Politics

Where does Da Muhs stand politically? Well, in short I identify as libertarian. I think most people would identify as libertarian if they knew what it meant in the most basic definition. As a way of thinking, my basic definition of libertarianism is a live and let live attitude without imposing on others' personal space. When it comes to politics and role of government, it becomes a lot more complicated.

For a long time I never really got into political discussion and still rarely do. However my perspectives have changed over time. Early on as a young adult I thought myself to just be a conservative as a basic political viewpoint. I didn't really know what that was but I thought since growing up Muslim, I thought being a conservative or republican was a more moral ground to stand on. Still, I never really felt like I associated with the party or any group for that matter. I was still indifferent when it came to presidential elections, so I didn't favor John Kerry or George Bush or Romney or Obama. I just knew they were all phony.

Leading up to the 2008 presidential election I tried to take interest in it. I looked into third party candidates and compared them to the main parties to see if I identified with anyone. I came up on the Constitution Party and felt like I identified a little more with that group, or maybe even the Tea Party. I still didn't really invest myself into those parties but felt they were better than the main parties. Well, nothing struck me enough to care about voting in that election, so I was still politically apathetic.

It wasn't until the 2016 presidential election that I started to tune in politically. I started reading about libertarianism (I don't know exactly how I got started, but I must have heard the term or read it and maybe Wikipedia'd it or something). Everything I read made sense and I came across a libertarian candidate debate during primary season. It was only online and not televised obviously since little attention is given to third parties. I tuned into more debates and really started taking a liking to certain candidates, particularly Austin Petersen. His ideas were perfectly aligned with how I thought and he made so much sense compared to any other candidate I came across. I followed the libertarian race all the way to the election. I hated the choice to have Gary Johnson be the nominee over Austin Petersen. I feel like if Petersen got a little mainstream attention like Gary Johnson did, he would have represented the Libertarian Party much better and would have brought a lot of people to vote for the LP. I still voted for the first time in 2016 and it was for Johnson. But I didn't vote in 2020 because I didn't care for the LP candidate. I actually woulda voted for either Bernie Sanders or Tulsi Gabbard if they had the Democratic nomination. I can't stand Trump or Biden so this election didn't draw me in. Anyway, that's what got me into libertarianism.

I heard about Ron Paul before and knew I liked him but never thought much about his OG role in the libertarian movement. Not until I got into libertarianism from the 2016 election did I go on to listen to what he preaches. I still listen to his reports just about every day. There are a few more libertarians I enjoy listening to regularly today. Larry Sharpe ran for governor of New York as a third party candidate and he preaches common sense libertarian ideas. John Stossel is another guy I like to listen to.

So that's my basic journey into libertarianism. I'll write about my stance on things in other blogs