Marty Beckerman is Feeling Much Better Now…
In an entertaining Salon piece, the Generation S.L.U.T. and Dumbocracy author and occasional Reason scribe Marty Beckerman explains why he went from right to "rediscovered left-wing politics":
I am not an extreme leftist by any means—I still dream of swimming in a vault of gold coins like Scrooge McDuck, I would die to protect the First Amendment from censorial progressive overreach (the same goes for theocratic conservative overreach), and I would consider voting for moderate Republicans if any still existed—but I've learned to see the big picture. It doesn't matter whether you are liberal or conservative, but it's dangerous to always think with exclamation points instead of question marks. Your stance on any particular issue is far less important than whether your worldview is a product of inquiry or incuriosity, whether you feel more comfortable questioning the crowd or blindly marching with it. No ideology has a monopoly on reality—including my rediscovered left-wing politics.
Marty notes that the recession has helped move him leftwards on economics. Which means odds are better than even that after another couple years of stimulus, bailouts, and healthcare reform, he'll likely be shifting back to the right. Or just become a libertarian and live, dammit, live.
Update: link fixed; dropped word inserted above.