I did the opposite of Heinlein

When it came to forming my ideology, during my teens and early 20s I was strongly pro-capitalist. Then I found problems with those capitalistic beliefs, and developed my socialistic views. This was not because it was popular for any young intellectual to do this; I knew effectively nobody who had those views, I came to the conclusion all on my own, and at the time I had no idea that anyone else in the world shared those views. I believed (and continue to believe) that is was the right thing to do, and I have never cared more for what was popular. Soon afterwards, a co-worker gave me a pamphlet from the Socialist Labor Party, and I was astounded to see that others came to the same conclusions I did. And that was during a conservative era when almost everyone I knew were rabidly pro-capitalist. So I am not sure if Heinlein came to his socialistic beliefs because it was the "in" thing to do among young intellectuals at the time, or if he developed them entirely on his own simply be observing the system he lived under, and enmeshing himself in it, as I did. If I could do it, so could he.

Needless to say, we may never know.