Who was the most influential person who helped shape your politics to this day?

[NNN0LHI]

This is the one person who probably affected me the most. I was 15 when he died but after I got older I realized this was someone who had shaped my politics. I flew into the same airport in Michigan that he died at a few years after the crash to visit Black Lake, Michigan. Do you know what the reason was that Reuther wanted the UAW Black Lake, Michigan recreational educational facility to be built? He wanted every one of our members to find out what it felt to live like a millionaire for two weeks. And it was exactly that. Like a Five-Star hotel. Know why he wanted us all to find out what that felt like? Because he didn't want us to settle for what the wealthy wanted us to settle for. Basically what we call a living wage today. He wanted us to understand that we deserved more than that. A lot more than that. Do you think the wealthy wanted us all to realize this? Read that last paragraph and think about that question.

Don

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Reuther

Walter Reuther

Walter Philip Reuther (September 1, 1907 – May 9, 1970) was an American labor union leader, who made the United Automobile Workers a major force not only in the auto industry but also in the Democratic Party in the mid 20th century. He was a socialist in the early 1930s becoming a leading liberal and supporter of the New Deal coalition.

Reuther was a Socialist Party member; he may have paid dues to the Communist Party for some months in 1935-36; he has been accused of attending a Communist Party planning meeting as late as February 1939. Reuther cooperated with the Communists in the later 1930s; this was the period of the Popular Front, and they agreed with him on internal issues of the UAW; but his associations were with anti-Stalinist Socialists.

Reuther remained active in the Socialist Party and in 1937 failed in his attempt to be elected to the Detroit Common Council. However, impressed by the efforts by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to tackle inequality, he eventually joined the Democratic Party.

On May 9, 1970, Reuther, his wife May, architect Oscar Stonorov, and also a bodyguard, the pilot and co-pilot were killed when their chartered Lear-Jet crashed in flames at 9:33 P.M. Michigan time. The plane, arriving from Detroit in rain and fog, was on final approach to the Pellston, Michigan, airstrip near the union's recreational and educational facility at Black Lake, Michigan.

In October 1968, a year and a half before the fatal crash, Reuther and his brother Victor were almost killed in a small private plane as it approached Dulles airport. Both incidents are amazingly similar; the altimeter in the fatal crash was believed to have malfunctioned. When Victor Reuther was interviewed many years after the fatal crash he said "I and other family members are convinced that both the fatal crash and the near fatal one in 1968 were not accidental." The FBI still refuses to turn over nearly 200 pages of documents pertaining to Walter Reuther's death, and correspondence between field offices and J. Edgar Hoover.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. A toast to Walter's memory.

[Lifelong Protester]

2. I was born in Minnesota, so Hubert Humphrey

the "happy warrior", LBJ's veep. Search any liberal 'data base' and he turns up near the top.

Oh, and obviously, RFK (seeing my avatar here means I wasn't thinking long enough before I replied).

[hifiguy]

3. Robert F. Kennedy

and George McGovern. In 1968 RFK was the first politician I ever was aware of as a politician. His effortless and patently sincere identification with those people at the margins made an ineradicable impression on me. McGovern picked up the fallen RFK's torch and carried it forward.

[stevedeshazer]

44. Me too.

+1

Edited to add the amazing Wayne Morse, who is the first politician I worked for:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Morse

[William769]

4. My Father. 1900-1982

P.S. My father was UAW and was one of the people instrumental with the Black Lake project.

[Brickbat]

5. Walter Reuther was an amazing person. He did so much for so many people.

[lunatica]

6. Martin Luther King Jr

Here's a drawing of him that I made

[Octafish]

14. Outstanding work!!!

Yours are most skilled hand and eye, lunatica.

Thank you for sharing

[stevedeshazer]

45. Love it.

But, he wasn't a politician.

He was a transformative figure.

[rustydog]

48. Excellent drawing! You certainly are gifted.

He helped me become more tolerant and accepting of non-violence as a voice for change.

[yardwork]

50. That's a beautiful picture.

[Ohio Joe]

7. Ronnie Raygun

I became old enough to vote just before his first election to the white house. I voted for him because I thought the sound bites I heard on TV were often amusing. Over the next four years, I actually started to pay attention to politics and what was going on in the world... Holy crap, did that awaken me to the evil that is todays repugs. If he had not been such an evil fucker, it might have taken me much longer to wake up.

[justiceischeap]

8. Myself.

Politics wasn't a big topic in my household growing up. I think seeing Reagan get shot made me aware of politics at an age where I could start to understand that was about more than having a President, if that makes sense. Then, as a sophomore in high school we had a mandatory civics class and that piqued my interest.

[quinnox]

9. my whole family have been liberal dems

And I mean liberal with a capital "L". My grandfather had the most influence on me in this aspect, but it was all around me really.

By the way, that doesn't mean I didn't come to these leanings without thinking about them myself. It would be foolish to adopt any philosophy simply by indoctrination of people around you. Every person must come to their own evaluation and decisions regarding these matters.

I have examined the republican philosophy and find it is at its core, a selfish one. If you have any care for your fellow man or want the ideal goal of all humans helping each other the Republican philosophy is directly at odds with that.

[PeaceNikki]

10. My hippie parents

They taught me about civil rights, diversity, compassion for others and the importance of social responsibility over greed.

We spent my mom's 61st birthday this year protesting in Madison with about 100,000 others in the sleet, snow and cold.

[liberal N proud]

11. Richard Nixon

That is when I realized three things about republicans:

1. They lie, all the time.
2. They are corrupt beyond belief.
3. I will never be rich enough to be represented by a republican.

[csziggy]

13. Gee - you said what I was going to say!

Almost exactly.

Claude Kirk, the first post-Reconstruction Republican Governor of Florida had already started me thinking that way, but Tricky Dick nailed it down for me.

For years I also believed that anyone who wants to run for political office is a megalomaniac and should be prohibited from holding any public office. Now I simply believe that for anyone to get elected beyond dogcatcher, they must sell their soul and will be corrupt, no matter what their original intentions.

[rustydog]

47. Yep, you got that right

Nixon is a typical Hypocritical Repuke.

[RevStPatrick]

12. My Mom.

I'm actually on the phone with her right now, helping her restart her Airport base station so she can get back on the internet.

She wrote for the Berkeley Barb back in the day, was an alternate delegate for Eugene McCarthy from New York at the '68 convention (where she spent a night in jail), ran for town council in the '70s of our little New Jersey town. She was always a good liberal, and taught us kids well. She's not particularly interested in politics anymore, but will drive the other old gals to polls on election day.

Airport back up!

[frazzled]

23. You are a good son!

I say that because I depend sometimes on my son to walk me through technical malfunctions by phone and restore my hardware to full working order. My appreciation for sons (and daughters) who do this is immense!

Also because I, too, must probably credit my mother as my political mentor. She was not an activist like yours, but I think she shaped our views enormously. I remember so clearly her undying admiration for Adlai Stevenson, watching the Democratic conventions together when I was very young on our primitive black-and-white television as a kid, with John Chancellor working the floor, her admiration for Martin Luther King and the Kennedys. I remember how she used to volunteer at a clinic in a predominantly African-American neighborhood, helping mothers with their sick babies. These things formed my world-view from a very young age, and the example of her kindness to others was a model. Although we differed over the years in details, it doesn't really matter. It's the way she's lived her life that has been an example to live up to.

[cthulu2016]

15. Aside from parents and friends, Michael Harrington

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

16. Mohandas K. Gandhi and Yossarian.

[Octafish]

17. John F. Kennedy

President Kennedy kept the peace, held America to its promise that all are equal, and led us to the moon. He did that in only 1,036 days in office.

[CANDO]

18. Not one person for me.

I sort of developed into a liberal worldview on my own. I actually registered as a Republican when I was 18 and voted for Reagan for his second term. By the time the '88 election rolled around, I was a Teamster member and became more informed on economics. I switched parties and have been a staunch liberal ever since. If I had to choose a person or entity that influenced me most, it would be the Teamsters Union.

[patricia92243]

19. Bill Clinton

When I saw that Republicans had the power to put the presidents private sex life on TV, it scared me so badly that I have been a Democrat ever since. I also dimly remembered the hostages during Carter administration were let loose HOURS after Raygun took office. Another example of Repulican power.

[the other one]

20. FDR

I started learning about him in junior high during the Carter years. He was the reason I made the stupid mistake of studying politics in college. Why is that a stupid mistake? Because despite the fact that I earned a degree studying it, every person I meet is quite sure they know more than I do. Useless degree as well.

Momma's make sure your kids study something useful, like biology or chemistry or math. They can always go into politics later.

[treestar]

21. My Dad

who was always a liberal, though got sidetracked into voting for Republicans solely due to his opposition to abortion, which has become the #1 issue for him. But before that was an issue, he was into politics, campaigned for a Democrat for local office - we rode in the car with him as he touted this politician on a bullhorn! It was a baby boomer neighborhood with tons of kids, who surrounded the car yelling, "Nixon! Nixon!" Dad called Nixon "tricky Dick" and voted for Humphrey and McGovern.

[otohara]

22. My Mom & MLK n/t

[LeftishBrit]

24. To be cynical, probably Thatcher; she showed me clearly just what I was against!

[Prophet 451]

27. Shame the British public didn't take the same lesson

or they'd never have voted the hateful bastards back in.

[deucemagnet]

32. I feel the same way about GWB.

If I weren't so outraged by Iraq, I probably wouldn't pay as much attention to politics as I do today.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

25. I'd have to say Alan Watts

I'm not quite sure how to put this into words but his writings, probably more than anyone else, helped me to think of myself as being part of the universe rather than, I'm not sure how to put this, a San Franciscan, an American, an Earthling? When you start thinking "universally", it's hard to take things like Capitalist, Communist, Gay, straight, Christian, other, etc. quite so seriously. I'm not saying that these things are not important in our daily lives but, lets face it, in the overall scheme of things, these issues are really petty and inconsequential. Again, I wish I could be more eloquent but, on the spur of the moment, words fail me.

Of course, I read Watts over 40 years ago so who knows? All I know is that I don't think the same as most folks and I think Alan Watts planted that seed.

Now, this thread has got me thinking. I wonder how I would feel about him if I re read his work with another 40+ years of life tacked on. I think I don't want to find out.

[Prophet 451]

26. My Grimmer (grandmother)

Because my parents were being all dysfunctional, my grandmother raised me. She spent her whole adult life caring for disabled and disturbed children. First as a nurse. Then she ran a children's home and then the local council (I'm British, btw) gave her this big old Victorian house and she filled it with disabled and disadvantaged foster kids. Now, I know foster parents often get a bad rap but when Grimmer died, we managed to track down a couple dozen of the kids who had passed through her care and they all remembered her with fondness.

You're probably wondering how all this shaped my politics. Well, it was her example that shaped my politics. She devoted everything to helping those kids, kids that most people had given up on. The money that the council provided for raising each kid, that was always shrinking and never enough but I never heard her complain, not for herself. Oh, she complained bitterly about the council cutting money from her kids, taking away from what she could do for them but never for herself. She was a Christian (I'm not, for what it's worth) who actually took the teachings to heart. She very rarely spoke about her faith but tried to live the teachings about love and compassion and caring for the least fortunate.

And really, that's what made me a liberal. The idea that us, our society, have a duty to care for those left behind by society. Not just the kids in need of someone to look after them but everyone who's been ignored and forgotten. That's what I hear from conservative politicians, that they're fine with some human wastage if it saves money and I wasn't raised that way.

[Bandit]

28. For me it was Mario Savio and then the Berkley Barb

[Romulox]

29. My entire political life has been a defensive reaction to Ron and Nancy Reagan. nt

[Motown_Johnny]

30. Interesting question

I don't have a good answer.




I suppose that Shrub made me realize that there is no hope whatsoever for any member of the Republican party. In this way it may be that he was the most influential.


I'm a little ashamed of this, when you take into account that I drive on the Walter P. Reuther Highway to get to and from work I guess it would be nice if I could honestly answer that you and I share the same influence.



As I said, I don't have a good answer but there is my honest one.

[Warren Stupidity]

31. Emma Goldman

The average mind is slow in grasping a truth, but when the most thoroughly organized, centralized institution, maintained at an excessive national expense, has proven a complete social failure, the dullest must begin to question its right to exist. The time is past when we can be content with our social fabric merely because it is "ordained by divine right," or by the majesty of the law.

[barbtries]

33. when i was young it was nixon

later, gwbush. somewhat ashamed to admit that i've pretty much gotten political as a reaction more than an action.
i despised reagan but was raising youngsters and working and was essentially apathetic.

[taterguy]

34. Chuck Nevitt

[yellowcanine]

35. LBJ - If he hadn't messed up in Vietnam he would have been the greatest president ever, imo.

And his greatest accomplishment, Medicare, would have been expanded to everyone if he had won a 2nd term - which he would have if there had been no Vietnam.

[kestrel91316]

36. The veterinarian in OH who in 1973 refused to consider hiring me for a kennel job

explicitly because I was a girl. And when I told him I wanted the job because I thought I would like to eventually go to vet school he just laughed and said that was absurd - women didn't go to vet school.

Heh heh.

ETA: Little does he know what a raging feminist and liberal he personally created......

[jwirr]

37. My father who talked continually about what FDR did for us. He lived through the Depression and

had some very convincing stories to tell.

[NCTraveler]

38. My Mother

She has been a strong and vocal progressive her whole life. She is 65 and still fighting.

[X_Digger]

39. My Great-Grandfather.

Mine worker and union organizer for 40 years (Maetwan, War Eagle, WV) and Justice of the Peace / Sheriff's deputy for another 20 years.

[etherealtruth]

40. When I was young my dad always pointed off into the distance (from the Pellston airport)

... showing me where Walter Reuther died ... I found myself doing the same thing with my children.

The person that influenced me most was a Michigan high school history/ political science teacher named Dante Chini.

[Jennicut]

41. Pat Buchanan during the 1992 National Republican Convention.

I was 16. I was not much into politics yet but both my parents always voted for Republicans. I watched parts of the RNC with them that year and realized that the Repubs were an angry, nasty, racist, sexist, disgusting lot. I remember Buchanan being the worst of the worst. After that, I supported Clinton and Gore and told my parents that if I was old enough I would vote for the Democrats. Been voting against those Repubs ever since. My parents are still conservatives. Makes for interesting dinner conversations.

[Make7]

42. Frances Moore Lappé ( n/t )

[applegrove]

43. Liberal family: my great grandfather was a Liberal member of parliament. We live in Ottawa. We

always talked politics at the dinner table. We read tons too.

[malthaussen]

46. Socrates

When in doubt, go to the roots. I might even take it back so far as Thales, but having read Plato's diologues before I knew of Thales, the latter is always viewed in light of the former. Anyway, as somebody-or-other pointed out a long time ago, all of philosophy is just commentary on Socrates.

There are so many influences that it seems a bit silly to attempt to rank them. If one reads and thinks a middlin' amount about civil society, it really becomes impossible to point to one author and say "that's the guy." Unless one has adopted a complete, ready-made ideology from one source.

-- Mal

[RebelOne]

49. JFK

First time I ever voted and he was my choice. I just turned 21 and I voted a straight Democratic ticket since.