How did your political beliefs form?

[SamSniped]

Answering hobbs's OP, mine formed via my own logic and beliefs. I generally tend to lean right fiscally and left socially.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

My political beliefs started forming during my early teen years. They formed out of my teenage-wangst-driven rage against the entire establishment, where it was literally "PlutonianEmpire versus the *entire human race*" and where absolutely everyone in the world hated sex except me.

In addition, the formation of my political beliefs actually had enormous momentum propped up by my preexisting rebellious nature already deeply rooted into my psyche from early child-hood.

Naturally, being forced to live in the most uber-conservative parts of MN by both my parents and then the cruel hands of god damn fate, I got into trouble way too many times with my parents and at school.

Sadly, being easily swayed, I've become a closeted conservative.

 

[ReindeerThistle]

More to come ... but let me start by saying I was a Red State Republican from an old money southern family and now I am a Red.
Betcha can't wait to hear that one!
Sent via mobile.

Per my family tradition, I started working with the poor. In college, I read Che, Fidel, Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin.

Started to ask WHY the poor were poor. Found the answers in Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin.

Got called a "communist" by colleagues when I told them the poor were poor because the rich were rich.

"Communist" fit me to a tee.

Found a party and joined it. Pledged my life, my fortune and my sacred honor to ending capitalism, establishing socialism.

Found this site. Met RugbyLEAGUEfan who, while he didn't change my mind about communism, DID change my mind about track pants. Take victories when you can get 'em, especially if you're an anarchist -- as victories come so seldom.

 

[Jehoshua]

There is nothing "libertarian" about the right in America. It might not be the same as classical conservatism. But it also has far more in common with that than either liberalism, which it is not an outgrowth of, or libertarianism, which it also is not an outgrowth of.

From my observation, the right in America is divided into two main factions, the social conservative faction which is closer to your Burkean conservatism and the libertarians, with the occasional overlap (since people aren't things you can put simply in one box or another). The libertarians tend to also be morally conservative it is true, but the advocating for small government, less taxes, opposition to gun control and the rest (even the constitution cult in its own way) in the name of personal liberty is quite in line with libertarianism, which proceeds from classical liberalism. This is pretty ideologically self-evident from even a casual observation of the musings of certain quarters of the republican party.

because none of what they do or propose to do is based on reason or rationality. Likewise they have no foundation in libertarianism, because nothing they do or propose to do has a basis in liberty. It is explicitly the opposite of that.[/U]

Unacademic fooey.

Conservative thought has its own theoretical basis (incorporating the legacy of such thinkers as Edmund Burke, to name the most popular "father of conservatism") which is based quite clearly in certain reasonable considerations, and rational deduction. Conservative thought obviously doesn't exalt "Enlightenment Reason", this being because it quite reasonably depending on ones point of view rejects it on the ontological basis that it ignores the fact that human beings are not pure logic, but are imperfect and flawed, prone to emotion and irrationality. Every organising principle of society thus to the conservative must take account of the reality of human nature, and any conception that denies the weaknesses of Man, they would say, is not based on reason or rationality at all.

Now I'm not going to go in a debate on political doctrine (because I have better things to do with my time), but if you want to challenge an ideology you disagree with, it is better to deal with what it proclaims and provide criticism on that, rather than to make a la carte statements that it is the doctrinal equivalent of an sociopathic asylum patient bent on bringing you under tyranny. Argumentum ad Ridiculum, and ad hoc fallacies may be good enough for the tavern, but that doesn't mean you should make them, no matter how much of an emotional distaste you have for your ideological opposites.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I filled out some internet form and it told me my political orientation.

Since then I always followed that advice and always voted for the Hungarian Two-tailed Dog Party.

 

[REDY]

As teenager I was more leftist (not far left though). I think it was mainly because my family were right wing liberals. Now I am more right wing and more liberal than they. I was of course influenced by idiocy and narrow-mindedness of some political figures. The most close politically to me is grandfather, hes somewhat my political idol.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Per my family tradition, I started working with the poor. In college, I read Che, Fidel, Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin.

Started to ask WHY the poor were poor. Found the answers in Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin.

Got called a "communist" by colleagues when I told them the poor were poor because the rich were rich.

"Communist" fit me to a tee.

Found a party and joined it. Pledged my life, my fortune and my sacred honor to ending capitalism, establishing socialism.

Found this site. Met RugbyLEAGUEfan who, while he didn't change my mind about communism, DID change my mind about track pants. Take victories when you can get 'em, especially if you're an anarchist -- as victories come so seldom.

Yep, I was right, it's my story lol. Except that track pants are still an abomination.

 

[ReindeerThistle]

Yep, I was right, it's my story lol. Except that track pants are still an abomination.

That's what rLf changed my mind about.

Sent via mobile.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

Disclaimer.......except at the track

 

[Tee Kay]

It's too soon to say.

 

[Traitorfish]

There's a Zhou Enlai/French Revolution joke in there somewhere.

 

[~Corsair#01~]

What shaped my political views was probably '90s television.

I watched the news a lot as a child, which at the time with Yugoslavia and Rwanda going on was basically the Genocide Channel and I also watched every episode of Star Trek that aired, from TOS repeats to Voyager. So, I basically saw the world as it was and how it was supposed to be.

It was probably unavoidable that I would become a communist of some description under the circumstances.

 

[galdre]

My parents were rather apolitical, or at least they never mentioned any of their ideas around me that I can remember. I was rather conservative when I was younger, probably because most of my friends when I was young were religious and on the conservative side, but as I've read more and gained more experience I've moved steadily to the left.

I've been accused of being an idealist. When it comes to how I want the world to be, I would say that is true, but I'm far too cynical regarding people to have much hope.

 

[Tee Kay]

There's a Zhou Enlai/French Revolution joke in there somewhere.

French Revolution jokes are the best.

 

[Antilogic]

More generally, it seems we have a lot of formerly conservative/libertarian posters that moved left during their teenage years (which mostly correspond to the Bush years). Wish we had some older posters commenting to see whether, say, the experiences of the 80s made them shift left or right, or if general disillusionment with the Kennedy/Johnson/Carter administrations during their political awakenings made them vote more conservatively.

 

[Cutlass]

More generally, it seems we have a lot of formerly conservative/libertarian posters that moved left during their teenage years (which mostly correspond to the Bush years). Wish we had some older posters commenting to see whether, say, the experiences of the 80s made them shift left or right, or if general disillusionment with the Kennedy/Johnson/Carter administrations during their political awakenings made them vote more conservatively.

Nope. Pretty much always been a Truman Fair Dealer. Never learned anything in economics, politics, or history to make me think there's a better way.

 

[Farm Boy]

Truman. Bleh. Thank you for the NSA and the unending state of wartime internal surveillance Truman. I'll put'cha right up the with Jackson President T.

 

[Cutlass]

Not fair. Truman was probably the best ever president in terms of economics. He was well ahead of the curve on Civil Rights. He lead for the reconstruction of Europe and the containment of the Soviets. Very underrated.

 

[Farm Boy]

Not fair. Truman was probably the best ever president in terms of economics. He was well ahead of the curve on Civil Rights. He lead for the reconstruction of Europe and the containment of the Soviets. Very underrated.

Not hard to be good on economics when the entire world is paying you loans and has blasted to hell its own industrial and agricultural infrastructure so you get to sell all that too. A damned evil man in hindsight. And he started off so nice. War seems to do that to people.

 

[Traitorfish]

Not fair. Truman was probably the best ever president in terms of economics. He was well ahead of the curve on Civil Rights. He lead for the reconstruction of Europe and the containment of the Soviets. Very underrated.

Well, given how many children he killed, I'm not sure that we can say history has been altogether unkind to him.