Yes, I was born into a rather conservative family all things considered, so I never really questioned the nature of getting a job and making money, even if that money WAS the difference between life and death in many scenarios. I did not shift from conservative capitalist to anarchosocialist all in one go. I gradually shifted my views towards the political left (the democratic party, progressive politics broadly, such as Richard Wolf from economic update,). Then I started watching a lot of leftist Youtubers like Thought Slime and Non Compete. I saw that a lot of their arguments make sense, and when I talk about it to my acquaintances, they too enjoy the idea of society's economic system becoming a lot more NEED-based rather than profit-based.
I could go on, but I think you guys get my point.
I haven't watched Thought Slime or Non Compete--
Was there anything that made you reject the idea (or go past the idea) of falling somewhere in/around Richard Wolf; probably a broadly socially democratic society that is based primarily on a worker-owned economy and enshrining some form of direct democracy?
I'll be honest that I haven't delved much into content made by actual anarchists, but as someone whose ideal could be broadly painted as:
-Hybrid Government with elected executives & legislators but also over-ride mechanism from direct democracy legislation
-Social Democratic Safety net secured as rights
-Primarily worker-owned organizations running the economy
We're probably on a similar page direction-wise. Also I can sympathize with your political transformation-- I'm from basically a neo-liberal capitalist family but I found so much sense in what Bernie Sanders was saying that the logical arguments that followed pulled me further and further left.
Also would be interested in hearing your thoughts (or anarchist's ideas) on connectivity issues: foreign policy/immigration/trade. While generally I consider myself more sympathetic to arguments from the left, I can't help thinking that there are real practical limitations to securing even pockets of justice without acknowledging the merits of some forms of localized power/sovereignty.
Example: I do think there would be more social justice in the US if they re-shored many of their production chains, and I would be willing to work with right-wing populists who agreed with the sentiment. Feel the same for the country I live in: Japan.
Another example: Living in Japan, I have like 81% agreement with the Japanese Communist party according to ISideWith. That said, it boggles my mind how The Communist Party of Japan can think that it is a primary goal of theirs to make Japan independent of US imperialism, but ALSO think Japanese military capabilities need to be dramatically scaled back. How does that work???? <--willing to have my thoughts changed by other leftists.
Or on energy: Sure green energy that turns everyone's house into a mini power plant on a socialized connected grid is the most democratic type of energy, but watching Japanese progressives make eliminating nuclear power priority numero-uno when this country is still under western thumb and running on foreign-controlled fossil fuels just seems insane to me. Tokyo Electric, a nationalized corporation, just should not be on the left's big bad radar when we're still reliant on the fossil fuels controlled by the Middle East, Russia, and the US.
So I think there are arguments to be made for having localized centers of power (like countries), and don't see open borders as inherently better for justice or socialism.
