This is a great question because politics is fundamentally irrational and experience is fundamentally empirical.

As someone who has volunteered several years of my time, gladly focusing on civil/ human rights advocacy, I have had some experiences with people. For the political class, inherent rights are political capital. The political class are barely people.

It shaped me by hardening myself even more from the system. It confirmed what I had heard from others, and I dug my heels in. That’s how I responded. I suppose the net result of that is that my personal experience strengthened my resolve.

Next, I can say with glee that I’m glad I’m a single-issue voter when it comes to federal offices. Ron Paul and Ralph Nader are the last two votes I cast for president. I’m a non-interventionist. That’s my basic thing. All civil movements in America are tied to the amputation of the Military Industrial Complex from the Americans.

All over the place, we keep hearing how America is more divided than ever. There has never been more agreement about this single issue than ever, either. Washington, DC, and the WEF are having one conversation, and The People of the US are having a different conversation. I’m glad this conversation is happening.

On that point, what I think is that I’m glad my resolve is strengthened, and a second thing is related to the first. It’s my experience that hardened me and strengthened my resolve regarding what I had confirmed about politics through that experience.

Finally, I hope I have room to remind people that many people are 'hypnotizable'. I mean that literally. There are people who can be put under very easily, and there are some people who simply cannot be hypnotized. People are wired differently. It’s nothing personal.

To see the way that political class uses that segment of our society and to see the broken brains is astonishing. I have stood face-to-face with human beings who were so confused when I would be advocating for victims of state abuse. The behavior is inhumane, and the contempt for their own followers is worse. The politician's worst victim is their admirer, the one who trusts them, every time.

These were liberal people, you know, “the good team." They would ask me why I was concerned about these torture victims and why the issue of this abuse bothered me. They were creepy. What a creepy question. 100% oblivious to the idea that Americans are aware of what is happening and the depth of the crimes. I think the fact that I'm a white man doesn't work for them. They need guys who look like me to blame this on. If I'm out there challenging their behavior, that exposes their complicity, they can't use me an an excuse. It didn't stop them from slandering me. Of course!

Again. None of what I observed about politics—about the machinations of the systems they use—surprised me; that only confirmed what I was inclined to believe. What changed about me is that I’m more resolved, more honed, and I have better analysis. Hopefully, I also communicate these things better as I go along.