What's your political background?

[tjwmason]

Poll question: What's your political background?

In chatting with a fellow DUer I was slightly surprised to hear that they came from a right-wing family. I know that DUers come from quite diverse political back-grounds, and I think that it is interesting to compare them.

My own family is almost totally non-political, I wasn't raised with any political ideas they're all my own developed from reading and thinking &c. I was raised with strong values (by which I mean real values like compassion and helping others, not pseudo-values which boil down to hatred of those who are different) which have always strongly influenced my views. I was interested in politics from a young age, and have been following British politics since I was about 12 (how horrifically precocious).

So what was your up-bringing like?

[Random_Australian]

1. I voted moderate left wing, but I that was 3 members of my family,

Mater, Pater, Brother. From the rest, 1 non-political (half-sister, too paralyzed by anxiety to be political) and the rest fundies :scared:

Edit: My half brother was LW, then went angry fundy after losing 2 friends to pot. Severe reaction to the 'pot is harmless' view of the local hippies, really, just got way angry and freaked off. Still doesn't support the RW but will vote against abortion and all that lot, which politically has a similar effect.

Yes, I am one of the few DU'ers who argues against the legalisation of pot. Let's not start a flamewar though!

Note: Saying that pot is harmless/couldn't have done that = start of flamewar.
I'll argue about it later, I promise, but for now, no.

[tjwmason]

2. It's interesting how events can change people's views.

At the same time as one can discuss all sorts of macro-level issues - it's mostly something very personal which makes an individual change their views.

[ronnykmarshall]

60. For my mom and step-dad

part of the change was having two gays sons and one die of AIDS.

They saw how their party did nothing for AIDS funding and hates gays.

[windlight]

3. I'd say Moderate left-wing but...

My grandpa (dad's dad) was a Union member, and a racist (didn't realize it till after he passed, but somethings i remember from when i was a child and not knowing what he was talking about, ie using the N-word, i knew nothing of such things) and a life long Dem. (he would never vote any other way)

My dad was slightly better, still has slight racist views but we are working on him, and he doesn't talk about them much (keeps to himself since he knows mom, sister and i don't think its right)

Mom is the weird one. very much a Feminist in many respects but has some messed up views on politics in general (B* is a good man, Kerry was an idiot, ARGG..) Her mom was the youngest of 14 kids and all of those older Brothers and sisters, and kids are Fundy's. My Grandma is very cool, still goes to church every week she can (doesn't get around as well as she used to) but she tells the dirtiest jokes...:)... Her branch is the liberal part of the Family by far...

My sister and I are both very Liberal compared to the rest of the Family but she is a bit more then is, and i would say compared to DU I'm Moderate Left-Wing but support many of the actions of everyone here and I always learn something new for you folks...:)...

[tjwmason]

27. I don't know about in America

But over here racism does seem to be quite a generational thing.

Obviously I'm not condoning it - but there are quite a few people from the generation half above my parents who are incredibly racist and don't even realise it. My grandfather still speaks about coloured people - yet he is also stridently egalitarian and would never countenance any form of discrimination.

One of my office-mates at work used to go out with a black man, and had to keep it hidden from her parents because her father would probably have thrown her out of the house. Ironically she is herself somewhat racist about South Asian. Thankfully I was raised without any exposure to racism and lived for a few years in a very ethnically diverse neighbourhood.

[realisticphish]

4. My parents

are both middle-class Union workers (my mother a teacher, my father a factory worker). They are both lifelong Democrats.

They both have college degrees (Mom a masters, Dad a bachelors in English Education), so I was encouraged to learn all throughout childhood. We never really talked about politics or religion until I was old enough to have my own opinion (around 10-12). We went to church, but they never forced religion on me, allowing me to make up my own mind. All in all, a nice breeding ground for liberals.

[tjwmason]

28. Allowing people to think is the most important thing.

Parents who can do that usually produce good well-rounded children - whatever their political ideology.

[realisticphish]

33. exactly

i turned out christian, and liberal. Not because my parents were, but because i decided on my own (and there was a LOT of mental wrestling on my part, before I came down relatively firmly on some political and religious beliefs)

[WritingIsMyReligion]

5. Moderate left-wing.

All the "this Clinton impeachment is a FARCE" stuff, but my mom's still fairly moderate in that she thinks I'm a loony commie.

:D

[tjwmason]

29. We think that you're a loony commie too.

:P

Only joking :hug:

We're just delighted that you've got a brain and you're using it for important stuff - too few young folk do so.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

44. Yup.

My generation's completely pathetic in many respects--and the sad thing is, it isn't all our fault.

x(

:hug:

[Rosie1223]

6. My Dad

is about as right wing as they get. He's a Rush ditto-head and thinks HRC is the anti-christ.

My sister and I are both liberals. Makes for some interesting holiday dinners.

[tjwmason]

31. Sounds like great fun

:scared:

But having said that, I find I can usually get on with folk of any political stripe - just as long as they know what they're talking about and know why they think what they do. Though I'm not sure that family parties are the best times to raise such issues.

[miss_american_pie]

7. My family is pretty much split

Half religious-conservative-republican, and half progressive-social values-democrats.

Both of my parents are fairly political.

[tjwmason]

36. That can go two ways.

Either mutual respect, potentially fascinating discussions &c. or a tension hidden just beneath the surface.

[miss_american_pie]

38. LOL

Here it went d-i-v-o-r-c-e. ;)

[Left Is Write]

8. Raised by Democrats.

Mom not terribly political, but definitely sides with Democrats. The most political passion I've ever heard from her was her intense dislike of Ronald Reagan.

[tjwmason]

34. It's interesting how individual politicians can bring out the strongest

responses.

I've known very mild mannered people suddenly get very excited in political discussion just because Margaret Thatcher has been mentioned - half of them calling her a she-devil and half of them calling her a saint.

[Left Is Write]

47. It is interesting.

My dad is more political than my mom. I always knew he didn't like Nixon or Reagan or Bush the elder - but the most passion I've seen from him is his intense dislike of Dubya.

[bigwillq]

9. Moderate left-wing.

My whole family is Democrats but most are moderates.

[terrya]

10. Moderate left-wing

My family has always voted straight Democratic. Always. Both parents were New Deal type liberal Democrats. Dad was a blue collar factory worker....proud union guy. He hated Republicans.

[Deep13]

11. Swing voters.

[1gobluedem]

12. My mother had me ringing doorbells for Eugene McCarthy when I was eight

And nothing has changed since. We participated in pickets, worked the Dems booth at county fairs, circulated petitions, and were forced to be precinct delegates when we turned 18.

My sister and her SO met each other at a Young Democrats meeting in 1975.

In 2004 my mother was a delegate to Boston. We've always been strong left-wingers.

[Ava]

13. mom is and ex conservative, now a liberal. dad is a conservative still.

thank god my mom raised me ;)

[LSdemocrat]

14. My mother is a moderate Dem, father is an independent

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

15. Anarcho-Socialist...I like me some big tent loven'n

:hi:

raised by strong dems...just into freedom for all and equal rights for all, into having a gigantic safety net to catch everyone in society...and I fucking hate corruption and corporations

[tjwmason]

42. Anarchist? You?

I thought that you were verging on the edge of authoritarianism? :P

I fear that you're right about corporations - corporate personality has gone WAAAAAAAAAAY too far, and is now seriously damaging.

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

46. you're getting political views

confused with the sex life again :evilgrin:

:hi:

[tjwmason]

49. Why do we have to live so far apart again?

:evilfrown:

[ronnykmarshall]

62. I got your big tent ...

right here!

[Beware the Beast Man]

16. Moderate, working class, left-leaning upbringing.

My dad's family was Repub, but considering he left when I was 7, he is a non-factor. My mom is more liberal now then she was when she was younger, but she's always been left of moderate.

[ghostsofgiants]

17. Moderately right-wing, I guess...

Though moreso right-wing in a social context (both parents are slightly homophobic, for example) than economically. Both parents thought the Iraq war was a good idea. Things of that nature.

[GirlinContempt]

18. A mix

My Mum is rather indifferent, my Dad is a moderate righter (though in the US he'd probably be a liberal, yeesh), my two older sisters are very left, my older brother and younger sister are also indifferent, and I'm the commie.

My Dad, though, is a lot more left when you have a roundabout conversation regarding issues than if you just ask him who he supports or what he 'is'.

[Mr. McD]

19. They said they were Democrats but no one ever voted.

:shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug:

[skygazer]

20. Mixed bag

My family is very political and I grew up in the midst of sometimes heated and always well-informed political discourse.

My father has always been an ultra-conservative Republican, my mother less so. I think she basically followed his lead and was never too vocal in the discussions.

My father had three sisters whom we saw often - one was a middle-of-the-road Democrat, liberal in some areas, conservative in others. One was another rabid Republican and also crazier than a shithouse rat. And the third was a card-carrying Communist in the 50's. You can imagine the conversations - I grew up in the 60's and 70's so Vietnam was a battleground both in Southeast Asia and my house!

My siblings, all older than me, are a mixed bag as well. There are six of us ranging from extremely liberal (me) to ultra conservative (my oldest brother).

[tjwmason]

37. Sounds absolutely fascinating.

If somewhat testing at times as well.

[SteppingRazor]

21. My parents are both Republican. I never was. n/t

[Dangerously Amused]

22. Parents were Dems when my sis was little,

...but changed into Pubs before I was born. My sis and I are both Dems. However, we ARE NOT ALLOWED to discuss politics with them (Mom anyway, Dad's gone now). They said it was because it always led to an argument, but mostly it was because they could never defend their position; they knew WHAT they believed, but they didn't know WHY they believed it. :eyes:

Yeah, I love them still, but sheesh...

[Left Is Write]

23. Here's an email I received from my mother this morning...

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and
then -- just to loosen up.

Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than
just a social thinker.

I began to think alone -- "to relax," I told myself -- but I knew it wasn't
true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was
thinking all the time.

That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I had turned off the
TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her
mother's.

I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix,
but I couldn't stop myself.

I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I
would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly
we are doing here?"

One day the boss called me in. He said, "Listen, I like you, and it hurts me
to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop
thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job."

This gave me a lot to think about. I came home early after my conversation
with the boss. "Honey," I confess, "I've been thinking..."

"I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!"

"But Honey, surely it's not that serious."

"It is serious," she said, and her lower lip began to aquiver. "You think as
much as college professors, and college professors don't make any money, so
if you keep on thinking, we won't have any money!"

"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently. She exploded in tears of
rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama.
"I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door.

I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche. I roared into the
parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors. They
didn't open. The library was closed.

To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that
night. Leaning on the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster
caught my eye, "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked.

You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinkers
Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker.

I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video;
last week it was "Porky's", the week before, it was "Animal House".

Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last
meeting. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just
seemed...easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.

I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me.

Today I made the final step. I registered to vote as a Republican

[Dangerously Amused]

26. Excellent! Thanks for that!

:applause:


I'm going to forward it to some others who I think will really get a kick out of it.

Thanks again!


:7

[swimboy]

24. Strong right-wing upbringing

Dad reads Rush Limbaugh, Fox News is their only broadcast media outlet, conservative rag of our local paper their print medium. But they are truly compassionate and committed to true Christian service. I don't know how they handle the disconnect. They must suppress ideas that don't lock in to the existing psychopolitical structure.

I woke up to the disconnect during the first Reagan term and could not reconcile what they claimed to represent with what I was witnessing and I never went back.

I do have a now very ironic Newt Gingrich calendar that my father gave me.

[tjwmason]

39. Hey there - I watch Fox News

It's about the best satire programme on - one could almost believe that it's a real news broadcast, but then one comes back to one's senses and one realises that nobody could ever really believe it. ;)

I'm sure that the Gingrich calendar has a pride of place on your wall. :P

[L A Woman]

25. Kennedy-lovin' Democrats!!!

But they were conservative compared to me....especially on social issues.

[RandomKoolzip]

30. My dad was a commie.

I'm FAR more moderate than him.

[ronnykmarshall]

64. That fuckin' cool!

A real live hammer and sickle, Marx readin', talking about "The People", commie??

That's awsome.

[RandomKoolzip]

78. Yup.

Unfortunately, after the revolution didn't happen in America (y'know, Kent State and all) his love of heroin superceded his love of revolutionary politics and he became a junkie trying to raise two kids....and got a job at the post office.

Ah, the 60's. :eyes:

Like I said, I'm much more moderate (and cynical) than him.

[Fenris]

32. Moderately left-wing.

They hold very liberal ideas, and I get the impression that my father is further left than he lets on. My mother thinks I'm some sort of revolutionary radical. She told me once she had a dream in which I took up arms against *a consitutional officer whom I do not wish to name*.

[deadparrot]

35. Moderate lefties.

We've got a lot of teachers in the group. My grandfather was apparently a pretty nasty racist (and a Republican), but he died long before I was born. At least two of my grandmother's three sisters (who became Republican by marriage) have turned against the war.

[Dukkha]

40. Jesus freaks

Dad's a catholic Mom's a baptist
not at the hardcore fundy level but close

[tjwmason]

43. I presume that your avatar indicates your response to this? n/t

[Dukkha]

45. LOL yeah why not

wish I could transport to the year 3000

[Midlodemocrat]

41. My entire family, parents, now deceased, me and three brothers

are all extremely left wing. Have been all my life.

[huskerlaw]

48. Strong right wing

well...my custodial parents were, anyway. I grew up on James Dobson and Rush Limbaugh. My mom still believes in the liberal media and liberal activist judges. She still supports Bush.

My paternal grandmother, on the other hand was an FDR Democrat, God bless her. She turned me into the liberal I am today.

[ceile]

50. My mom cried when Raygun was elected.

I knew from then on I would be fighting the forces of evil where ever I could.....

[Left Is Write]

63. How old were you?

I wonder if my kids will have such a powerful memory of me? I was disappointed when Dubya was "elected" in 2000, but I outright cried when it happened again in 2004.

My oldest will remember that, certainly - she was 17 - but I wonder if my younger ones will also. My younger daughter was almost five and my son was almost 3.

[BamaLefty]

51. Pretty moderate

but lean left.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

52. My parents have always been Republicans.....

I remember, as a teenager, arguing with them..........

But they are pretty moderate....

Best of all: They HATE Bush.......

My younger brother is a Republican, and much more conservative than I am...

Go figure...... :shrug:

[tjwmason]

56. They hate Bush?

:wow: Why would anybody hate him? :sarcasm:

He really does seem to have that effect on people, it's almost universal over here too.

[Allenberg]

53. Conservative Democrats

Not so much the race-baiting 'murika, islamofaciscommie conservative, but more anti-tax Catholics who were fiercely pro-union, pro- choice, and think that taking care of our own is more important than dropping money in pseudo-wars around the globe.

[Droopy]

54. Just plain middle of the roaders

They've probably voted for as many Democrats as they have Republicans. I'm the first person in the family to have any interest in understanding politics.

[ZombieNixon]

55. Strongly left wing.

My parents might be a little harshly liberal...even for DU...at times, thay make me look like a raging Republian. :o

[Lady Effingbroke]

57. Brain-dead Repuke.

My parents are "ham sandwich" Republicans - they would vote for a ham sandwich if it was followed by an "R".

Curiously enough, they are very secular and pro-choice. :shrug:

They still support * (and DeLay: they live in the Bugman's soon-to-be ex-district).

They are "good Germans".

I, however, am becoming more of a "yella dawg" democrat by the day - and we all know who wins in a fight between an ol' yella dawg and a ham sammich.

It took me discovering the Internet and reading up on various issues before I was able to pull my head out and realize what was truly going on. I am ashamed to admit my nearly-lifelong ignorance of politics, although I am trying every day to read online and rectify my previous craniorectal inversion. It is taking some time to get up to speed, as the wabbit hole appears at this time to be truly bottomless.

[Oeditpus Rex]

58. They were both Democrats

They were raised in the South when... well, that's just what you were.

Mom was pretty apolitical. She voted the way Dad did, which was more or less straight Dem.

My earliest political memory is coming back from voting with them in 1960 and my sister and I arguing in the back seat: "Kennedy!" "Nixon!" "Kennedy!" "Nixon!" I was 4, and I guess I was for Kennedy because my folks were. It was a good start. :thumbsup:

I vaguely remember, too, falling asleep on the sofa that night while watching the returns. It was a close race, and they obviously didn't have the technology we do today, so it got pretty late.

Dad was a news junkie, too. I grew up with Walter Cronkite — hell, Douglas Edwards before him — and KCBS news on the radio when there wasn't a ball game.

I can remember watching the conventions back then, too. In second grade I knew what a caucus was and knew something about the electoral college, as well as the secretary of state (Dean Rusk) and secretary of defense (Bob McNamara). And I remember this 1964 joke:

"Why is Johnson so rich?"
"He's got gold water (Goldwater) in his toilet."

[ronnykmarshall]

59. While pregnant with me ....

my mom actually stood in a voting booth and voted for Nixon in 1960.

I kicked her.


It took 34 years later for her get this picture.

[Xipe Totec]

61. Blue Collar Union

Nuff said.

[TimeChaser]

65. My mommy's very liberal, my dad is more moderate but still liberal

My dad was also very active in the local Democratic party while I was growing up. I helped out with campaigns and stuff when I was little and I still do.

[Downtown Hound]

66. Mom's a liberal, Dad was a Rush Limbaugh lovin' con

Although I was mostly disinterested, I followed my Dad until about the age of 17. Then I switched sides and never looked back. My dad died when I was 19, and I've always wondered what he would think of my politics now if he were still alive.

[qnr]

67. No idea - never lived with them.

Same applies to the foster homes... I was a bit of a monster, and never lasted anywhere more than five months.

[mwooldri]

68. I guess pretty centrist...

Coming from southern England, I've lived in Toryland for most of my life. The county council is/was Conservative, the Borough Council is/was conservative, the Parish Council however was an oddity being a mix of conservative, non-conservative and independent. The MP was generally conservative too.

I would describe my family as realists, more than anything else, but from a socially active background. My father and sister were both involved in St. John Ambulance, my father worked for a good time in social housing, my sister's now a nurse in the NHS, my mother works part time at a school.

I got involved more in politics when running a non-school-supported school newspaper (i.e. the school didn't fund it but provided some resources to help run it such as use of the computer lab). I learned censorship, and how to get around it too (hee hee). This was in the dying days of Margaret Thatcher, and John Major came in with his sleazy cabinet (Bill Clinton's issue with Monica was tame considering what these guys got up to). Being in Toryland, the natural alternative would be the Liberal/SDP Alliance - to become the Liberal Democrats. In the UK you don't join partys by registering it on your voter card, you go to the party and pay membership fees to join.

Fortunately the political tide has been turning a bit down south - my old local constituency - Guildford - saw its first Liberal MP since God-knows-when, winning on a narrow margin. The MP switched back to the Conservat The Borough Council keeps swinging from the Lib Dems to No Overall Control and sometimes to the Conservatives. The Parish Council however seems to be more LibDem lately.

Mark.

[tjwmason]

77. I'm in a pretty similar area - Bucks.

I'd say at the moment that the Tories are still resurgent, the District Council fell to N.O.C. in the mid '90s but is now safely Tory again, the County Council has never been under serious threat, all 5 of Bucks M.P.s are safe Tories.

At the last general election they made some gains in South East seats - especially ones where the Liberals had won them at by-elections.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

69. Other

Dad never discussed politics, but Mom is Straight ticket big mouth Democrat. My son can say the same of his parents. Hubby never speaks of partys, but I'm a rabid Democrat.
Would this be an illustration of "The more things change, the more they stay the same" Or, "Oh My God, I've become my MoTHer!!!"

[NJ Democrats]

70. Left-Wing Dems

My mom is a left wing Dem. Her parents are very left wing Dems. My dad is a left leaning moderate Dem.

[calico1]

71. My mom has always been a Democrat and voted for

the Democratic candidates. My dad voted for the Democrats until 1968 when he voted for Nixon. He has gotten more right wing with age. His siblings were/are all real wingnuts. He can't argue with us too much though because all my siblings also vote Democratic. I remember when I was little and my parents would go vote and my dad would argue with my mom that all his brothers wives voted how they voted. My mom would say something like "well, if they are that stupid they can't think for themselves that's not my problem." Hehehehe.

[YankeyMCC]

72. My parents started out as loyal Dems

But by the time I became aware of things at any level they had become "unregistered" essentially independent.

They usually voted Dem but they voted for Regan. It's a different dynamic here in Mass (as it is in every state) being a Dem because we are so nearly a One Party state. A lot of the natural American suspicion and distrust of government obviously gets directed at the Democrats who are mostly in charge (except of course the frustrating inability to capture the corner office the last couple decades). And as they got older they became pretty strongly Anti-tax. They were active in the earl 80's in the pro-prop 2.5 tax limiting measure and it caused some consternation and interesting discussion when I was heavily involved in a prop-2.5 override last year in my home town. :)

[geniph]

73. My parents are FDR Democrats and Irish Catholics

which means they idolized JFK, too. Moderate Democrats...fiscally conservative (but with strong support for programs like Social Security) and socially moderate. Blue-collar union working-class folks. You know - what used to be the bread and butter grassroots of the Democratic party.

[no name no slogan]

74. Mine is a total patchwork of conservatives and liberals

My mom's family is mostly old-school, up-by-your-bootstraps Republicans. Fiscally conservative, yet socially moderate, but also quite practical-- they weren't afraid to pay for government if they could be shown it was doing the right thing. I was raised by my mom in a single parent household, which is probably what made me so liberal (although my mom is actually a moderate Republican).

However, my mom's grandfather (her dad's dad) was a liberal small-business owner and ran for the city council in Minneapolis a couple of times back in the 1930s, back when Hubert H. Humphrey was coming up through the political ranks. In fact, my grandfather used to get Christmas cards from the Humphreys every year up until Muriel (HHH's wife) passed away.

My dad's family is all over the place: my grandmother was a compassionate, Catholic New Deal Democrat in the truest sense of the word. My grandfather was not around much, but wasn't very political. Almost all my dad's sisters (dad was one of 12 kids) have turned out to be liberals, but one of them is a very conservative Republican who even ran for my state's legislature back in the 90s. The men are overwhelmingly apolitical or hardcore conservative.

Like I said, a total patchwork. No explanation is possible.

[MiniMandaRuth]

75. Parents are strongly left-wing.

[Ekirh]

76. Moderately Right Wing

I'm the only Lefty in the family . . but they all love me (At least they say so . . trying to get it in writing).

In any case I would've said strongly Right Wing but some like one o my Uncles have been highly critical of Bush since his first term and has said several times the Republicans deserve to lose power in all branches. My Grandma despite considering herself a Christian Conservative has moderate to Liberal views on Gun Control and not to mention my Dad although a Republican is quite moderate to liberal about the Environment and is really concenred about the threat of Global Warming. Not to mention he can't stand Bush all that much as well.

With that being said the Kentucky portion of my family would probably be Strong Conservative and is the only portion of the family to not know I'm a lefty . . . I'm not sure they could take it as well as my Mom's side of my family (And my step dad)