What Made You A Liberal?

i just posted something on another thread about gay marriage that got me to thinking about this. so i'm wondering.

i wrote: (i love my mom. while growing up she used to tell me (often) "open your mind" "think about it and open your mind")

she also used to tell me "don't be so closed-minded. open your mind"

my parents grew up in chicago, my mom grew up all over chicago and the suburbs (the family moved a lot). i grew up in the suburbs--in a republican county. it still is.

both parents were very liberal/open-minded/accepting of others and the differences between them/compassionate. my dad was religious--my mom not so much.

what about people who had parents different from mine but grew up being very open-minded in spite of it?

And, she was also my sitter. :evilgrin:

That is so cool!

:)

It started with religion (I come from a very religious family and I only saw it in action on Sunday mornings). Then came the Vietnam war and Watergate. I think that says it all.

I was a very different person after seeing that picture.

nt

same here. I go way back when as well.

The sheer hypocrisy from some of the "holier-than-thou" group really pissed me off.

Just to make clear, I'm not broad-brushing or making generalizations in any way. It just seems like the ones who preached it the most, were the worst offenders.

Also, I'm a Christian. Albeit, not a very good one.

:evilgrin:

Or at least, not among the hypocrites out there.

...and all the black smoke pouring into the sky from factories ~ I've been an environmentalist ever since, and a Gore supporter since Earth in the Balance was published.

our neighbors, friends, co-workers, etc--were as diverse as could be. I didn't realize there was any sort of problem until I hit the civilian world. have always been a VERY radical person (much to the dismay of my family) Why? one of my clearest early memories is me standing in the toy section of some department store when I was about 5, and noticing (and commentiing loudly) on the disparity between the boys' and girls' toys.

after that, it was questioning the church (when I was 7)-- and on and on from there.

It occurred to me in my 20's that, for the most part, Republicans were all self-centered, self-interested, bigoted, hypocritical whining vessels of intolerance. We live in a country of 300,000,000 people. We have to accept that we are in a community and we are not all equal in our strengths, abilities and G-d given talents. There is prejudice, racism, sexism and denying that it exists doesn't make it so. I got sick and tired of white privileged people whining that "if I did it, anybody can do it" which is just not true. That doesn't mean we don't encourage people to better themselves but we should face that we do not all get handed the same opportunities at birth.

Plus I'm Jewish and there is no place for me in Republicanism which has made it clear that they only want white Christians.

"assomplishments", big events, little events, all of the time, in all kinds of situations that are all the result of Chance.

"but we should face that we do not all get handed the same opportunities at birth", as I frequently say to people, we simply must stop punishing "a fish" for not being able to sing and fly like "a bird". It's horrible!

Solidarity.

accepting the differences, not blaming each other for not being as capable.

Summer of '92 I was watching the Dem convention when Jesse got up and made his "That's not America!" speech and I was turned. I had always been a political junkie and reader but growing up in the South in the Reagan years and so forth I was pulled into the Republican world.

Funny it wasn't until I joined the Army and saw what a truly Republican world looked like (social rank, follow orders then maybe you can complain, so on) that I started to see things differently.

After Jesse finished that speech I could have chewed my way through the cinderblock walls. I became at least "not a Republican" then became a Democrat and since I have been on DU I have come to understand the history of the lib/prog cause its ability to learn and its goals.

Post script- 18 months later after getting out of the Army and returning home me and my buddies were sitting around one night and in the midst of the discussion Jesse's name came up- All three of them and I in return had our eyes light up as they said to me as I said to the "DID YOU SEE THAT SPEECH...." they were 6,000 miles away and it had the same effect on them.

That and the fact that when I was about 16 my parents couldn't give me a good reason why they always voted Republican. "Because Democrats are bad" wasn't a satisfactory answer.

"Should there be an international organization to control the proliferation of nuclear weapons?", that someone(s), at any time, somewhere(s), for some "reason(s)" unknown to me and about which if I did know them I would have serious questions having to do with alternatives, could very quickly end the World and cause horrendous suffering of billions people for, effectively, all Time, without even asking if it's okay with me.

I think I was born that way. :P

'nuff said?

:shrug: :hi:

I didn't realize my liberalness until after a year of attending a crazy right-wing, fundie, born again church. Then after 9/11 and Jerry Falwell came out and said the comments that he did, I thought "Hey! This isn't the group we should join! Maybe we should try a bowling team!".

Being a Beatles fan as a teen listening to his ideals. Shortly after high school I joined Greenpeace and got educated from the other activists on a whole variety of issues.

and realized i agreed with everything they stood for. i was INSPIRED by both of them to support liberal policies. i opened my mind to liberalism & it took over.

that no matter the person we all have the same right to life. The fact that it doesn't make sense that we allow people to obtain and horde more wealth then they can reasonably use in five lifetimes. The fact that a person is judged on his bank account then his intestinal fortitude. I guess I'm more of a socialist then anything but defiantly I'm a humanist.

you are for doing such and such... and them doing the EXACT same thing.. plus with my abusive childhood and being raped (and getting preg because of it) I have learned not to judge others and try to look at things from all others points of view... PLUS that classic do onto others ... isn't that the most liberal way of thinking.. how would you want to be treated? want to have a choice? let others have a choice! What to marry your loved one? Let others marry who they love! Want to get bombed for some stupid mistake? DON'T START UNNECESSARY WARS!

The first president I voted for was JFK. My mother was a Democrat, but I'm not sure how liberal she was. I'm not sure about my father because my parents divorced when I was only 8 years old. He was an atheist, so I guess he was a Democrat. The few times I would see him, we never discussed politics because at that time I wasn't interested.

Which, actually, is only a very small component in why I became a Leftist (Not liberal).

and in learning that pride comes from accomplishment and is not a natural characteristic.

Since grade school, I've always loved reading history books. Latest being "Lies my Teacher told me" by James W. Loewen

My liberalism seems to spring from "live and let live," along with a hatred of injustice.

when I realized what their policies'd do to ecosystems and people in the real world

I was never scared, stupid, selfish, greedy or hateful enough to be a Republican.

As far as issues with regards to gay marriage or abortion, I don't have real strong convictions on these issues, one way or the other.

But when it comes to issues of war/peace and economic justice, I have very strong feeling.

I think alot of it has to do with your life experiences.

then realizing that people were treated differently due to the color of their skin and wondering why.

.

No parents.

I believe that comes from the values instilled in me by my mother (French non practicing Roman Catholic) and my 35 year old (I'm 22) sister (married a Catholic Filipino/African American in the military). They are the two who have exposed me the most to liberal issues. Being homosexual in this society has also exposed me to other liberal issues.

The build up to the Iraq war and the actuality of it made me realize the Repub.s are to never be trusted again.

When I was about 6 or 7 I said to my mom "Everyone believes in God, he must be real." To which my (godless commie pinko) mother replied "Just because everyone believes in something, doesn't make it true or real." Those words are almost my mantra. Part of the larger lesson of open your eyes, explore, be curious, always question authority, always be honest. She has this small version of this poster http://www.tokyopop.co.jp/marinku/photo/394351.html (says "Protest against the rising tide of conformity) which she framed off center and gives to all the young adults in the family.

She is a genuine free thinker (and BIG Edwards fan...she and my son who is supporting Obama got into it last night!....love it). Our church camp (Unitarian) had guests like Saul Alinsky and Joan Baez and Ken Kesey (Kesey gave the teenagers acid and the group sort of fell apart fighting over that!) She was militant about population control early on, didn't take my dad's last name when they married in 1947 (!) (she did when we went to school as it was too difficult with the school thinking we came from a broken home) and took us on protest marches from the beginning (civil rights era).

She is always provocative and challenges anyone who falls from the conventional wisdom crap. Great thinker, great mind. Wonderful woman.

and I doubt that it will change.

My parents never said one word to me or my two siblings about politics, or the arts, or history, or sex, or philosophy, or basically anything at all important the entire time I was growing up. What I heard was "wash for dinner," "turn that garbage down," and "clean your room", which is fine as far as it goes but gosh, how wonderful it must have been to have adults in your life that guided you the way your mom did.

This is how I feel on Mother's Day and Father's Day when I read essays in the paper about interesting, committed parents. It's not like my folks abused me or anything but wow, what a wasted opportunity!

IMHO. And since my who family is very left, we survived.

As a military brat overseas, I watched from a distance as the country imploded over the war. That same year I took it upon myself to re-write the Constitution (de-construct, actually, but that wasn't in my vocabulary in 10th grade) and I went through it line by line, crossing out what I didn't like, writing in all the things I was hearing about and when I was done I carefully re-read it

and found out I was a fascist.

I had inserted the kind of things I heard, surrounded by the military, and cut out and made exceptions to many of the protections of the bill of rights, and when I saw the finished product I realized just what all that meant, if it was actually enacted.

I tore it up (gawd, I wish I had kept a copy) and have been a committed liberal and democrat ever since.

except he phrases it differently:

"What in the hell happened to you"?

I lived in Mississippi for a few years when I was very young. My mother was opinionated on the segregation (which was overt: "Colored only" signs on public facilities) that was everywhere around us. She taught me that the "N" word was a mean word and taught me "God made everybody equal." My mother, who was more political than my father, was a liberal until around 1969---sometime during the Nixon years. She took an about face and became very conservative. I personally think she was affected by the unhappy and sometimes abusive and alcohol-tinged marriage she was in. I think that affected her change more than what was going on in the world. I should say, though, she was very turned off by the Vietnam protests and outright criticism of the government at the time. Maybe it all crossed a line in her values.

I wasn't always the most liberal on every issue---at one time, in my teens, I opposed abortion rights---but I was always supportive of government being involved in bettering the lives of people and protecting the rights of all. When I was in my early thirties I toyed with the idea of socialism, but I eventually grew to accept where we were as a nation and believe we work with what we have.

...and then extreme liberals made me conservative.

Eventually, I decided to just believe my conscience, so I'm now a left-leaning moderate.

Pete Seeger and the Vietnam war.

i was already a democrat, but he pushed it WAY out there!

A compulsion to question authority.

you can either think for yourself, or you can't.

... claiming that people steadfastly supporting one set of political views are "more open-minded" than people steadfastly supporting another set of political views.

Most people here are just as closed minded as the posters at FR.

not at all. not by a long shot.

how long have you been reading DU?

by the way, welcome.

on edit: did i say "that people steadfastly supporting one set of political views are "more open-minded" than people steadfastly supporting another set of political views."? what are you talking about?

but now that you mention it--i think that is true.

...clearly, the people at FR are about as closed minded as you can get. They generally debate in slogans, no one ever really changes his/her position (besides changing from one Republican candidate to another), and they usually ban people whose views contrast with the majority.

But isn't that what happens here too? Yep.

I've been reading both sites for a couple of months now.

"Who We Are: Democratic Underground is an online community for Democrats and other progressives. Members are expected to be generally supportive of progressive ideals, and to support Democratic candidates for political office. Democratic Underground is not affiliated with the Democratic Party, and comments posted here are not representative of the Democratic Party or its candidates."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules.html

(don't like it? take it up with the admins.)

... for either site.

My point is both sites have posters that are generally closed minded, and both sites operate in ways that contribute towards that (and my other points that you avoided still apply).

I don't understand what it is about posters here that makes them feel they are more open minded than the majority of people. In fact, I'd say that most people with strong political views are about as closed minded as you can get.

"on edit: did i say "that people steadfastly supporting one set of political views are "more open-minded" than people steadfastly supporting another set of political views."? what are you talking about? "

"...clearly, the people at FR are about as closed minded as you can get. They generally debate in slogans, no one ever really changes his/her position (besides changing from one Republican candidate to another), and they usually ban people whose views contrast with the majority.

But isn't that what happens here too? Yep."

question why you are a liberal then don't answer it. it's okay. you're getting off on a different thing--which i'm not getting (obviously). maybe you could start your own thread, asking everyone that question. but you really shouldn't feel pressured to respond to my op of why you are a liberal. like i said--it's okay.

I already said that I have no problem with that rule!

such statements are solid evidence of your own closed mind.

They tend to be better informed than their fr brethren, but there are plenty on all sides.

Conservatism is the characteristic of preferring the proven, the traditional and sticking with what one is comfortable with.

Liberalism is, well, not.

Enjoy your stay.

No, not so at all.

There's a difference between being close-minded and being unable to escape the truth.

They shut down when challenged, resorting to hyperbole and emotionalism, name calling and personal attacks. When you get to the point where you can articulate the flaws or contradictions in their views, they change the subject, to be about YOU and why YOU are a person who should not be listened to.

If you bring up something that was once published in the New York Times, they change the subject to how "liberal" the NYT is. Anything to get off of the subject. It's as if they know their views are based on emotions, so they will do anything to weasel out of defending them by means of logic.

They complain about even having the debate, or the length of the debate. They just want it to stop, because they know they can't defend their views. They are afraid to admit to most of them.

For instance, challenge their economic and capitalistic views with the issue of immigration. Point out to them that according to their own views, and employer should be able to hire whoever they want at whatever price the other person is willing to work for. This issue is a great one for bringing out the contradiction. They are against minimum wage and anything protecting the worker, because it is regulation that they argue limits freedom. OK, so why is it OK to regulate who to hire based on national origin?

Then cannot and will not admit the contradiction. They come up with every excuse they can think of, all of which can be demolished under their own views. They just won't admit they don't want the diversity that comes with immigration. If you suggest it, they start playing the victim, saying you are playing the "race card" which to them is absolutely not allowed, no matter how racist they are.

I have seen this many, many times - always the personal attack and if that doesn't work to their satisfaction they "give up" on the fight from the sheer exhaustion of having to explain things to you. boo hoo!

Drugs, my wife(since we were dating), love of nature and the environment, learning compassion for everyone.

I through out everything I had been indoctrinated with and have been expanding my understanding of what it means to be human ever since.

I am amazed when I learn that a thinking that I have turns out to be prejudiced without me knowing it.

Two of the most evil bastards EVER to have been in power...until the current evil bastard stole power..

And then I was going to describe him as an "evil bastard."

I was 14 when that evil bastard was elected, and I couldn't believe the country was that stupid. Wow. Was I ever naive.

The good thing is, I instantly despised him and everything he stood for and so that really clarified my political views at a very early age for me.

:hi:

on edit, just today I was listening to "Stand Down Margaret" by the English Beat.

I see no joy
I see only sorrow
I see no chance of your bright new tomorrow
So stand down Margaret
Stand down please
Stand down Margaret

...they will NOT disclose where she is actually buried, for fear that people will piss on her grave...

All I can tell say is that the line will be HUNDREDS of miles long....

My ancestors were Quakers who came over with William Penn's people, and who later were instrumental in the Underground Railroad, so I think peace, religious tolerance and civil rights are in my blood. It's the way it's always been in my family.

my folks were conservative when it meant something entirely different from what it does today.

they were people of high integrity and believed in fairness in all things -- if it was fair, good.. If unfair, avoid it, change it, defeat it.

there was a torrent of lies that came with Vietnam and Watergate which inevitably followed in its wake.

my folks were a little surprised when I became active in the antiwar movement....I said, "hey, you raised me." and on review had to agree that I had gotten my values from them...

I've always believed in "from each according to his ability; to each according to his need."

Foreign policy has been muddier. War was glorious, with explosions and shit. America, fuck yeah! Especially after 9/11. But then it turned out dumbfuck lied to everyone and I decided you can never trust what anyone in government says. There is no monolithic country which I can be proud of; only an agglomeration of companies and interests and the powerful people at the top who use them to suit their own needs.

I'm trying to figure out if there ever was accountability and transparency. The more I read and hear about government over the past century, the less I believe that to be true. It's never clean - monied interests will ALWAYS have their way, because money is power. The only way to escape that is by taking it through armed revolution, or completely cutting it out of your life. Both are nearly impossible. And even if you succeed, how long will it last?

I "trust" the government to provide social services, because someone has to do it and the government is at least as good as private providers and is more transparent and accountable.

In the end, I'm just me. I just happen to agree with the liberal agenda, for the most part.

town in the mountains of Virginia. The racism and lack of respect for women and resulting lack of rights for both AA's and women ALWAYS infuriated me.

I walked out of a Baptist church at the age of 16 when the congregation voted to not invite the Black Baptist church to a Christmas event. One of the elders of the church who worked with my dad got up and said he didn't want "N******" in his church. I stood up and said "what a great Christian attitude" and then walked out, never to return.

When I was 17, I had a good friend who got an illegal abortion and she almost died. My very first debate in high school I took the pro-choice side and argued passionately for a woman's right to choose.

I think those two events were the defining moments of my political persuasion.

I decided I would fight this system with all my life on the day that my face was smashed in with a billyclub, by a six-foot pig wearing a gun on his hip.

many years ago

We used to drive Mom nuts. We would argue a topic for an hour before she would finally blurt, "do you realize you guys have completely reversed positions just so you could keep arguing?"

Nothing like arguing both sides of an issue to figure out on which side you should really be.

And then there was the bigotry thing. I was lucky to grow up when bigotry was socially unacceptable (between the 60s and Reaganism). But the first time I encountered it, I was completely shocked. As, sadly, were my classmates at finding that I did not share their bigotry.

Many passionate debates while he washed and I dried the dishes. Of course, we were always on the same side, but he would play devil's advocate just to sharpen my skills. I didn't always realize that at the time ... he'd piss me off so bad sometimes with the crazy positions he'd take. (Ironically, as soon as I moved out, my folks bought a dishwasher. I guess doing the dishes just wasn't as much fun anymore. :rofl: )

He was a classical Republican--fiscally conservative but socially liberal, and a man just very open and sensitive to how others thought and felt. He taught me at an early age (I can recall the exact circumstances) how to interact with people of color in ways that would not be perceived as patronizing or rude; he had an amzing instinct for civility and other people's dignity.

Also, his mother, my grandmother, god rest her soul, was racist in an old-fashioned 'ladylike' way; she lived with us and so I grew up giving her grief for her absurd notions.

denied an architectural drawing class because sitting on stools was not lady like.

made me a liberal...Before that I was a waffler

Always seemed to be on the side of the underdog and have a feeling for people. So I think I was "dyed in the wool" :) from birth!

It just seemed natural to me. I thought it was human nature to be kind and generous to other people whenever possible.

I grew up in Orange County, and didn't realize until I was in high school that I was an aberration in the local scenery. So when it came time for college, and my parents said you're going to one of the University of California schools because they're excellent and we're not paying private tuition, I went to Berkeley to get as far away as possible.

Still, though, I would have to say it was Bush that made me the sort of liberal who actually tries to pay very close attention to what is going on. I have to say the result is usually a battle between hope and cynicism. Before Bush, I didn't really realize how fucked up big business was, especially the media.

I've been a long-time lurker and occaisional poster here, and I have to thank DU, along with the Nation, Think Progress, Glenn Greenwald and many, many others for opening my eyes, much as I often hate what I see.

"I speak for the trees." It made me sad and angry.

My father died a month after my seventh birthday and I didn't get to know him really well, which is sad because from what my mother tells me I'm pretty much a female version of him. But anyway - neither of my parents were/are very political, at least from what I know of my father.

But my mother is very kind and taught me to love and have compassion for other living beings. I think that I helped her overcome her enculturation, though - I think that my opinions helped shape hers as much as hers helped shape mine.

I think I inherited a certain wildness from both my parents, and my mother's nurturing encouraged it - like the time we were coming back from visiting Oklahoma and it was just us so we rambled and took our time and went to see whatever tourist traps we wanted to see, with no deadlines or restrictions or "must make good time" or anything.

She still thinks the drinking age is 18. I took her on a field trip with me senior year and had to stop her from buying everyone tequila.

The only rule I ever had growing up was a bed time until around sixth grade or so. I never had an external system of rules and reward and punishment forced on me. I was also never indoctrinated with a religion or any particular beliefs. I also felt secure and knew I was loved and wanted.

So basically I've always been independent and self-determined and free to learn whatever I wanted and come to whatever conclusions or beliefs that my research and feelings led me to. So without a lot of propaganda between me and reality and given reality's liberal bias....

Seriously.

And an awesome liberal teacher and coach.

man, woman and child.

Now look at what we are facing. Idiots causing a recession. Bush and Cheney have done a "bang-up job."

I've questioned just about everything in my youth and adulthood and generally come back to the same conclusion: the status quo sucks but the right wants it to suck even worse, so keep voting for those Democrats.

I started out very libertarian. In theory, I still believe in it. But the more I've seen, in practice it just can't work.

I started coming to DU, and then I went to Camp David. I started seeing people who needed help. I realized that most peoples lives can change in an instant, and that they need SOMEONE there to cover them. Republicans aren't willing to do that. Democrats were willing to help people and forgive mistakes.

I realized that I didn't want to live in a world where if someone screws up, they have to have their life ruined. I didn't want everyone but the privileged to fail. I wanted for people to be able to actually LIVE, even if it does mean some of my money has to help them out. I wanted to be human.

It grew and blossomed from there.

nt

Conservatives have difficulty developing an intellectual framework, inability to logically tie bits of information together. My conservative sister has very little attention span. her knowledge is just a collection of threads of information, with no attempt to determine how it all fits together. And really, she can't, because all the little threads themselves are defective.

Sometimes it seems that conservatism/fascism is a mental disorder. Liberalism can be just a lack of the disorder.

Seriously. Equality was a common theme.

My Republican family would have burned the books if they had bothered to read them.

Learned the beauty of diversity from comics and spec fic.

:silly: :silly: :silly: :silly: :silly:

It's the economic disparity, the widening of the gap between rich and poor, that made me liberal. As an economic liberal, we should tax the greedy to help the needy, not the other way around. I grew up in near poverty, my dad making too much money for us to qualify for social services, but not enough to live on.

I vote Democratic because the Dems are more likely to lift the poor out of poverty and into the middle class, despite my relatively conservative stance on certain sensitive social issues.

When the dems NEED the poor and down=trodden to vote? Do you wonder why they court welfare recipients, immigrants, and the uneducated? I think we need a whole new party - I wish the liberatarians could raise a vying party with strong candidates.

I think of the Republicans as courting the uneducated, welfare recipients. You know, some of the the misguided red staters, who vote against their interests.

I was born with the compassion gene.

I'm the only one in my immediate family who has it.

I was also born with discernment.

I remember thinking that angry man was dangerous. Funny thing is my parents always told me that I was too young to actually remember him at all. But I have come to the conclusion that for most of us it really wasn't an event or a series of events that turned us into liberals. We do not have the same capacity for fear and self-serving greed that the conservatives have. We don't have that particular brain quirk. Is this because of genetics or nurturing--I couldn't tell you. I have two older brothers they must have heard the same JM ranting that I did--they are ultra-conservative.

Because the vision, the candor, and the policies of Dennis Kucinich have inspired me to stand up for what I believe in.

I think that pretty much says it all.

To me, liberal means "open-minded, fair, concerned about justice, and worried about society's have-nots."

To me, conservative means "narrow-minded, selfish, greedy, unempathetic, and opposed to the (liberal) Constitution and the (liberal) principles upon which America is founded."

It was obvious to me, even as a college student, that I could never agree with the cold, crabbed, me-first world view of conservatives. In case I had any doubts, they were erased on May 4, 1970.

compassion, love, non-materialism, golden rule, service to others, brotherhood of man
etc.

I was eating at a restaurant and this lady was praying on a bus bench across the street. Every so often I would see a spurt of blood shoot from her wrist.
As I tried to convince my parents to do something, the lady got up and broke a "fire alarm" box, sounding an alarm.
My restaurant customers were pissed that their dinner was being interrupted. Some cursed the lady "for wasting tax dollars" (by sounding the fire alarm).
The fire department arrived, and helped the lady.
Ever since then I have always felt that the government can be a positive force in the life of its citizens.
I have been a big government, tax and spend liberal ever since.
I am not sure if I am a leftist or a liberal now, but I still think that govt. is not inherently evil.

peace and low stress

The family struggle I don't want to get into, but it opened my eyes as to how unfair this country can be and how the image of this country we try to project is such garbage. I felt we needed to take it on to truly make this country as great as we say it is.

Secondly, Bush and the uber-conservative Republicans are such a threat that I responded to them very harshly. I became convinced over time that the conservative agenda was very harmful and by logical deduction liberal positions became more and more appealing.

Probably because my grandparents encouraged me to think.
Mother and stepfather were Republican to the core. z

while everyone else got poorer.
:grr:

My father was a poor farmer in rural Iowa. He worked nights at the mills in Sioux City and farmed by day. It was still a struggle to support his growing family. So he packed us up and moved west and got his first union job. Even with union wages we were still lower middle class. That didn't stop him from sharing with others less fortunate than us. One morning I woke up to find a family of four sleeping in our living room. My father came across them on his way home from work sleeping in their car. They were not the first nor the last to use our living room for shelter. He taught me compassion and no matter what the repubs say there is no such thing as a compassionate conservative.

And the need to correct it.

Someone whom I respected argued with me lots. Eventually I had to concede that I was merely being arsey. I examined my own thought processes and discovered a nasty, reactionary little beast at the centre of my soul governing my thoughts... I removed it and starting making a serious go of seeing the world with the help of logical thinking and avoiding making assumptions and thinking everything was about me and presto! liberalism burst into being of its own accord with almost frightening speed...

cmon it doesn't take an idiot to know that enriching the ultra rich doesn't make a country better, or that an unborn person is NOT ALIVE, or that handguns need to be regulated and that illegal handguns kill people, or that homosexuality is not a choice, or that church and state are not supposed to be intertwined

And the fact that I was born black and I was born poor certainly sealed the deal.

decently educated, along with some desire to use the brain and its education.

I'm weird and in the day, was very intense, and perhaps a bit insightful and creative.

This got me much rejection, mockery, manipulation, and even beatings from the other kids as I grew up. There were sometimes beatings at home, a vast amount of emotional abuse and negation, and a general war zone experience, so far as some homes go. Incredibly unhappy people tend to want to make everyone else unhappy, as a cry for help. Assholes who won't take responsibility for the damage they cause tend to create incredibly unhappy people. If unbroken, this cycle is guaranteed to continue.

This taught me the value of integrity. And so little as I've been able to do so, responsibility. The value of each individual, in that we all have the same needs and similar emotions. The same desire to gain happiness and fulfillment, and to avoid the unpleasant.

Excepting those like Bush, for whom creating the unpleasant is a pleasure. People like that are my current "lesson", and teach me still more about the value of freedom and the cultivation of what is positive.

Seriously, I would have to say that I was. My parents/family never really told any of us how to think or what to believe, so it was up to us to figure it out on our own. I was always liberal. So are my brothers and sister from my mom's kids. (My dad remarried and became born again baptist so my other sisters are being raised conservative Republican :/ )

Having my eyes opened in a personal way to deception and injustice.

and a sense of justice

Too many to mention here, but it started when I lived in poverty as a teenager. My father left us and my mother had to raise us on her own. She worked full-time in a factory but it only paid minimum wage and we had to have food stamps to get by. I remember being so surprised and grateful when I found out the government would help to feed us. I lived in a country full of wonderful, generous people. America loved us enough to care for us when we were down and out and hungry! What a great country we lived in! Then we went to spend them at the grocery store and found out just how much people really cared. The looks from the other customers could have turned us to stone. I guess they would rather we had starved. My mother worked full-time, mind you. On her feet all day and came home dirty and tired with burns on her arms from spot-welding. Yet she was not pay enough to feed two children and we were begrudged the very food we ate! Once I found out which political group was for and which was against food stamps and minimum wage hikes, that was all it took to start me on the road. By the way, that experience is why my mother switched from being a conservative to being a liberal, too.

He felt he had a right to vote after the war.

I grew up hearing the stories of his efforts to register. They'd ask him to recite passages from the Constitution. He countered with, "Do YOU know the Constitution?" Eventually, he finally was able to register to vote. This was a big deal before the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Personally, I think they just got tired of him and/or ran out of excuses.
The stories gave me an impression of how important it was to be able to take part in the process.

When we rode the bus, he made us stand rather than sit in the back. He used these situations as an opportunity to preace about the horrors of Jim Crow, usually loudly within the hearing distance of the "others".

I came of age in the 60s. Fighting for rights became as natural as breathing.

My father's side of the family was very conservative. Very religious, pro-military, church every Sunday, and I found them standoffish and cold.

My mother's side of the family was liberal. Church once in a while but was much more down to earth, humble, sweet, fun, full of life.

My conservative father was a drunk and ran off with some slut he met in a bar after cheating on my mother with her for years.

My liberal mother stuck with her family and worked her ass off to support her two children while my conservative father forgot about us.

Any questions?

Edited to add: Conservative hypocrisy makes me seethe with rage.

the principal brought a new girl to our classroom. She came through the doorway nervously, looking with apprehension at her new surroundings. She was a homely little girl, and clearly very unsure about how she would be greeted by the other students.

As her eyes focused on one student and then another, her head would move back and forth, as if she were shaking it in a negative response. We had no idea why, of course, but it was obvious that she had no control over it.

The whispering and giggling began immediately, and the pain on the little girls face was palpable. I felt so sorry for the poor little thing, and regarded my fellow students with shame, puzzlement and disapproval.

At recess, I sought out the little girl and befriended her, caring little about what the others thought. Her sadness vanished almost immediately, and I felt very good about myself.

She didn't stay long. Within a few months, she had moved off to another town and another school, but I think I made her short stay there more pleasant than it could have been.

I believe I have always been a liberal.

Serving in the state house in the early eighties came to testify against us in a court case when I was still a toddler.

The reason for that was I was a deaf toddler and my parents wanted me to go to public school and not a deaf-only school and our school district didn't allow mainstreaming (they did but the deaf people were isolated from the hearing students). So my parents took them to court.

The guy went on the stand and railed against my parents, saying they were so cruel not to send me to this deaf school. I should grow up with "my language" (ASL).

My parents won the case and as a result I became the first deaf child to attend public school in my county. After that my parents became lifelong Democrats. The guy later won our seat in the House of Representatives. We campaigned against him every single time, and finally a Democrat won against him in 2006! Whoo hoo!

I ran into him in the grocery store one time and my mum told me, "You know who that is? (says his name)" (Me: ugh) "Go say hello, say your name."

I shook the hand of the guy who said I would never talk, "Hello, my name is (ZenziC), I go to W.C. Middle School." That was one of the most symbolic things I've ever done and I don't think the guy realised that I was the child he had testified against. Nor do I think he would care.

I kind of wish the court case was public record (it's a sealed case) as it's one of the most fascinating things I've read.

I know about the Robber Barrons of the 1880's, Smedley Butler's calling war a racket. The private messages of Teddy Roosevelt talking about the brown people in the Philippines.

and Katherine Harris and the Florida selections.

that's what did it

Something about growing up knowing that I'd almost certainly be going there after high school got me to thinking. Nixon helped also.