Comment by gavinray

I was fortunate to have the help of others ("No man is an island unto himself") but I do think that having the mindset of not being owed anything helped me keep a positive perspective when things were their worst.

I'm not political, but I would consider myself left-leaning Libertarian.

My mother is an Ayn Rand-loving die-hard Libertarian that was very active in politics. She gave me a lot of her books that I read in my youth.

I was raised in a very "The world owes you nothing, you only deserve what you earn." and "by your bootstraps" capitalist family.

(Family did not pay for my first car, my community college, etc. "Go get a job, you bum!")