How have my political views changed over time?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

How have your political views changed over time?

Over time, my political views have shifted in ways I didn’t expect. I’m more progressive than I used to be, especially when it comes to issues like health care. Before my brother’s death, I didn’t have a strong position on universal health care; now I see it as essential.

My views on drug policy have also changed. I used to support full legalization, but I’ve moved toward believing that regulation and strong ethical oversight matter more than blanket legalization.

I read Marxist‑Leninist texts because I’m interested in understanding different political frameworks, but that doesn’t mean I expect—or advocate for—any kind of revolution in my lifetime. My interest is more analytical than predictive.

Overall, my politics have become more grounded in lived experience, personal loss, and a desire for systems that prioritize people’s well‑being.

Radical Peace

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

by C. A. Matthews

A lot of talk in activist groups consists of “When do we act?” and “Who will lead us?” Discussions of when we’ll know what to do and how we’ll know who to trust or which groups are the best ones to give us advice can go on for days, weeks, months or even years. Everyone has a right to their opinion, but in the meantime nothing much is accomplished and things can continue to grow worse. Much worse.

Radical Peace

Barack Obama’s Literature List for 2025 —Connecting the Dots

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

As senior OWI officials saw it, “Books do not have their impact upon the mass mind but upon the minds of those who mould the mass mind—upon leaders of thought and formulators of public opinion. The impact of a book may last six months or several decades. Books are the most enduring propaganda of all.”

John B. Hench, Books as Weapons: Propaganda, Publishing, and the Battle for Global Markets in the Era of World War II (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010), 70

Barack Obama

Barack Obama’s Literature List for 2025 —Connecting the Dots

Related:

Books differ from all other propaganda media, primarily because one single book can significantly change the reader’s attitude and action to an extent unmatched by the impact of any other single medium… this is, of course, not true of all books at all times and with all readers – but it is true significantly often enough to make books the most important weapon of strategic (long-range) propaganda.

Liberated Texts: The power of books as propaganda

How Good Books Can Change a Person

How Good Books Can Change You

CIA and the Cultural Cold War (Anti-Communism)