Why not say statist instead? It seems you could just replace every use of the word leftist in this post with the word statist and it would be more accurate and have the benefit of not playing into the left-right narrative meant to keep you generalizing and hating on a group of people.

Also, you can only reason with someone when their belief comes from a principal. If they are not a principled person, their beliefs can only be undone by asking them questions to explain themselves. They have to realize during their own attempt to respond to you that their belief has no foundation before they will change. Check out some man on the street interviews from Adam Kokesh, he is a god at inception by questions, and can undo world views in minutes without ever reasoning or making a point...just asking questions. In addition to only asking questions you have to keep the person from knowing your motive. The part of the brain that allows beliefs to change goes to read only mode once they are defensive.