Oddly enough, I started from a place of selfishness. I started out in high school trying to figure out what political system would have the best outcomefor me, immediately discarded the conservatives because they were overtly racist, and quickly discovered that things get better for individuals when they get better for society as a whole.

Had the usual “communism is good on paper but” brainworms for a long time, and supported socdem policies because I was being “realistic”.

Over time watched those few existing policies get continually peeled away due to the influence of the capitalist class and grew increasingly radical in terms of the policies I supported (IE “We need to raise taxes on the ultra-wealthy to pay for services” to “We need to seize the property of the ultra-wealthy and put it to use for the people”).

Watching Bernie, an overwhelmingly popular candidate with overwhelmingly popular policies of MODERATE reform, lose to a decrepit ghoul who was offering nothing while we are decades away from planetary annihilation was what ultimately made me realize that reform within the system is impossible.