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A completely fresh start

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Greetings.

To make a long story short, i have called myself just about every "ist" in the dictionary - Hedonist, Satanist, Baptist, Communist, Taoist, Existentialist etc. - but have finally run into an "ism" that makes sense and is entirely applicable to every aspect of my life. Objectivism.

I was raised baptist but rejected the church after my grandma died and stopped really caring about "Morals" and whatnot.

Then i got to Highschool where it was cool to be a communist, so i bought a red flag, a Che shirt and read Marx. It pissed my parents off and made Vietnam Veterans shake their heads. I liked that. I stopped caring about anything again not too long after because, well... communism offers nothing to the individual.

Then, right out of Highschool, i started looking for the moral code I was lacking. It started with Existentialism and led to Satanism (a true joke), Taoism, Hedonism (another Joke) and Finally Libertarianism.

The 08' Election is mainly what led me to Libertarianism. Libertarianism led me to read the Federalist Papers and all the other required founding literature, but I was still missing a way to live... Politics are only a piece of the puzzle.

So I read Atlas Shrugged on a suggestion from a friend. I was one of those people who was "changed" by it. Honestly it was unlike anything I had ever read. I looked into Objectivism and outright rejected it at first but only because i didnt understand it. I wanted to get it, so i picked up "The Virtue of Selfishness" and i dont plan on looking back. Im now starting "For the New Intellectual".

I should hope I'm not flamed for being an ex-Libertarian :)

That's my story! Im here to learn and apply.

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Hi Castle.

I'm looking forward to an interesting tale of how you chose to dispose of the Che shirt when you came to your senses.

I actually still have it. Its somewhere deep in my closet (along with my Soviet Hockey Jersey).

I don't even think I could justify painting or mowing in it. It kind of makes me ill. Im sure that if I ever come across it I will think of some creative means to discard it :)

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I actually still have it. Its somewhere deep in my closet (along with my Soviet Hockey Jersey).

I don't even think I could justify painting or mowing in it. It kind of makes me ill. Im sure that if I ever come across it I will think of some creative means to discard it :)

An old room mate came home to discover it had been used as a rag to clean the cat-box.

Normally I find distruction of OPP abhorrent.

For something with Che's face on it I made an exception.

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The question isn't so much why one joined the Libertarians as why (or whether) one left them again.

Technically i am still a member, but i will not be renewing.

I am leaving them because most are populists who are simply fed up with D's and R's and are more focused on the decriminalization of their choice drugs than individual rights.

I also need a moral code, not a political party.

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Technically i am still a member, but i will not be renewing.

Are you required to register with a political party in your state? We have no such requirement in Tennessee.

I am leaving them because most are populists who are simply fed up with D's and R's and are more focused on the decriminalization of their choice drugs than individual rights.

That is my obsevation as well. Lot's of dirty-footed hippie types in the LP.

I also need a moral code, not a political party.

Then you are on the right track. Welcome to OO.net. :P

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Are you required to register with a political party in your state? We have no such requirement in Tennessee.

I am not Required to register. I did it of my own volition.

Ive definitely learned that neither the body politic nor the superstitious advice of ill-willed boogeymen can guide your actions. I cant yet call myself an Objectivist because i still have a lot to learn but i can say that after reading the Virtue of Selfishness it is something i will strive for. It really "clicks" with me. I know a lot of people read (well, most do not and disregard Objectivism outright as a 'cult' of greedy capitalists) and find it a little too abrasive or complex and throw it down, but im willing to see what it has to offer. It just makes sense (and should, being that its basis is logic and reason).

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