Why are you a leftist?

[Agonized-Statism]

Hierarchies. If you're on top, you better always be the biggest, toughest guy around. If you're in the middle, how long before you slip to the bottom? I started out as a neocon more or less and eventually realized that some day someone would break out nuclear weapons in the fight for American hegemony. That's easy, most people came to that conclusion before me. Then I learned American hegemony isn't necessarily a good thing, and that what's good for the oligarch isn't good for the average person. The hardest part was self-reflection on social issues. I realized there's no reason to hate anyone who deviates from "the norm". I was a loner who was upset about being a loner, and I couldn't wish myself into mythologized white suburbia with the prepackaged support and acceptance promised by TV. It was a natural progression, because it's hypocritical to pick and choose which hierarchies you want to dismantle: imperialism, wealth inequality, clerical authority, patriarchy, homophobia, and so on all go hand in hand. You can't be wishy-washy, like being an "anti-woke progressive" who only wants to address economic inequality only for the conditions of their particular group, or a social democrat who thinks capitalism can be regulated to avoid its fundamental problems, or a liberal who wants to do away with racism, homophobia, and transphobia but keep the empire and the oligarchs.

However, I concede that it takes time to abolish hierarchies and that we need a state to facilitate development in automation and productivity so that we can all enjoy greater abundance. It's easy to get pie-in-the-sky, naive about how fast people can change or the extent to which material conditions can improve on a finite planet with limitless energy sources still out of reach. And even then, there's only so many beachfront houses in Malibu: there will always be some amount of scarcity, and therefore inequality. A disciplined socialist state, but one that doesn't forget it's a means to an end, is the way forward.