voter records made public during his campaign for president in 2016.

Trump owned up to his years with the other party and told CNN he identified with Democrats during that time because they were more adept at handling the economy.


Said Trump:

"It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans. Now, it shouldn't be that way. But if you go back, I mean it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats. ... But certainly we had some very good economies under Democrats, as well as Republicans. But we've had some pretty bad disasters under the Republicans."

Trump was a registered Democrat from August 2001 through September 2009.

[Suzanimal]

What if this was the same kid who came on here and started this thread? Lol

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...locaust-denial

HazlittIsLit

RothbardGoesHard

[Warlord]

Rand Paul has a timely book out this fall:

A recent poll showed 43% of Americans think more socialism would be a good thing. What do these people not know?

Socialism has killed millions, but it’s now the ideology du jour on American college campuses and among many leftists. Reintroduced by leaders such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the ideology manifests itself in starry-eyed calls for free-spending policies like Medicare-for-all and student loan forgiveness.

In The Case Against Socialism, Rand Paul outlines the history of socialism, from Stalin’s gulags to the current famine in Venezuela. He tackles common misconceptions about the “utopia” of socialist Europe. As it turns out, Scandinavian countries love capitalism as much as Americans, and have, for decades, been cutting back on the things Bernie loves the most.

Socialism’s return is only possible because many Americans have forgotten the true dangers of the twentieth-century’s deadliest ideology. Paul reveals the devastating truth: for every college student sporting a Che Guevara T-shirt, there’s a Venezuelan child dying of starvation. Desperate refugees flee communist Cuba to escape oppressive censorship, rationed food and squalid hospitals, not “free” healthcare. Socialist dictatorships like the People’s Republic of China crush freedom of speech and run massive surveillance states while masquerading as enlightened modern nations. Far from providing economic freedom, socialist governments enslave their citizens. They offer illusory promises of safety and equality while restricting personal liberty, tightening state power, sapping human enterprise and making citizens dependent on the dole.

If socialism takes hold in America, it will imperil the fate of the world’s freest nation, unleashing a plague of oppressive government control. The Case Against Socialism is a timely response to that threat and a call to action against the forces menacing American liberty.

[TheCount]

If libertarians can become fascists, I don't see why they can't become socialists.

[tfurrh]

RothbardGoesHard

Lol.....that made me laugh

out loud

[eleganz]

These millennials don't even know the definition of socialism, how can they understand anything else when affiliating with it?

Also a worthy mention, he went to college for sociology and just by coincidence, thats when he was radicalized.

[Anti Federalist]

Yeah right. Do you believe this $#@!?

Sure...don't know how many former Rona Paul folks I have seen switch over to Bernie...quite a few.

Enough to win NH last time, and he'll win again this time.

Anti - establishment cred, says the right things on some cop and legal and surveillance issues and promises metric $#@!tons of free $#@!.

The kids are going apey over that, at least up by me in NH.

Bernie even has a Corvette too...what the knothead that did this to his Corvette doesn't understand that if Bernie has his way, that car of his will be banned.

[Anti Federalist]

Havana-born Ernesto Medina, 31, said he doesn't care "what the old people think anymore."

The Sanders supporter...

Says the guy who supports who will be the oldest president ever.

[eleganz]

Bernie even has a Corvette too...what the knothead that did this to his Corvette doesn't understand that if Bernie has his way, that car of his will be banned.

In Bernie's America, Corvette buys you...

[Superfluous Man]

What's odd is that he doesn't support Trump.

[Cutlerzzz]

Don’t worry guys, he’s getting a sociology degree. He’ll fix this stuff.

[Swordsmyth]

Sure...don't know how many former Rona Paul folks I have seen switch over to Bernie...quite a few.

Enough to win NH last time, and he'll win again this time.

Anti - establishment cred, says the right things on some cop and legal and surveillance issues and promises metric $#@!tons of free $#@!.

The kids are going apey over that, at least up by me in NH.

Bernie even has a Corvette too...what the knothead that did this to his Corvette doesn't understand that if Bernie has his way, that car of his will be banned.

Banned? No.

It will be reserved for guys like Bernie, and those already owned by the public will be seized and issued to Politburo members.

[Brian4Liberty]

He served as a congressional intern for longtime Miami Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican neocon, and joined a conservative college group.

Fixed that for them. Neocons are leftists.