The American Spectator : When I Was a 17-Year-Old Socialist

Text Size

Political Hay

When I Was a 17-Year-Old Socialist

A funny thing happened on the way to political paradise.

"I pass the test that says a man who isn't a socialist at twenty has no heart, and a man who is a socialist at forty has no head."
-- William Casey, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, 1981-1987

The sentiments of President Reagan's man at the CIA have been previously uttered by the likes of Disraeli, Clemenceau, and Churchill. The ages of the young men varied as did whether the young men in question were socialists or liberals. But the one thing that remained constant is that if they remained socialists or liberals as older men they were doomed to a life of naïveté.

In my own case, I signed up as a card-carrying member of the socialist Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) in March 1988 at the age of 15 while growing up in Thunder Bay. Although my mother had been active in the NDP for many years, joining the party was entirely my idea. I joined shortly after my tenth-grade history class had partaken in a Model Parliament where I became, by default, leader of the NDP. Subsequently, I would join the Port Arthur NDP provincial riding association as its youth representative.

Let's jump forward to the summer of the 1990. In late July, Ontario Premier David Peterson called a snap election set for September 6. Peterson's Liberal Party had won 95 out of 130 seats in the Ontario legislature less than three years earlier. Legally, Peterson did not need to call an election for another two years. (Elections in Ontario are now held the first Thursday in October every four years. Ontarians are due to vote on October 6, 2011). However, Peterson was popular and Liberal re-election appeared certain.

But a funny thing happened on the way to that Liberal re-election. Voters in Canada's largest province didn't like having their summer respite so rudely interrupted and they took that anger out on Peterson and the Liberals. Under normal circumstances Ontario voters would have turned to the Progressive Conservatives. After all, before electing Peterson in 1985, the Tories had governed Ontario for 42 years earning the nickname "The Big Blue Machine." But Brian Mulroney was leading such an extremely unpopular Tory government in Ottawa that a mere three years later they would be reduced to two seats in the House of Commons.

So voters did the unthinkable and elected 74 New Democrats to Queen's Park, making Ontario NDP leader Bob Rae the new Premier of Ontario. Among the group of 74 elected that night was Shelley Wark-Martyn, a 27-year-old registered nurse with no previous electoral experience. Not only was Wark-Martyn suddenly representing the people of Port Arthur, Rae would appoint her to his cabinet as Minister of Revenue. Among those who had helped elect Wark-Martyn was a 17-year-old high school student who had just grown his first beard. I did everything possible during that campaign to ensure an NDP victory except to vote, as the election took place ten days before my 18th birthday.

For those unfamiliar with Canadian politics, the idea that the people of Ontario would ever elect an NDP government was about as likely to happen as, say, the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts electing a Republican to succeed Ted Kennedy. Needless to say, I along with NDP activists all over Canada became euphoric. A new day had come to Ontario. A socialist paradise was within reach.

But a funny thing happened on the way to that socialist paradise. Call it having to live in the real world. What seemed so easy in opposition suddenly became complicated in power. Things were complicated by a very deep recession. That recession would become further complicated when Rae's Minister of Finance, Floyd Laughren, introduced a provincial budget in the spring of 1991 with a deficit of $9.7 billion, earning Laughren the nickname "Pink Floyd." Not surprisingly, Ontario's business community was not amused. Conrad Black would describe Rae as a "millionaire-baiting, anti-corporate agitator." For Rae's part, he often described Ontario's economic situation as "the worst recession since the 1930s." Is this beginning to sound familiar?t;/span>

The NDP government also managed to alienate its allies, including its core support amongst trade unions. First, it backed off implementing public automobile insurance, a program that had been implemented by NDP governments in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia. Later, it would open up and unilaterally rewrite public sector collective bargaining agreements. Taking his cue from Rousseau, Rae called it the "Social Contract." Although it would save public sector jobs, among its most unpopular features was the new regulation requiring unpaid days of leave which would become known derisively as "Rae Days." I can remember when Rae was booed when he took the floor of the 1994 Ontario NDP Convention in Hamilton.

The following spring, the Ontario electorate unceremoniously tossed out the NDP in favor of Mike Harris and the Progressive Conservatives (with Wark-Martyn one of the casualties.) The Tories would be re-elected in 1999 before the Liberals were returned to power in 2003 under Dalton McGuinty where they remain to this day. The Ontario NDP has never come close to replicating its triumph of twenty years ago.

I would not disavow the NDP until after the events of September 11, 2001. But the seed of doubt was surely planted in me while the NDP ruled Ontario. No doubt it was planted in Rae who has himself moved rightward (somewhat) and is now a Liberal MP (Member of Parliament). Whether President Obama, who has alienated both adversary and ally alike, will be out after one term remains to be seen. But I have no doubt that a seed of doubt has been planted in many a young man who at 17 helped to elect President Obama. The only question now is when that seed will germinate.

About the Author

Aaron Goldstein writes from Boston, Massachusetts.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (45) | Leave a comment

P. Aaron| 9.1.10 @ 8:38AM

I was raised a Kennedy Democrat.

I got better.

moron| 9.1.10 @ 10:51AM

I am of the opinion that a Kennedy (as in JFK) Democrat is to the right of John McCain.

Jack Bauer| 9.1.10 @ 3:40PM

m -- I think the historical record would prove that point. JFK would have had the likes of Obama under 24/7 FBI observation.

Alan Brooks| 9.1.10 @ 4:26PM

Cuts both ways:
a man who isn't a libertopian at twenty has no heart, and a man who is a libertopian at forty has no head.

S.L. Toddard| 9.1.10 @ 8:47AM

Is it any wonder that a movement and party dominated by "former" Marxist "conservatives" embraces the legacy of FDR at home and of Wilson and LBJ abroad?

Sheila| 9.1.10 @ 11:10AM

You nailed it, Toddard. Movement conservatives and rah-rah-Republicans are all about building democracy abroad (mostly supported by neocons who are, in large part, Jews like Aaron Goldstein who were "awakened" because 9/11 was a Muslim action, not so much because it was an anti-American action) and expanding government a little more slowly than the Democracts (compassionate conservatism) at home. In short, they're neither sane nor conservative, and none of them truly pass the author's "test" quote. But hey, Aaron tells us he's now seen the light - and he's conservative just like the Log Cabin Republicans are conservative, and we need a big tent, and Peter Ferrara tells us 70% of Americans believe in smaller government (who are you going to believe, my cherry-picked statistics or your own lying eyes?) and they can all see November and we're in the best of all possible worlds. Decline and fall.

Alan Brooks| 9.1.10 @ 5:10PM

You two are isolationists.

Alan Brooks| 9.1.10 @ 6:34PM

Interventionism is sometimes correct: the war with N. Korea (and the armed truce with them to this day) is ethically right.
No one trusted Kim Il Sung, and no one trusts his son-- for good reason; he is better at collecting porn than running a state.

Occam's Tool| 9.1.10 @ 7:47PM

Sorry, SL and Sheila, but this Conservative and Hawk was a Republican and Yafer and voted for Reagan at age 18. Oh, and I'm Jewish, too, you worthless Paleoconservative Gonifs.

Occam's Tool| 9.1.10 @ 7:51PM

And I'm opposed to Islamofascism, too, Sheila and SL. Maybe it's because I know about the Reconquista, Lepanto, and Vienna. Islamofascist emnity towards the West began far before Israel, gang, and the US's first tangles with them began FAR before Israel was a twinkle in Herzl's eye (hint: Review the Marine Hymn, dipsticks).

JmsA| 9.1.10 @ 9:21PM

Occam's Tool,

Hear, hear! Nothing like a bit of historical perspective.

Alan Brooks| 9.1.10 @ 10:28PM

Isolationalism will make sense when:
a) no WMDs exist
or
b) nationalism no longer exists.

Probably both. Now, Toddard is educated; ask him when a or b or ab will be the case.

Alan Brooks| 9.1.10 @ 10:35PM

Know I shouldn't double-post, but this is IMO extremely important:
one of the reasons we in 1942 went after Hitler first and Tojo second was because Hitler would have used an A-Bomb without hesitation.
I don't know if yellow-cake uranium in Africa was a ploy by Bush, but if it wasn't, then taking out Saddam made sense in '03.

Again, remove WMDs from the equation and isolationism does make more sense.

Margie| 9.3.10 @ 11:07PM

Figures "Sheila" would agree with the likes of Snottard. Do they ever have anything good to say about America?

Walter| 9.1.10 @ 9:38AM

I, too, had to live through the time of the NDP government in Ontario. When the Harris Conservatives were elected in '95 it was like waking up from a nightmare.

Ezra Crewe| 9.1.10 @ 11:22PM

I also remember a socialist by the name of Rae,. I worked at a nuclear power plant with 65 guys working for me on operations.There was a guy living close by who was "on disability", he was taking home more money than I was because high earners were taxed so high. I have lived to curse socialists ever since.

Mike Rogers| 9.1.10 @ 9:47AM

Hillary was a Goldwater Girl growing up and became socialist later - does that make her unwise, or just cynical?

Patrick| 9.1.10 @ 2:26PM

Both heartless and brainless I suppose.

Alan Brooks| 9.1.10 @ 5:17PM

But a winner, that's all that counts.
The scoreboard.

Tim*| 9.2.10 @ 5:58AM

"But a winner, that's all that counts.
The scoreboard."

See ya on November 2nd , ObamaBoy .

The Tea Party Rebellion Escalates .

Rise Up !

Mike Rogers| 9.1.10 @ 9:47AM

Hillary was a Goldwater Girl growing up and became socialist later - does that make her unwise, or just cynical?

froglegs| 9.1.10 @ 10:39AM

My memories from that time are that the "Goldwater Girls" in my classes, and they were all female, were the class elites. I hated them! My highschool in 1960 had voted 75/25 Nixon over Kennedy in the student mock election. I'll bet most of them too became liberals in their college days.

Purple Lips| 9.1.10 @ 10:58AM

Hillary Rodham Clinton was a Goldwater Girl.

Paevo| 9.1.10 @ 10:24AM

It makes her an eternally shrill, rebelling adolescent...

dw| 9.1.10 @ 11:21AM

It's all about the damage done while the altruist among us mature. There is an inherent degree of laziness and wishful thinking engendered within that mindset that indicates a willfulness to let others plow the road ahead for them.
Part of it is due to government sponsored teachers who spew liberal leaning drivel.

Vern Crisler| 9.1.10 @ 11:36AM

When did it ever become true that "a man who isn't a socialist at twenty has no heart, and a man who is a socialist at forty has no head"?

I would say anyone who is a socialist at whatever age has neither a heart nor a head.

They think they have a heart at 20, but in reality it is a sanctimonious heart. It's easy to have a heart with other people's money.

Hobbz| 9.1.10 @ 1:07PM

Mr. Nail Head, meet Mr. Crisler. Great post.

James MacBeagle| 9.1.10 @ 2:20PM

Amen to that. I was never a socialist. All the "logic" used in arguing for socialism, always struck me as being faulty though, as a young man, I could rarely place my finger on exactly why.
As I began to pay more attention to politics, I gradually became much better able to see precisely where the problem lay.

Appleby| 9.1.10 @ 3:24PM

I have been a conservative from my cradle. Just born with good sense, I suppose.

Jeremiah| 9.1.10 @ 7:45PM

I spent some time at a commune in Connecticut. I made fun of the liberal revolutionary nonsense my friends spouted. I made no bones about the fact I was in it for the sex and booze and rock & roll, but wasn't about to start spouting ignorant nonsense as the price of admission to this hippie playground.

I was tolerated as a kook or a truly rare and exotic breed, a legitimately conservative flower-child. Sometimes, in the quiet of the evening, someone would quietly agree with me - usually the girls, but excused themselves by saying we had to grow up some time and this was all part of the fun of being young.

I suppose it was. Mainly we just traipsed around the woods surrounding the house and trailers we occupied, drinking large quantities of malt beverages and trying to make a dent in a full barrel of hickory nuts we had in the living room. They were good times. I doubt we sired any actual revolutionaries and I somehow suspect that if I was ever re-united with the old gang, they would all now be tea partiers. So maybe we did spawn some real revolutionaries - but not the type the good leftists in charge of the campuses were counting on.

scotchieguy| 9.2.10 @ 1:44AM

Good take. My theory has always been this--the libs running things in gov't were not radicals in the true sense back in the 60's, but rather intellectual dorks. The real radicals went to Woodstock cuz it was cool, went through three days of rain, mud, no food, no sanitation, and basic hell, and said " to hell w/ this, maybe my parents were right all along," and became the productive, prosperous yuppies. They are conservative now, and the libs are the dorky, fruity brainiacs that now run things. Case in point--Amy Klobuchar--she was valedictorian of my class, and now is an utter bore in the U.S. Senate.

Bill| 9.2.10 @ 3:56PM

I don't know when you lived in your commune, but when I was a conservative of the libertarian stripe living in a commune in the 1960s, there were a lot of us. I always got a kick out of the "revolutionaries:" they were uniformly in favor of gun control and they had to make a visible effort to hold a gun. If you loaded it, and they could bring themselves to hold it, it looked like they were holding a skunk.

Bill| 9.2.10 @ 5:00PM

One of the things that made being a freak in the 1960s palatable to the maturing mind was the certain knowledge that it was only going to last for a very short time.

For a contemporary taste of freakdom that rings true, read the mystery story The Likeness by Tana French, or listen to the song "Bob Dylan's Dream."

J@w.com| 9.1.10 @ 6:29PM

Born that way?
Richardson was right about Bush 41, he WAS born with a silver foot in his mouth.

Big Leo| 9.1.10 @ 7:20PM

I was a twenty year old socialist. My father bought me a tour of the Soviet Union where I even got to meet Gus Hall. He put his arm around my shoulder and called me the future of America. I have been a Republican ever since.

BackToBasics| 9.1.10 @ 7:20PM

How conservative or socialist can a person be at 17? Probably one in a thousand knows enough at that age to be able to strongly back up their position. Some would argue that most people who are 50 cannot yet back up their political convictions with good discussion and arguments.

Too bad they lowered the voting age to 18 about 40 years ago. I know the arguments for doing so but I still think it's too bad they could not have raised it to 25 instead.

I remember just after the Bush-Gore election battle and some Democrats were openly discussing lowering the voting age to 16 and a few even spoke of giving a half vote to 14-16 year olds. That speaks volumes about what Democrats think of well-informed voters. They could not care less and I think the less informed voters are the more Democrats like it.

And Some Republican politicians are also not too far behind in this area either regarding liking poorly-informed voters. Bush sure fooled a lot of people when he ran. Evangelicals have got to stop believing every Republican who calls himself a strong Christian believer as Bush did. Look at the issues and what they stand for, not how much they claim to pray. I'd be more impressed if they said they read their Bible a lot and could quote a few key verses to back up their positions. Protecting your borders and not spending debt money that can never be properly repaid are 2 principles that can be found in the Bible, mostly in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy, Leviticus and Numbers. I knowingly voted for Bush 2 times figuring he was the lesser of 2 evils. But I did not do so for McCain and I will not vote for another RINO again, including Huckabee and possibly Palin. Although, I see a few signs that she is moving a little more in a conservative direction. I'll wait and see what platform she will eventually develop and seriously protecting our borders will be a key issue for me to watch regarding her. So far she is too much like Bush on this one. I will also see if she grows into her leadership role in the sense that she is more knowledgeable and articulate. So far her thoughts are all over the place. Sometimes this is a sign of an active mind but lacking some discipline. Sometimes it is a sign that a person is in over their head. I will want to see if she can grow into her leadership role in a better and greater way.

On the other hand, Huckabee is a smooth talker but I do not trust him. I think he 's a wolf in sheep's clothing. I've had dealings with evangelical pastors who were really wolves. Huckabee is VERY Republican Establishment. At least I think Palin is a sincere Christian.

Protecting our borders is not the only issue but it is a good litmus test for the candidates to see how conservative they really are. Bush failed it even before the 2000 election. One of his first major thrusts was discussing an amnesty program in 2001 with Vicente Fox, president of Mexico. 9/11 stopped Bush from trying to implement his plan early on. So far Palin fails the litmus test for me too - So Far.

james wilson| 9.1.10 @ 10:24PM

The man who is not utoptian at twenty is not full of himself. The man who is utopian at forty has arrested development.

Johnny Knuckles| 9.1.10 @ 11:14PM

A man who isn't a socialist at 20 is just paying attention.

TeddyIsDeady| 9.1.10 @ 11:59PM

Sheila & SL are just mad because after November 2 there will be some people giving speeches who actually WON'T be providing 2 minutes of stand-up comedy WHEN THEIR TELEPROMPTER QUITS, like we get now when that Inexperienced Chicago PUNK in the whitehouse has "technical difficulties" with HIS teleprompter. REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER, folks

Laine| 9.2.10 @ 1:57AM

"even spoke of giving a half vote to 14-16 year olds. That speaks volumes about what Democrats think of well-informed voters. They could not care less and I think the less informed voters are the more Democrats like it".
They also prefer voters with no skin in the game i.e. those who don't pay taxes and the very young fill that bill too. They just seque from an allowance from their parents to an allowance from the state (that being either handouts or what they're allowed to keep from their earnings).

BackToBasics| 9.2.10 @ 6:45PM

Yes, becoming state wards is certainly a sign of immaturity. So many do not want to grow up anymore. Yet, I think because of this and the myriad problems it causes, hard times will come soon enough and force many to grow up rather quickly.

Marc Jeric| 9.2.10 @ 2:08AM

I was 12 when the communist came to power, and 24 when I escaped from that hell. So I had no time to become socialist before turning into a conservative type. My final cure happened under Carter - that blabbering nincompoop who kissed Brezhnev 3 times on the cheeks. Then came a series of functional morons - Mondale, Dukakis, Kerry, Gore, Biden; and the final coup performed by Abu Hussein al-Mombassa (or wherever in Kenya that marxist Muslim was born. Upon my arrival here in 1962 I heard my coworkers talk about how great president Roosevelt was; and I wondered how they did not know or did not care that Roosevelt sold into the Soviet slavery a large number of countries - Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Chechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Albania, North Korea - not to mention East Germany. Only Churchill saved Greece from the same sorry end.
Even with this background I still cast my first votes as American citizen for Humphrey and for Brown in California - imagine!

jd| 9.2.10 @ 11:07AM

Alan Brooks is just jealous of Kim Jong Il's porn collection

Michele San Pietro| 9.2.10 @ 5:51PM

It sound as though it's compulsory to have been a communist during one's youth... I find this absolutely hogwash. Thank God, I was born a pro-America right-winger, and I will die a pro-America right-winger.

Ken| 9.4.10 @ 10:45AM

"I pass the test that says a man who isn't a socialist at twenty has no heart, and a man who is a socialist at forty has no head."
-- William Casey, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, 1981-1987

Tyrants from mass-murdering terrorist organizations like the CIA have absolutely no moral authority with me.

Right-wingers slander everyone to the left of them as "socialists." Liberals slander everyone to the right of them as "fascists." The world would be better without both.