I was always told I would become more conservative as I got older.

Joke’s on them. Actually understanding capitalism and conservatism and how politics are corrupted by money has bodily yeeted me so far left that I am two good shakes away from being an anachro-communist.

The real irony being that idealized “pure” democracy - fully participatory democracy where the people vote directly on policy, and politicians and most of the political apparatus no longer exists - is essentially political communism. All that remains are bureaucrats whose only job is to implement and coordinate the policies that the people vote for.