How and why have you evolved politically?

[angus]

My parents were Democrat, and somewhat frothy about it--I thought Reagan was a dirty word till I was at least 20 years old.  In fact, most of my extended family are rabid anti-GOP democrats, so I was brainwashed from the start.  Probably not unlike most folks, really.  As a university student and as a grad student I was a fairly committed leftist.  I was even a card-carrying, dues-paying member of the Revolutionary Workers Party for one year.  I often voted for leftist candidates, although in the 90s I supported Clinton both times.  Eventually I got a real job.  First real job I had I was living in California, single, and making good money.  As you might imagine, my net pay was less than two-thirds of my gross.  That first paycheck pretty much did it for me.  After receiving it, I promptly registered as a Republican.  Gave money to the Bush/Cheney campaign even.  I stayed a Republican for a few years but eventually I became as put off with them as I had been with the Democrats.  Also, I eventually got married and had a child and started to think about things like the quality of public schools.  About five years ago I became unaffiliated.  

Overall, I've probably always been centrist/unaffiliated.  Sort of Clintonian without the baggage.  It just took me a while to get through the dampened oscillatory political demagoguery that was the likely result of the initial familial brainwashing.

[angus]

Then I suppose I'm a fucking moron.  Thank you for pointing that out.  My life is now complete, having posted here for so many years and finally having met someone with your profound wisdom to shed some light my sorry state of existence.

[angus]

MRWP.  They used to meet at the People's Republik of Cambridge.  It's a bar, in the other Cambridge, as you might have ascertained by now.  Anyway, yeah, I gave them ten dollars for a one-year card at one point.  Got a quarterly newsletter.  Cheesy, it was.  I'm not sure whether the organization still exists.  Nor, for that matter, whether that bar still exists.  WalterMitty lives in that area.  Maybe he knows.  Anyway, you have been posting here longer than I.  We may have discussed, in the more than a decade that I've been posting, the candidates that have run for office to the left of the Democrats.  

None of that really matters at this point, as I'm really not left of the Democrats nor right of the Rebublicans.  Nor are, I suspect, most of the posters here, as most of them are still of an age during which their parents' judgments will inform them more than anything else.  

I was discussing this at some point with a recent Ethiopian immigrant in San Francisco, not long before I joined this forum...  Must have been about 12 years ago.  She was saying that it takes till you're about 35 to really form a political opinion.  It was the sort of statement that really struck me as true.  Well, lots of statements really strike me as true, but it was one of those things that I thought that I was the only one on the face of the earth who really understood.  She was, of course, correct.  

Jews in America always say that "He who, when young, is not a liberal has no heart; he who, when old, is not a conservative, has no head."  They're all morons too, I suppose.  That's okay.  Evolution still happens, whether or not one chooses to accept its results.

[angus]

Jews in America always say that "He who, when young, is not a liberal has no heart; he who, when old, is not a conservative, has no head."  They're all morons too, I suppose.  That's okay.  Evolution still happens, whether or not one chooses to accept its results.

Pretty sure that commonplace is neither Jewish, nor accurate.

Technically, the Jewish version, of course, is "He who, when young, is not a liberal has no heart; he who, when old, is not a conservative, has no money."  As to its accuracy, I suppose that If you're pretty sure about something, then it must be so. 

[angus]

How:  From generic left-liberalism towards the middle/no ideology, towards pragmatism, free-markets and neo-conservatism (think Irving Kristol, not Bush administration cretins).

Why:  To me, it's mostly education, experience and life events.  My foreign policy views are probably strongly shaped by Iraq and 9/11.  My economic views are shaped by volunteer work with poor people in Brooklyn and a few jobs at banking institutions.  My gun control views are shaped by almost being shot a couple of times.  And, I think coming into my own in between the Bush reelection when I was in high school and Obama election in college was really important as well.    

Jews in America always say that "He who, when young, is not a liberal has no heart; he who, when old, is not a conservative, has no head."  They're all morons too, I suppose.  That's okay.  Evolution still happens, whether or not one chooses to accept its results.

Pretty sure that commonplace is neither Jewish, nor accurate.

Technically, the Jewish version, of course, is "He who, when young, is not a liberal has no heart; he who, when old, is not a conservative, has no money."  As to its accuracy, I suppose that If you're pretty sure about something, then it must be so.  

I had always heard that attributed to David Lloyd George.

Well, David Lloyd George may or may not be accurate either.  I may not be the "brightest bulb" but I do know when folks are reading far too much into my posts.  For the record:  1.  I am not claiming that David Lloyd George is a Jew.  2.  I am not claiming that Winston Churchhill is a Jew.  3.  I am not making any claims to the accuracy of a thing that Jews in America commonly say.  4.  I have no idea who first said anything and I'm not sure I've ever made any claim on who first said anything.

I was merely answering the question which, as the original poster predicted, "could be interesting."  Indeed.

[angus]

Chestnuts?


5.  I, for one, did not come in here to discuss any deciduous trees or shrubs.


yeah, it's interesting.  Gotta give the OP that.