A lot of the get government out of my life I don't get
I’m not being argumentative or mean but I do have a curiosity.
What region did you grow up in? And city, or country?
By age 11 or 12 I was going to the library after school and read The Wealth Of Nations, the history of the automobile, most of the collected writings of Thomas Jefferson, Daniel Webster, Samuel Clemons, many others. Mostly around the subjects of early american history, post civil war, and economics. I didn’t know I was a ‘conservative’ or ‘liberal’ or ‘left’ or ‘socialist’ back then as I wasn’t reading contemporary stuff, and I hate calling myself ‘conservative’ today because of stereotyping and idiomatic opinions that generally are not accurate assessements.
So I was fairly well formed in my societal thinking and had a firm cultural grounding at an early age that was not entirely reflective of my parents.
So I often get insatiably curious to learn how others think when I hear or meet someone that does not have a pronounced proclivity for citizenry coupled with an aversion for big government because it seems such an effortless natural state to coalesce into- to me.
—-
In context with this thread, I was interested in solar power and alternative energy in spite of not being of the hippie or tree-hugger stereotype. I grew up in NH and got heavily exposed to anti-nuke sentiments contemporary with the planning and implementation of Seabrook Nuclear Power Station as well as the Three Mile Island incident.
I was neither anti-nuclear power, nor was I indisposed to passive solar and solar electricity- although photovoltaic didn’t seem efficacious at that time. We heated with wood.
Especially out of the 1970’s, however, I got plenty of exposure to the interesting characters that lived atypical lifestyles and ate granola before granola was granola. While I never have bought into the various lifestyle elements- they didn’t make any sense- I certainly wasn’t opposed to adopting solar and sustainable lifestyle elements as ambitiously as I assimilated computers, constitutional loyalty with a vehement perspective on individual rights, and an entrepreneurial spirit. Guerrilla Solar fit right in!
That is why I have my complex reasoning regarding Solar not having been subverted or betrayed as banally as the thread title suggests. Those that were The Guerrilla Solar People were making a point.
That it made sense and morphed mainstream is sortofa indicator that “they” succeeded in their mission.
I sometimes ponder whether it’s gone too far; letting it develop and expand and revolutionize naturally is fine, while forcing it and coercing - to me, in my opinion - is not of long-term benefit and perhaps not beneficial short term. Because I, too, think it’s best if the government is out of our lives.
