Hi Steemit 👋 I'm Summer.
No, I'm not exactly new to Steemit, but after about a year of my account being idle I am just now getting back into the swing of things.
In my first "introduce yourself" post I made, last year, I stated that I had libertarian views and that I wanted to get into it a little bit deeper and so I thought I would start by explaining how I came to consider myself so.
If you read my first post, I said that I was a military wife. Yes, my husband is currently serving in the USAF. We spent the last 4 stationed overseas in the UK and recently relocated to South Georgia (what a culture shock). I am from Canada originally. To sum up what that all means, we are surrounded by republicans and all my friends back home in Canada are socialists 🙃. It is not an easy thing being surrounded on both sides by people who you completely disagree with morally on almost everything. I am sure most of you know this to be true! I feel like I do not fit in anywhere, it is not impossible for me to make friends now, but the other wives I've met are so military-oriented. Of course I grin and bare it, but connections are often shallow at this point in my life because my convictions run so deep. And all my friends back in Canada are socialists, and proud of it. This is a little different, of course, because these people I've known my whole life, long before we developed any political/philosophical views that would differentiate us.
Up until the last few years, I was apathetic about politics, though I've had a keen interest in philosophy since I was in high school. Back when my husband and I were dating, was about the time Ron Paul was running for president, and he started getting into politics quite a lot. He was constantly listening to radio talk shows in the car, watching youtube videos, liking posts on Facebook etc. to do with politics. Anything I heard or read just completely sounded like another language to me back then, and it drove me INSANE when he would get political. But, even though it was such an important aspect of life to him, he never once tried to force his beliefs or opinions on me, and if he ever tried to discuss anything (I would usually flip out almost imediately, it was so dull and annoying to me), I would turn him down and that would be the end of it. I have to say this went on for years.
Ever so slowly, I started to understand the things he was talking about. I would catch myself actually listening to his podcasts with him and thinking "Hey, that actually makes perfect sense--why didn't I think of this before--it seems so simple".
I guess it was really during the last election that I really dove into libertarianism and anarchist ideas. I started watching Ron Paul videos regularly, studying Milton Friedman, was introduced to people like Dave Smith through the Joe Rogan Experience and eventually began watching Anarchast with Jeff Berwick regularly (the reason I'm here on Steemit!)
So, here I am. I can't stress how grateful I am to my husband for always being patient with me and always trying to understand things with logic and removing emotion from the scenario; reasoning with me when I would get hysterical about how boring or stupid I thought he was, or even when I would tell him he was wrong with no explanation...man I was an uninformed idiot!
I recently was in a situation where I had a disagreement with someone I care about over something I honestly thought we agreed on. We were both drunk and I got very emotional. My husband, though he was drunk too, was there to reassure me. He told me he knew how it felt, because for years he went through it with me. Things that are so important to you that they are embedded in your being, are just stupid nonsense to someone you love. He told me it honestly can hurt so bad, but when people just don't get it you just have to remove yourself from the situation and the emotions. Slowly, you can help people understand, with love, patience and most importantly knowledge. Sometimes (like in the case of me), it can take years.
Be patient with your loved ones who don't quite understand your views and philosophies. The biggest thing we advocate for as libertarians is free speech; your right to be you, form your own views and opinions. Well, that and no taxes hehe. If you show your philosophy through your life and your actions, maybe someday they will catch on.
