Lesson to learn

Have your political views changed over time?

Yes.

What caused it?

Maturity, success, and payroll taxes.

I went through a “fight the man” phase as a teenager. Lots of Rage Against the Machine, corporations are evil, blame America first kind of stuff.

In retrospect, I was being anti-social because the “social” parts of high school were ignoring me. I was ugly and from a poor family. I had nothing to offer, and the popular and semi-popular crowds just ignored me. So, in my confused teenager kind of way, I thought the problem was with all of society, and not just the way teenagers act with each other.

Then I grew up.

Between the ages of 18–22, several things happened that made me less anti-social, and more “things aren’t all that bad, and if something is wrong in your life, it’s probably because of something you did,” conservative. I quit being angry with the rich and beautiful people around me and started being happy for them instead.

I lost a lot of weight and started dating the woman who would become my wife. That helped a lot.

I started working full-time and paying full-time payroll taxes. That pushed me further into fiscal conservatism.

By age 30, I was so happy with my life that thinking about my anti-social teenage phase was embarrassing. What was I thinking? I was so mad at the people around me and societal standards, but really, I was bringing most of it upon myself. How did I expect to make friends with anyone when I spent most of my time alone and angry at the world? Why was I so mad at the beautiful and wealthy kids? It wasn’t their fault they were born that way. I should have been happy for them.

Anyway, it was just a phase of my life. I’m over it now.