Thread: What was the genesis of your political beliefs?

What was the genesis of your political beliefs?

#1 Were you raised in a very conservative environment and became a liberal?

#2 Were you raised in a very liberal environment and became a conservative?

#3 Were you raised in a nominally conservative environment and became a liberal?

#4 Were you raised in a nominally liberal environment and became a conservative?

#5 Were you raised in an a-political environment and became a liberal?

#6 Were you raised in an a-political environment and became a conservative?

If you changed course what was the reason if you can pin it down?

#6 is my Answer.

The poll is silly because everyone has many many experiences that forms their opinions. For me I am a Ultra-Liberal that became so because of my whole life experiences and the more and more I increased my education. Logic and critical thinking would make anyone a Liberal. You can only be a conservative if you are either brainwashed to do so or you are so self-centered that you cannot bring yourself to any sense of responsiblity!

I just realized I left off some options...like I was raised in a conservative/liberal environment and am now the same oh well.

Originally Posted by mykcob4

The poll is silly because everyone has many many experiences that forms their opinions. For me I am a Ultra-Liberal that became so because of my whole life experiences and the more and more I increased my education. Logic and critical thinking would make anyone a Liberal. You can only be a conservative if you are either brainwashed to do so or you are so self-centered that you cannot bring yourself to any sense of responsiblity!

Thanks for participating....even though you consider it silly...somehow I think some conservatives would disagree with what you said.

I was raised in a hermetically sealed, self sustaining, environmental dome. I had no contact with the outside world until the year 2000 when the dome was opened. My first political experience came shortly thereafter, when I was taken to a George W. Bush rally/speech. Twenty minutes of listening to George W. Bush made me what I am today...a dyed in the wool liberal.

I almost chose #4, but went with #3. My parents were both Democrats, but in the 60s, that didn't mean you were liberal by a long shot. Dad liked Goldwater against Johnson. But my mom never wavers from her Democratic roots. Today, at 77, they're both almost as pinko as my wife and I.

My dad and two older sisters spent many Sunday dinners (extremely middle class, post church roast beef dinners...delicious, btw) glaring at each other and bickering about hippie boyfriends and anti-war politics.

As a little tyke, my Airforce vet dad would coach me on becoming a Green Beret. He even took me to a big Green Beret exhibition.

We had about 6 acres in southern NC and one morning I woke up to see about a dozen "freaks" camping without tents on our front lawn.

I'd say my sisters influenced my politics as much as me rebelling against my parents. They convinced me that being a socialist peacenik was the closest to the path of enlightenment.

I was raised in an extremely Christian Conservative environment and then become quite fond of Marxism, considering myself a socialist. Then I got into studying philosophy. After reading Aristotle, Hume, Locke, Rand, Nietzsche, and Smith - and after listening to several speeches by Harry Brown - I formed my own philosophical outlook and become a staunch libertarian.

Originally Posted by mykcob4

The poll is silly because everyone has many many experiences that forms their opinions. For me I am a Ultra-Liberal that became so because of my whole life experiences and the more and more I increased my education. Logic and critical thinking would make anyone a Liberal. You can only be a conservative if you are either brainwashed to do so or you are so self-centered that you cannot bring yourself to any sense of responsiblity!

So that's what logical and critical thinking get's you. You get to make inacurate sweeping generic observations about an entire group of people ? Sounds prety subjective and that's not logical.

My family was progressively conservative, or maybe more accurately moderately socially liberal liberatarian rednecks from the military. My stepdad was a big early influence, a hardass disabled navy Vietvet. He taught me republican ideals of responsibility, hardwork, and balanced budgets (Federal and household). My grandfather taught me the democratic ideals of acceptance, enjoying life, charity, and goodwill. The rest of my family is very large, and runs the gammut from enlightened Buhddist hippie married to Wiccan preistess, to racist rednecks who raise goats. Safe to say Im fairly confused.

My genesis into forming my own conclusions was when I was 20 years old, on September 11 2001. I watched a towering inferno of smoke ascend into the black clouds from a crater where the trade centers used to be, from a cliff in Jersey, and wondered what the hell my parents generation have been doing all these years.