DUers from Republican strongholds or households: What made you different?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

Moonbeam_Starlight made a thread about the "imprinting" on people of their Republican orientation. I used the term "branding" like name brand products, and suggested that MOST people, Dem and Repub, get their initial political identification from "branding" through their family or immediate environment. Not all of us stay with that initial orientation though.

I grew up in a liberal part of the country, suburban Washington, D.C. My parents often "split" the family vote with my mother often voting Repub simply because she perceived them to be more strongly antiCommunist, and my father espousing liberal ideals to me and making clear his distaste with the corruption and dishonesty of the Nixon gang during my youth. My father was the much stronger influence on me. My orientation as a liberal and with the Democratic party dates back to that time and has not changed appreciably since, despite spending the majority of my adult life as an active duty military officer surrounded by Republican peers, and now living in as complete a Republican stronghold as I could imagine (Collin County, TX--feel like a hobbit in Mordor sometimes, LOL).

So though I feel like I think for myself, I see myself in many ways as a product of my upbringing.

For those of you who have turned out different (politically) from the family or environment that raised you, do you know the reason why?

[carpediem]

1. my parents were always republican,

but my sister and I both are independent or dem. I have always held the belief that it is because my mom is a closet dem, but doesn't realize it. She chooses to stay uninformed about most of politics because it leads to arguments. However, her actions were always more dem than repub. She taught us to appreciate nature, tolerate all people, help people and she would spend hours on the side of the road helping small animals in distress in traffic.

The truly amazing thing, is that my dad who has always voted republican (for fiscal reasons) is not this time. He told us on a recent visit to Wisconsin, that he told the Repubs he couldn't support * when they called him for money. My jaw hit the floor when he told me, because I have a vivid memory of my dad almost crying when Jimmy Carter won. So this is huge for him.

[NMDemDist2]

2. i don't remember my family talking about politics except one

indelible moment

I was 13 years old watching the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and crying as I watched the violence.

My ex-marine step father made a crack to the effect that the "dirty hippies deserved their asses being kicked"

That summer I marched with Caesar Chavez, protested the Vietnam war in Berkley and have never looked back....

[AgadorSparticus]

3. i grew up in a hardcore republican household in texas.

my parents taught me to think for myself and have regretted it ever since.

i have been mostly apolitical. complete apathy until my mid twenties when i took a sociology class. my instructor was a hard core liberal revolutionist. he was abso-fucking-lutely amazing.

my father says i'm brainwashed and i told him to try thinking for himself. we didn't talk for days. needless to say, politics NEVER comes up anymore. not even peripheral subjects as watching the news. it can quickly jump to what a fucktard bush is. i admit. i can get a little too passionate.

[politicat]

4. rebellion... and thinking for myself.

My father was a sick conservative - I despise him. If he opposed cancer, I'd have a hard time opposing it, too.... There's a reason we haven't spoken in many years.

We lived in a very conservative area. He was Navy when I was small, and then we lived in this hell hole of a conservative evil hellmouth.

I had Jesuits for catechism teachers and I've never been exactly willing to take the easy answer. I was a Why child.

When I hit college and started reading, it was all over.

Then, working in community mental health just hardened my resolve. I'm a warrior on poverty.

Pcat

[Kat45]

5. I "came of age" politically during Vietnam

My parents didn't belong to a political party (were independent/unenrolled voters) but they always voted republican and espoused the repub views on everything. We're in Mass, and they didn't trust the Democratic party at all (particularly since it's such a majority here). Anyhoo, I was exposed to those views growing up, but when I was in junior high in 1968-70, I couldn't help but hearing a lot about Vietnam--the air was highly charged with arguments over the war.

The country was so politicized back then that an intelligent person couldn't help but be affected by it. I started paying attention and seeing things differently than my parents.

When I was in ninth grade, we had to write a parody of the "Julius Caesar" 'friends, Romans, countrymen' speech and I wrote it about the trial of the Chicago 7. When I got to college, I majored in political science and spent the summer glued to the television watching the Watergate hearings.

To this day, my mother believes that I was brainwashed by all the liberal professors in college.

[Ladyhawk]

6. Circumstances caused me to rethink fundamentalism.

When dogma goes, you're free to think for yourself.

[strategery blunder]

7. My single parent never cared about politics

Mom hates reading, or for that matter, excercising her brain. She is not a freeper, just apathetic. I was left in a political vaccum.

I CONFESS!In 2000, I supported Nader because I thought the two major parties were both inherently corrupt and evil. Fortunately, I was too young to vote at the time.:)

However, bu$h*co's disasterous policies have caused me to realize that only one party is inherently corrupt and evil. (Guess which one that one is?:evilgrin:) I'm a solid Kerry supporter now who has given money once to the Kerry campaign and DNC.

The really scary thing is Mom hates bu$h*co so much that she is taking an interest in politics---and a Kerry supporter too.:)

I'm 19, btw, and among those who have the most to lose under bu$h*co. Look for my vote in the Missouri returns.:)

[Piperay]

8. Both my parents were moderate republicans

my mother life-long and my father a convert to it. My parents were both really into politics and so I grew up very interested this was in the late 50's early 60's and politics was always a topic of discussion. My mother was very active so much so that she ran the local republican headquarters, our family always went to rallies etc and I met many of the repug leaders of the time...Nixon, Ford, Reagan etc.

Our family was all 'gung-ho' for Reagan when he ran for Governor here in CA but disillusionment started setting in when he got more and more conservative and seemed to be out totally for himself. I think we started breaking away when Reagan took on President Ford for the Presidential nomination. The real final straw came when my mother and a friend of hers were called "traitors" by other members of the repuke club they belonged to because they supported Ford over Reagan. My brother and I turned Democratic first but by the time Reagan ran against Carter and beat him both my parents had become Democratic too, the repukes were just too conservative and RW for any of us.

[AnnInLa]

9. The '60s influenced me

As in the above post, seeing the Vietnam War being fought on TV, seeing the body bags and the demonstrations in the streets really made me think about war and peace. Also, the Civil Rights era was traumatic to almost everyone in the South. As we watched those brave, peaceful souls marching on TV, and getting set upon by dogs and sprayed with fire hoses, my family would spew out racial hatred. I, altho young, was frightened by their hatred and their fear that the "niggers" would take over our safe, comfortable world. But, I just couldn't adopt their beliefs and attitudes....a more liberal uncle, who was deputy head of the "welfare" dept in LA at the time, influenced me a lot, talking to me about the plight of the poor and oppressed.

My family was always upper-middle class comfortable, and damned determined that the GOVERNMENT was trying to take away their wealth and give it to undeserved poor people who did not want to work. Money was and is their mantra. Their attitude is, "I got mine, now you get yours."

After college, I worked as a Juvenile Probation Officer, a Child Abuse Investigator and a Foster Care Worker. Working with mainly poor people really gives one a different perspective on the "haves" and "have nots."

Today, as a teacher, I have seen 22 years of constant erosion of the educational practices that encouraged us to learn so much. Now, because of the repugs using education as a political football, we are unable to teach content any longer..we teach tests, tests, tests. But, I digress.

My second hubby, bless him, is a proud UNION member...Pipeliners Local 798, yay, so we have been thinking "union" for quite a number of years. I was really impressed when I learned what a tremendous role the unions had in our work-history in this country. Unfortunately, we are going backwards in the issue of workers' rights.

All of these things and people influenced me to be and think DEM...and damn proud of it.

[RobinA]

10. Combination

First, I grew up in the '60's - 70's. Second, my family, and we did talk politics, was and is economically conservative but fairly liberal socially. I was pretty much an independent leaning left back in the day, but when the wackos took over I went hard left.

Also, as I was graduating from high school and leaning leftish, I went to college in the Pittsburgh boondocks. My hometown, Philadelphia 'burbs, was and is fairly affluent, but in my college years, '75 - '80, the steel industry was collapsing in a huge way and I got a taste of what happens to people in a one-industry town when the industry collapses. NO ONE was getting a job out there when I graduated from college.

I grew up in an area that was very influenced by GE Aerospace. Along about mid-high school, early '70's, the Apollo program was cancelled and everybody I knew whose father worked for GE (most everybody) got transferred out of state or laid-off. I think every friend I had in 10th grade moved to Ohio with GE between that grade and 11th grade. This was my first taste of lay-offs, but these people were educated and therefore could go elsewhere with their company or get other jobs (this was during the days when a college degree pretty much meant you didn't lack for a job or get laid-off).

The steel industry debacle was completely different from what I had experienced with GE, as these were not educated people and could not readily get new jobs. But they were not stupid people, the economy they grew up in was simply one in which you could raise a family on a mill salary. College was not part of the scenario for many people there at that time. This was the first time I learned about people being trapped by their own lives and I realized that that there was a lot more at work in people's economic situations than simple Social Darwinism.

Whenever I hear a Repub talking about how they have theirs and anybody with half a brain would have their own too, I think of Mr. N. in his house on the side of a hill in a Pittsburgh suburb. Smart as a damn tack, but the oldest of 9 growing up in rural western PA who basically never got educated because he had to look after the rest of his family. Supported his own family, owned his house, did just fine in a steel town painting cars for the local auto body shop. His two sons were smart too, and he tried to get them to go to college, but no, they could make more money at the mill. They don't work at the mill anymore. The auto dealer where he worked in the body shop turned into a Nautilus and then was vacant, the last I saw.

[Xenus Sister]

11. My dad is a Staunch Republican

and I remember him saying nasty things about Democrats while growing up, but he wasn't involved in politics in any way. My mom never mentioned politics before she died but I assume she voted Republican too.

I never thought much about politics, but I had a strong connection with Caroline Kennedy because she was my age when her father died, and I remember watching the funeral and being so sad that her daddy died. Years later I also had a teenybopper crush on Robert Kennedy, and was horrified when he was murdered. I first started thinking about politics when I went to summer school to make up a government class I'd flunked. The Watergate hearings were on, and I don't know if it was because the teacher was lazy or if he just wanted us to know what was going on, but our classes consisted of watching the hearings, discussing them, then writing an essay about that day's testimony. I thought it was really boring, as did everyone else, but what can you expect from teenagers who'd rather be out in the sun?

It did make me think that Republicans were crooked and shifty, so when the time came that I could first vote, I paid a lot of attention to Jimmy Carter. I really liked him, and was planning on voting for him. I made the mistake of mentioning that to my dad, and he went off. We'd never talked about Watergate or Nixon, so I was shocked that he still supported the Republicans. After several near-screamfests, we never brought up politics again. I've voted straight Democratic ever since.

A couple of weeks ago, my dad called to wish me happy birthday (I live in another state now), and at the end of the conversation, just out of curiousity, I asked him if he was still going to vote for Bush. He was appalled that I would even question that he would. He was even more appalled that I wasn't! He said "Don't tell me you're a Democrat! If you're a Democrat...I don't even want to know you!" I said I was proud to be a Democrat. He called Kerry a lying slimeball, and said Edwards was worse. I tried to talk to him to get him to tell me what caused him to be so angry, but he was furious and wouldn't talk to me straight. I didn't yell, I didn't get angry, I just wanted to know. I have a suspicion that it was the Swift Boat thing, but he wouldn't say it. I told him he was being lied to and that Kerry was a good man, but he wouldn't listen. He hung up on me! I probably won't talk to him again until I call him at Christmas, though if Kerry wins I'm going to have to restrain myself from calling him and gloating.

If my dad (who's 78) was a freeper type, his anger would be understandable, but he's not. Far from it. He's not religious, though he's a believer and goes to church and church functions like pot luck suppers. He's what I'd call a casual Lutheran, grew up in the Lutheran church (hardly a hotbed of radical right-wingers).

My dad is not a news junkie and probably wouldn't know Fox news from CNN or MSNBC while flipping channels and maybe pausing to check it out if a big news story/tragedy had happened.

My dad does not listen to Rush Limbaugh (has probably never even heard of him) and only listens to country music, if he turns on the radio at all.

My dad is not on the internet, and wouldn't know a browser from a freeper. If we lived closer we'd probably try to set him up, but we've lived in a different state for 14 years. My mother-in-law does use the computer for her work and e-mail, but that's it. (she's a Catholic btw. I haven't talked to her about Kerry but I'm wondering if she might vote for him)

It's just weird that my dad isn't exposed to any of the things (church, news, net, radio) that get right-winger types going, and yet he's seemingly been convinced that Kerry is a no-good liar. They don't live in a swing state, btw, so he couldn't have been bombarded by their nasty ads. It's depressing. People can go on and on about how the Swift Boat Liars for Bush aren't important, but I have my dad to point to. He's a WWII vet, and some version of these assholes' lies have somehow wormed their way into his brain, and infected it.

It bothers me. Sigh.

[sffreeways]

17. Wow he sounds alot like my father

He passed away a few years ago but he believed everything they said that was negative about Al Gore. He believed Al Gore was a homosexual for some reason.

I never saw my father watch anything on TV but Golden Girls and he listened to country music but he got the bullshit from somewhere.

He didn't say much about 9/11 either but after he died my brother found some letters he had written to Bush where he talked about killing Arabs and ranting about democrats being behind the attack. He went on about immigrants and basically said all manner of crazy stuff. He wasn't religious that I knew of but the letters were filled with references to God.

I talked to my Dad about 3 days a week for hours on the phone and sometimes I could get him to talk politics but I had no idea what he really thought.

All I can think of is that the cancer he had made him loose it a bit in the end but I never saw it and he was a young man, only 63.

My mother was a hippy anti Nixon type in her 20's and then something happened after she turned 50 and she got weird and conservative. Alot of it had to do with my coming out I think because it's mostly social issues where she has a problem. Immigration, race, affirmative action, it's all the bigotry of the republicans. She thinks Bush is a criminal though, go figure.

Great post it struck a chord with me.

[greekspeak]

12. Obtaining the ability to think for myself

Republicanism is built on fear and hysteria. There has to be an enemy; if there is not one they will make one up. Communists. Liberals. Terra. Homosexuals. College educated eggheads. Racial minorities. You are not required to think for yourself; in fact, to do so, would be anathema. The AM radio dial, or the magazine, or the TV, will give you further instructions on what you are to do. Republicanism plays on fear and irrationality, and it is a lot easier to zone out and drink the kool-aid than to think. The more educated one becomes, the more one comes to question the status quo, to deconstruct ideas. If you do so, you are the enemy of America/unpatriotic/evil/satanic/communist/etc.

[Pobeka]

13. AND, do children of Dems ever turn out Repub?

I was thinking about this very question today. My parents were moderate republicans -- and so was I in the 70's (though I tended to split my vote 50/50 Dem/Repub back then).

I think the branding term is appropriate. My parents now ignore any information that hints that the Republican party today has gone severely askew from the party it was. They truly have blind faith in the letters "G" "O" "P", because if they really took a look at the actions of the party behind those letters they'd be Dems in a heartbeat. Funny how we can have an allegance to letters of a party, not the actual actions of the party.

But I still wonder, do children of Dems ever become Republican? Maybe in a union/labor household if the child get's a job in mgmt?

[Kinkistyle]

14. Went to a liberal University.

In a liberal city.

[sffreeways]

15. I'm

a lesbian that grew up in the 60's 70's. Nixon was my introduction to going liberal.

[HuskerDem]

16. I am from Nebraska and I live here again. Both parents Republicans.

My parents were both committed repubs but neither was beyond voting for a Democrat that they liked. They were not blind.

Dad is gone now, and he was the one in charge of the voting decisions. Not unusual for a WWII era family.

What caused me to shift away from the family line? I was blessed enough that my father encouraged me to examine all sides of issues and form MY OWN opinion. They never put me down for having a different opinion, and respected the fact that I addressed issues from an informed point of view.

Like I said, I was lucky.