Who or what influenced your political beliefs

I am just curious

My teachers! Especially at the junior high level. They didn't tell me to be liberal, but they taught me about the Constitution and our form of government. They also made sure that I understood about the world's and the US' past and ongoing injustices.

Also, my parents.

Mother Tereas, Dorothy Day, Phil Berrigan, Veitnam, and life in general

I became a Democrat the day I started reading about politics.

and that the kids were fools for voting for Bush the Elder in the mock presidental election.

I stand by my fake Dukakis vote

at a very early age I was indoctrinated into the concept of social justice. I questioned it over the years and as I grew the concept became my own rather than an inheritance of his viewpoints.

I've worked a lot of jobs while attending school, and was a music major for several years. For example, one particular job was building displays in locations all around the Chicago area. In music, I received exposure to the more "elite" side of society. Being around very diverse groups of people made me very class conscious.

Secondly, I've read a lot of philosophy and am currently studying physics, so I'm more or less "trained" to make judgments on a 'factual' basis and less inclined to make them on faith or authority.

...when he was first running.

I was born in to a democratic family, I would say liberal. I as a young boy would watch C-SPAN with my grandma all the time, and I asked are you and grandpa republican or democrat, she said democrat, I dont remember her explanation, I do however remember asking if the GOP were the "bad guys" and the dems the "good guys" and the bad guy in question IIRC was Orrin Hatch. These people my grandparents are new deal democrats, real good people, have taught me much. My dad influenced as well, he was big on civil rights in the 60's and against the vietnam war, although he had an upper middle class upbringing he has done many jobs, and his parents too were dems, my grandparents mentioned above are my mom's folks, my dad's family wasnt as poor as my mom's in the depression, yet they were tolerant people and my grandfather was a labor arbirator, tough work but he was made for it, he had his eye out for the little guy. Now how movies and books influenced me, I read an article in Rolling Stone about how Bush was using the death penalty in Texas it really saddened me, and also the movie the Green Mile.

:-)

I know

My political beliefs are mostly the result of, in chronological order, the Monica Lewinsky affair (why the hell were the Republicans impeaching a president for a blowjob?), the 1999 boom (no more recession...), my frustration with high school, and 9/11 and its aftermath.

Republicans for Bill Clinton!
http://www.perkel.com/politics/clinton/repub.htm

That guy basically refutes the myth that Clinton was a great liberal president.

all four parents were/are liberal. My sister was a union organizer for awhile. We are artistic and literate, every wall in my house was covered with great books. My favorites were Grapes Of Wrath and anything by Willa Cather. Even Little Women taught me to care for the poor, take responsibility for others and to respect education.

In college when my friends were reading Daniel Steel for escape, I was reading Les Miserables.

From a very young age I was sensitive to sufferering amoung people who had less in this world. I could never accept cruel or careless behavior towards others, even as a little girl. Being a republican never seemed like an option to me.

A father who was a socialist.
A grandmother who told me tales of poverty in Ireland.
Watching white kids spit at an old black man in Florida.
Learning about the evils of militarism as a young marine.
The war in Vietnam.
Being chased around campus by cops who wanted to break my skull.
Kent State
Being poor.
Ludwig Van Beethoven's 9th symphony
Martin Luther King
Nelson Mandela
"The Grapes of Wrath"
Working for a living.
Seeing real poverty and hopelessness in 3rd world countries.
Clear cuts of forests older than any of us.
The Buddha
Jesus (The words - not the interpretation).
Karl Marx
American soldiers arresting an old woman in Vietnam.
My Lai
Starving people around the world
"Catch-22"
Believing that most people are good at heart.

and, many, many more.

Everyone in the family was for Adlai and I felt so sorry for Ike that I started wearing an I like Ike button. Perspective is everything I guess. Then I got all caught up in JFK, and my high school English teacher started preaching Norman Thomas to me (talk about blasphemy in an Irish Catholic enclave). And I guess that's pretty much been the course of my political beliefs--a wilingness at least to look against the grain if not exactly cut against it.

You are a Catholic school grad too huh? My dad is, well in my experience I hope to all mighty god it aint all of em, I am a public school student, I know some kids who go to Catholic school, real right wing and shit, yet my dad and his family are democrats, big time as were many of the others, maybe its just those two but their views nearly made me a mainstream catholic go agnosatic or athiest, you know what I did briefly but I am back as a Catholic only in name but I do defend the church when I must, and I respect agnostatics and athiests unlike those two I mentioned. Maybe they are rare cases of Catholics today, I sure do hope so, the catholicism my grandparents practiced is very admirable.

I was barely 9 years old, my favorite babysitter had just returned to college after spring break, and Nixon's guardsmen opened fire on student protesters at Kent State University.

That was my "political awakening". I've hated those republican bastards ever since.

I was motivated by by mom who was a Stevenson delegate in 52 and walked precincts for JFK in 1960.

But what made me a Dem were the heroes of my childhood, John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King.

you got good heroes I say.

Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence

The Beat Generation: Greg Corso and Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Franz Jagerstatter

He told the people of St. Radegund that he would not serve in Hitler’s army, not even in the Ambulance Detail or the Medical Corps. And he told them this years before his final induction call in February 1943. He refused to take the oath to serve Hitler and the Nazi army.

All this defiance was against the Nazi state law of August 1938 which required, ‘The death penalty shall be levied against anyone who publicly advocates or incites the refusal to perform the required service in the German army" (Zahn.89). Franz Jagaerstatter knew this law. He said his conscience would not allow him to obey it.

On August 9, 1943, Franz Jagaerstatter was beheaded by the Nazi military authorities. His body was cremated and his ashes buried Brandenburg on August 17, 1943.

http://www.mincava.umn.edu/documents/pnvcur7-12/franzj.shtml

I was raised by a single mother; a dem who seems to swing wildly from liberal, to moderate, to liberal, and back.

Nobody in my near family has ever approached "middle class." Always working poor. I'm the first college graduate ever.

was the ultimate progressive. She still does organize peace rallies in the West Palm area. My Dad is rather Republican however so I know I didn't get my political beliefs from him.

One thing that actually influenced my politics was a filmstrip series we saw in jr high on Communism. It was probably supposed to be anticommunist but it dealt quite a bit with the pre-history of communism, such as socialism and such. Plus alot of reading during those years on politics and history.

Alot of those early ideas made alot of sense to me at the time, so maybe that film strip had the unintended consequence of turning me into a teenaged socialist.

I was a registered Republican until about 8 years ago - just because my family was. I was a sheeple. I started examining the issues on my own and discovered I was a Democrat - and never a Republican at heart.

people who once were or had republican families, glad you are with the good guys :)

I went out with a BANG too. Finally answered one of the surveys from the Rep party - gave them a scathing reply and on a question about how Newt Gingrich was doing his job I told them I thought he was the biggest horses ass I could imagine. His "revolution" infuriated me, in particular playing chicken with Clinton and shutting down the Gov't for a few weeks to get leverage on other issues.:mad:

Welcome back! :hi:

that government shutdown was really silly and it put my mom out of work briefly. Newt= Milosevic's twin.

:D

someone donated for me :D can you believe that? no problem its people who dont have what I had and they become democrats, I feel honestly theres something about that, thats really admirable, one of my best friends here, his folks are right wing and so is his district but you know hes one of us now.

Sort of a mix between my religion and my experiences.

It doesn't really matter who or what race it is but when men or women have too much power, they tend to beat and abuse the ones below them.

That is what must be stopped and the government should be a referee and not a boss.

Believe it or not, until I got into college I was pretty much a rightwingnut. One year with my Honors English professor, and I saw the errors of my ways.

Oct. 1972.

Dennis has helped me more so too, I even put a speech of his on my iPod :), he has a great wit and not to mention he kicks ass on the issues.

Because if you extrapolate out most conservative plans over time they usually fail miserably. Conservatives just don't think long term compared to progressives (hence the moniker).


And because I generally care about the state of my fellow man/woman/animal/plant in the world.

and progressive parents.

"...four years ago?"
Remember THAT one from the cakehole of "The Gipper"?

I attacked my TV set screaming "No you FUCKER! Four years ago I had a fuckin' JOB!!!!!"

That was the start of a life-long hate affair with the ReTHUGlican party.