Walk Away Part I: The Kool-Aid
Liberal. Atheist. Feminist.
This photo, which I’m sure was taken on a disposable camera, was me in Washington DC at 19 years young. Those descriptors were my identity.
I rode 13 hours on a bus, free of charge, from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where I wasn’t even a student, to protest oil drilling in ANWR. (Perhaps this was foreshadowing, as I did end up attending and graduating from UW-Milwaukee several years later.)
Upon our arrival to D.C., we met up with busloads of other kids from various states in the U.S. and marched up the steps of Congress. We sat in the halls, with home-made signs and rehearsed talking points, and sat outside outside of our respective legislator’s office and waited. Some groups actually got to see or speak to their State representative. We did not.
After a few hours of peaceably assembling — and we were peaceful — presumably annoying, but we were not violent, rude or overbearing, we marched outside and protested in the National Mall. I remember seeing John Kerry surrounded by a group of kids my age. I wanted to go say something to him, but the opportunity came and went.
After our demonstration ended, we wandered around for a few hours and checked out various sites and monuments (which is when someone snapped this photo) and then we hopped back on the bus and rode home. The entire trip was less than 48 hours, yet it was a pinnacle moment in my angsty teenage years.
I drank all the Kool-Aid.
I was involved in CodePink, I campaigned for Russ Feingold. I hated Ronald Reagan (even though I never actually read about him). I hated Rush Limbaugh (even though I had never actually listened to talk radio). I hated men, except for the ones who were my friends, and I wanted to smash the patriarchy. I had all the Rock Against Bush CDs, and wanted nothing more than to see GW rot in jail for war crimes against humanity.
I was taking several political science and philosophy courses in college. I had read Rules for Radicals, The Feminine Mystique, A People’s History of the United States, The Beauty Myth, and several more “must-read” books for my liberal indoctrination — er, education.
I was mad at the Catholic Church. I never went through with my confirmation for several reasons, and once the sex scandals and pedophilia stories came out, I was completely and utterly disgusted by organized religion.
I was in a band, working at a radio station, living my rock ‘n roll lifestyle, and had no you-know-what’s to give — I guess DGAF part of my personality hasn’t changed.
When Barack Obama was initially running for office, I wrote a post on MySpace titled, “Barack Obama, The Man With a Plan” (I tried to log back onto MySpace to see if I could still find it, but they didn’t transfer any articles over, sadly. Maybe I can find it on a hard drive somewhere?) because I actually agreed with him — or at least, thought I did.
But by the time the 2008 election rolled around, I had done a 180 in my political views, voted for John McCain (who, really was not a conservative), and had dived feet first into conservatism (though I’m really now more of a libertarian). How? Why?
Continue to follow along in the series to find out.
