Political History
From Lady Aster’s online Salon with minor revisions.
One of the joys in this world is hearing the personal stories of kindred spirits. As a more extended introduction, I wrote a piece talking about my political-philosophical journey. I became an anarchist at age 14 and eventually dropped out of school under the influence of unschooling/John Taylor Gatto after 10th grade to provide the backdrop.
An intense interest in radicalism began for me after September 11th. Before that day, I’d dabbled some in the social sciences but nothing particularly radical. If my memory serves me correctly, http://www.sfgate.com/ columnist Mark Morford’s piece Evildoers of Evil was my first post 9-11 commentary on its political aftermath. What began with leftist Mark Morford led to a dive into the literature of radical leftism on multiple topics. Eventually, I discovered anarchism and was attracted to its libertarian spirit. Much exploration was accomplished via books and the http://www.infoshop.org/ anarchist FAQ. Somehow, I stumbled upon Keith Preston’s site http://www.attackthesystem.com/ with an eventual discovery of Kevin Carson’s http://www.mutualist.org/ too. Both of these sites contributed to a major expansion of my horizons. I learned that there were free market thinkers who departed from the status quo. This was my first exposure to loads of right-libertarian material. I read pieces on http://www.lewrockwell.com/ and Murray Rothbard’s work. I also became a devout reader of Arthur Silber’s blog at Light of Reason. I was drawn in by his passionate and intense writing. Eventually, I emailed him to let him know my gratitude and invite commentary upon some writings I’d put together. He provided good suggestions and extremely positive feedback. A reading list came up and Arthur had Chris Matthew Sciabarra of http://www.notablog.net/ email me with it. From becoming good friends with Chris, I explored Ayn Rand’s writings as well as his Dialectics and Liberty trilogy. My current project includes a book titled Studies in Dialectical Libertarianism that presents a trinity of anarchism, free market economics, and cultural tolerance as an interrelated whole using the method of social inquiry outlined in his trilogy. I also run the site http://www.lifeloveandliberty.com that I invite people to leave constructive feedback at. Today, my views are based on the above mentioned trinity.
Political-natural law or rights deduced from reason.
Economic-Sam Konkin’s conception of the market as anything non-coercive with a leaning towards mutualist property rights as expounded by Kevin Carson.
Cultural-bohemianism or super tolerance with respect for people being their authentic selves.
Hoping to entice others to share their stories with this ( :”
