It's kind of a verbal meme, but one of my favorite questions is, "what radicalized you?" Since I'm someone who appeals to moderates with a tempered but purposeful element of anti-establishment fire, it's kind of a notable question.
My first thought is, "well let me tell you about my childhood and why I'm not a huge fan of the state."
My second thought is, "let's talk about the global financial crisis."
My third thought is, "look at the 2016 time period where U.S. fiscal deficits started to wonkishly deviate from unemployment.
My fourth thought, regarding the Current Thing, because nobody wants to go back that far, is, "they replaced a beautiful blue bird with an X and said it would be half of the global financial system."
And that made me angry.
