Your Political Education

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Pearl

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I am curious about where everyone got their political views from. So here are some questions:

1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?

2) What political side did your family take?

3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?

5) What has your political education left you?

6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?


I'll start:

1) Obsessed, lol. My family is not the type to gossip about the neighbors or talk about TV shows. My family discusses politics, and have been for as long as I can remember. Every night is a discussion of what is happening in America, mostly with what they find bad...which leads to question 2.

2) As you might have guessed from some of my posts recently, my family is very conservative. Glenn Beck is the man, Rush is cool, and Obama is a Communist who is looking to destroy America. Yep, I am not kidding. It's kind of scary what some members of my family thinks.

3) It wasn't until high school that some teachers began to voice their politics. My psychology teacher in senior year was pretty vocal with his liberal views. Since I had been surrounded by conservatism all my life, I was taken aback by what he was saying. At the time, I was vehemently against it, but I never said anything.

4) In college, I did have some of those stereotypical, left-wing radical professors. One preached communism (she openly called herself one) and her literal hate for America. This, during the semester 9/11 happened, so it was fun having her as a history professor. None of us weren't allowed to challenge her, or else we'd get a failing grade. So, we all just sat back, listened to her rants, and answered whatever she wanted to hear just to pass the class. That professor left me flabbergasted, especially since 9/11 left me feeling very patriotic.

5) As I grew older, I began to see my family's conservative views were at times absolutely nuts. But there are few things I do agree with. But I also agree with some things liberals believe in, particularly social issues. I am currently trying to balance the two sides I have been brought up on, because I do believe both sides have something worthy to say.

6) FYM is a bit of a refuge for me away from my conservative family. I've learned a lot here, and it has helped me form opinions on such things as health care.

So, that's it for me. How about you? I guess this a good chance to see where a person is coming from.
 
1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?
My family never really talked politics growing up. My folks are very educated but not very informed politically. They will vote Republican blindly for the rest of their life, so they don't really keep up with anything more than what they hear on Fox News.

2) What political side did your family take?
Republican

3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?
Not that I can recall.

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?
No, not one...

5) What has your political education left you?
It's left me all alone...:wink:

6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?

I avoid talking politics for the most part in real life, I can only do so with certain people... FYM is a place to discuss and also learn...
 
1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?

My family never really emphasized politics that much or made a concerted effort that I get politically "aware." Still, they watch the local evening news every night (and used to watch the network news), and my mom has listened to Rush every afternoon for as long as I can remember.

2) What political side did your family take?

My immediate family is conservatives. My dad's side of the family is mostly liberals except for my dad, and my mom's side of the family is mostly conservatives. The fact that I'm a conservative is interesting considering I'm more like my dad's side of the family in just about every other way.


3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?

Nothing that I can remember until high school. In high school, I can name two conservative teachers I had, but I learned that fact from private conversations I had- never any "preaching" during class. A handful of liberal teachers come to mind, including my newspaper adviser. I remember for the issue that was due out just before the 2004 election, I had to do a piece contrasting Bush and Kerry, and she gave me a number of suggestions to make Kerry look a little better that I had originally portrayed him. During downtime, we'd have fairly regular political discussions. Nice lady.

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?

I've had a few lefties. Though to be honest, one of the things I love about my major (criminal justice) is that it is one of the few fields where I've found most of the professors and students to lean conservative. In one of politics classes a couple years ago, though, the professor showed a movie about how the media uses its power to promote certain agendas, and it was basically a Fox bashfest.

5) What has your political education left you?

Not sure what you mean here. Going off of your answer though, I have been able to strengthen my beliefs and to find areas within my "party" where I don't agree. I'm a much better debater, and I'm probably more politically aware than a vast majority of my friends or students here at school.


6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?

Again, the ability to strengthen arguments and recognize hypocrisy. Reading a lot of the stuff on here only makes me realize how crazy they are and how correct I am.










:wink:
 
Sorry I didn't read your entire post on my iPhone

Glenn Beck was my answer :wink:

Yeah, I know. :yuck: But in my household, he is the savior to America and I have to live with that.

I hope you have read the Cleon Skousen library at least once.
 
Well, whoever you're talking about, I have not read any conservative book. This, despite my family's insistence that I do.
 
1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?

Aside from the Bill Clinton is a scumbag comments, I can't really much relating to American politics. They always had their say about Castro and Cuba, but I honestly can't remember too much when I was younger. Things hit the fan in 2004. I remember my mom reluctantly voting for Gore (and then denying it later to her friends) because she didn't like Bush. Now she's about 10 times more liberal than I am and a total Obama cheerleader.

2) What political side did your family take?
Everyone, save for my godmother and husband is a full blown Republican. I mean, everyone. My dad outed me in October of 2004 as a Kerry supporter at my cousin's birthday party and I was booed off the table. I'm not kidding.

3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?
My teachers in high school did a pretty good job at hiding their stances. We had a fun time trying to guess if our history professor was Republican or Democrat and he never told us. Aside from that, I remember our newspaper teacher telling us she was a Republican once, but I left school in 2003, well before things got politically charged!

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?
Oh God, yes. I even started a thread here about it because it enraged me so much. Our myth, mysticism and rituals professor took the whole day after the 2004 to rant about it. He turned the class against each other. He made us watch Michael Moore "documentaries." On election day, he wrote "Vote for Kerry" on the board and came decked out in Kerry gear. It was awful.
I had a theater professor who invited his Greenpeace friends over to our class to talk to us about trees for over an hour. I should have just gotten up and left. What a waste of time. Luckily I sat next to some Republicans so I wasn't alone in the sentiment. :wink:

5) What has your political education left you?
Square in the middle. Burned out by liberals in college and disgusted with the Republican side of my family. I'm probably more liberal than I think, but I've pretty much let go of the steering wheel at this point. I'm so apathetic about things right now.

6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?
Well this is the only forum/site I visit that has political discussions that actually interest me. I joined a livejournal community for politics, but it's overrun with bleeding heart liberals and that just about kills me. I brought up God once and they outright called me a troll. As if being liberal and being spiritual are oil and water. :rolleyes:
I guess FYM keeps me up to date. I don't watch the news anymore. I'd rather come here and read someone's opinion on it. I pretty much know where everyone lies on the political spectrum so I can base my opinions about what everyone says from that standpoint. :shifty:
 
1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?

My mother was fairly apathetic. My father was more opinionated, very patriotic.
I remember some political discussions. I always knew who they were going to vote for as President, and I remember listening to some heated discussions, but I don't recall too much heavyhandedness.

2) What political side did your family take?

Republican, conservative.


3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?

I don't remember any political discussion until junior high. From then on, there were some not so subtle suggestions such as in "pull drugge(sp) lever" (vote straight democratic ticket) My area was heavily ethnically Polish so I am assuming that was the origin of the phrase. I began to have my first political discussions with teachers. At first I argued my family's position. But my political education came more from my times.
I grew up on Kent State, Watergate, My Lai, Vietnam--all of which had much more impact on me than anything anyone was saying. I remember reading the Communist Manifesto. I'm pretty sure I chose that myself, although it might have been suggested with other political readings from different spectrums. I was more affected by Animal Farm. For a while, I wanted to be Woodward and Bernstein.

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?

I took film classes from a Marxist. Studying dialectics in film can put you off films for a long time, lol. Other than that, I don't recall any particular radical leftist leanings from my professors in the classes I took. I went to NYU. I was much more interested in the arts than in politics. I was more influenced socially than ideologically.

5) What has your political education left you?

I'm not much of an ideologue. I consider myself a left leaning moderate, if I had to define myself. I fact check both sides (although I tend not to spend much time fact checking comedy programs) as I don't like to be subjected to half truths. I still consider the New York Times to be the American paper of record. I am more sympathetic with the left, but I don't hold many sacred cows. I listen to a sampling of all sides, but I won't watch cable news of any sort. I prefer long analyses, so I tend not to react immediately to news stories until I have more facts, but I have my pleasurable moments of "Gotcha". My political education has left me with considerable cynicism, so I follow actual legislation and court rulings more closely than I follow politics except in Presidential elections. I think you have to watch everyone. I don't pay much attention to what somebody says. I watch what they do and if what they do is in line with my value system, I support them.

I vote Democrat, generally, in most national elections, because I marginally trust the democrats more than the Republicans to have ideas more in tune with mine. I am more eclectic locally. We are a democrat stronghold and the feds have just arrested the 17th politically connected person here since January (most, if not all, of whom are democrats.) so I am more than disgusted with local democratic politics. However, I do laugh when the answer suggested is to put Republicans in control, like they would be any different if given the opportunity. Locally, I think the answer is to share the power.

I suspect both parties nationally though are more committed to ideology and getting credit and placing blame than they are to finding answers.

6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?

At one point, I did. And I still must to a certain degree since I still come here often enough. However, I find myself doing a lot of scrolling past the bickering and the namecalling and the half-assed responses before I find something that interests me. There are maybe half a dozen posters (maybe a few more. It's 4 am and I don't feel like doing an accurate count) that I read carefully--others that interest me sometimes. And others I don't have much use for. It's kind of like written talk radio. Good to gauge where people are coming from, see how objective they are, watch what they pick up on and what they ignore, and a good way to monitor my own objectivity (and lack of it) and how I handle my own sacred cows, what I get a kneejerk reaction to and how I handle it. When I do my own internal criticism of a post, I ask myself whether I do that in some form. So yeah, fym is helpful. But for the most part (with some exceptions), it's not much of an education.

God, this post was wordy.
 
1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?
and
2) What political side did your family take?

I kind of raised myself politically, really. I lived with my mother and always had an interest well beyond hers. She's moderate left, occasionally swayed by some moderate right arguments (talking in a New Zealand/Australia sense here). Generally she only takes interest during election cycles or when some big event arises, though she watched the news nightly when I was a child. My political interest outside of the "major issues" periods probably stemmed from that, however inadvertent it was on her behalf.

My father is conservative right in a New Zealand sense, probably more centrist to the US posters here, but I didn't live with him much ... lucky really, since we lock horns if politics come up. I've no time for his National politics and he thinks the sheer fact of greater time on this planet is his automatic token to winning any political debate with me. When Mum and Dad were still together, they never really discussed politics in my presence and always voted differently. I think my mother always wanted me to be exposed to information and make my own choices, while my father was in little position to take any particular stance in the first place.

3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?

Probably the first time politics really came up was when Australia had its referendum on whether to become a republic. That caused a few ferocious playground arguments between myself and a guy who I had always regarded as a fool anyway. By late high school, I remember some guys were joining a socialist organisation and tried to get me on board because they knew of my leftist sympathies, but we didn't talk much anyway and nothing came of it.

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?

One of my majors was Political Science, the other - which I'm now pursuing postgrad - is History ... two fields pretty politically charged, but I never really got any stereotypical lecturers. I know there are a couple around campus, but I never struck them (not through design or anything). I'd say most of my lecturers have given away at various points that they're left-leaning, but only a couple have done it particularly overtly and I've known a good few who've convincingly kept most of us guessing.

I often intentionally wrote essays counter to my own and my lecturer's views just to keep myself awake during first and second year. Good times, and it has helped me know opposing positions better. Lots of people feared being marked down if they did that sort of thing, but I never encountered problems (and indeed all the lecturers who found out what I was doing were complimentary of it).

5) What has your political education left you?

More questions.

I'm pretty burnt out, though. I used to write a lot on politics and seek out political debate. Now I can barely muster the energy to write a post like this. I guess I've become a bit cynical. No less a leftist, though. If those political compass tests are anything to go by, I'm gradually slipping further left every passing year! (No interest in communism, though. I identify as a social democrat.)

6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?

I really just read it for personal amusement now, since I'm too burnt out to have any particular desire to argue politics.
 
Grew up inside the beltway, in D.C., and was riveted by American national politics from an early age. I remember watching the 1984 presidential debates as a 10-year old, glued to the TV set, just watching and soaking it all in. My parents were Democrats, but raised me pretty well, and taught me to respect others' political beliefs. In hindsight, I had a very idyllic upbringing. My dad is a pediatrician and is naturally good with kids, and my mom had the luxury of being able to stay home full time with my brother and I. By high school I was aware that I was a Democrat and held liberal political beliefs.

Other than my parents and teachers, and maybe even more than them, the two biggest political influences in my life have been Bill Clinton and Bono. Hands down. Not even close. Bill Clinton's personal life may have been messy, but politically, I've never seen a more brilliant politician. Bono is very similar, in that he understands that in order to wield power, you must first obtain power. It's a simple yet all-too-often overlooked truth.

I went to college at UC Berkeley and double majored in political science and English. I got my law degree from Boston University. Much of my undergraduate focus was on presidential politics, and I wrote countless essays about Clinton and Bono. When my two heroes finally started hanging out (I was a Clinton fan before the New Hampshire primary in '92!) in hotel rooms on the campaign trail, and during Zoo TV, and then later at the White House, I just remember grinning to myself, as if it were just SUPPOSED to happen this way. My interests continued into law school.

Rock n' roll is politics, and U2 is the most political band the world has ever seen. No other artist can match both their idealism and realpolitik.
 
1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?
my parents cared. i grew up watching nbc nightly news with tom brokaw. :) oh, and cnn of course.

2) What political side did your family take?
my dad's republican (to the point where he always votes republican in any election, i tease him as he voted for nixon); my mom's democrat.

3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?
i really can't remember any of my teachers saying anything that sided them one way or the other. the only exception i can think of was my ap european history teacher. she told the class andrew jackson was the worst us president ever (this was in 1999; i have no idea if she thinks george w. bush is worse or not).

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?
i've had one stereotypical left-winger, unsurprisingly in a philosophy course. he sucked and so did the class. oh god, i nearly forgot my english teacher. it was spring 2002, and though she was white, her husband was arabic. she reminded us all the time she was not a terrorist, etc. she was...odd, for other reasons as well.

5) What has your political education left you?
i'm about as left wing as they come.

6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?
yes, i enjoy reading news articles and also reading everyone's opinion. and, when i have the guts to post, debating these opinions. :)
 
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1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?

they care quite a lot. i don't really know if i could judge any more than that. they have opinions and don't mind expressing them, but we don't regularly sit down and have deep and meaningful political discussions, which doesn't bother me.

2) What political side did your family take?

moderately left, for new zealand - so probably stark raving socialists according to the united states.

3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?

because (insert flame retardant suit here) the other side of the spectrum generally seems to play perfectly to selfish teens, and the fact that i always felt that my position on the political spectrum was morally right i usually found myself facing people who disagreed with me, but it was never a big enough deal to turn into a discussion. people were outspoken with their views, but as we see all over the world, most of the time the outspoken are the people you don't want to engage in any discussion with, even if you agree with them.

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?

most of my tutors have been quite decidedly left-leaning, but apart from passing comments about what views they have, they don't advertise it so if you didn't know already, you wouldn't know.

5) What has your political education left you?

realistically, it's only strengthened my view that i'm completely comfortable with where i sit on the political compass. i'm aware that the other side do have some good qualities, but for the most part that ideology leaves me cold. i've always believed that government is there to help the people no matter the cost, because why else is it there?

6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?

not a lot, i don't really like banging my head against a brick wall. plus only a certain number of posters have a similar political background and understand where i'm coming from on so many matters.
 
1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?
Stepfather was a republican, but he was one of the the old style republicans that was actually in favor of smaller government, not just smaller government where it suited him. He always called himself a "Rockefeller Republican". I guess these days he would be considered either a centrist or a mild libertarian. My mom had no clue about politics.


2) What political side did your family take?
Stepfather voted republican up until Ford. He hated Reagan, because he saw him as the antithesis of traditional republican values. I think he voted dem from then until recently. Not sure how he voted in this last election. He's losing it a bit mentally. Not sure how mom ever voted (or if she did).


3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?
I went to Catholic elementary school, even though I wasn't Catholic. Never really spoke of politics though, not in junior high or high school.

The only real political discussion I remember was back during Carter vs Ford. I was, of course, a "republican" simply because I thought the word sounded cooler than "democrat" (hey, gimme a break, I was in 5th grade!). My teacher, Sister Lisa, was a democrat, I think, because she supported Carter. I remember we had a discussion of the death penalty, and I think I was the only one in the entire class who was in favor of it. My reasoning was, "If they're dead, they won't do it again!"


4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?
I went to a community college, and my schedule was so hectic (work during the day, school at night) that politics never really came up.

But even by college, I still considered myself a republican, and when I was of voting age, I voted republican all the way up until Bush/Clinton. I was "supposed" to vote for Dukakis in the prior election, since I was a union member, but once I got to the polls, I punched the card for Bush the elder. After all, he either had just, or was about to, repeal that ridiculous 55mph national speed limit.

The problem at this time was that I still had no idea where each party really stood on the issues. I was very into cars, and if you read car magazines (which I did) you get a fairly pro-republican slant to things, because the republicans are generally against unusually low speed limits and things that make cars slower (like smog controls), because they're all into cars too!

It wasn't until the Clinton administration that I saw the republican party for what it was, in detail, and didn't like it at all. At about the same I started dating a girl who was very politically aware, and she asked me a bunch of questions about my positions on certain issues. She finally said, "You realize you hold a left-wing or slightly left-of-center views on pretty much all issues, right?" This got me thinking, so I did some of my own reading and research, and have been a dem ever since.


5) What has your political education left you?
What political education? lol!


6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?

I honestly don't get anything out of FYM, and don't even know why I come here. In fact last Xmas I made a New Year's resolution to stay out of here, and up until the last week or two, I've done a pretty good job at it.

I run a left-wing political forum, and that's all the politics I need in my life really. We used to be open to all political views, but after a several years of pointless bickering, the core members made a pretty much unanimous decision to make it a liberal forum.

I find that debating politics online is pretty much 100% pointless. It's arguing for the sake of arguing, and anyone willing to engage will already have their mind made up. It's the same arguments over and over, and even things that have been refuted 1000 times will creep back in. It's a complete waste of time and bandwidth. But if that's your thing, more power to ya :up:

About the only thing that makes FYM any different is that it's interesting (to me at least) how the same music can attract people of so many different viewpoints. That part of it is very cool.
 
Here are my answers to your questions:

1) Not! My parents vote and that's it. They distrust politicians and always taught us to question authority, though. My brother and me were still raised in a hippy kind of way and we got interested in politics when we went to high school. Hey, you have to know the people who screw you over, don't you? We still have various political discussions, but my parents, my boyfriend and my brother's girlfriend are still not very interested.:D

2) My parents are left winged liberals. (They always vote for D'66, liberals in the Dutch meaning of the word, but still advocate social laws, other than right winged liberals in Holland, called the VVD. I think you can compare these parties to Democrats -left winged liberals- and Republicans -right winged liberals-, but if someone has additions/ corrections to make, please do so!) Other than my boyfriends parents, though. My boyfriend (always been a long haired metal head), whom I date since I was 16, is raised in a pretty authoritarian kind of way and his parents were right winged Dutch liberals at that time (VVD, but not anymore, long story, privado!).

3) I vote SP, the Socialist Party, very left winged, NO commies!
In kindergarten and preschool I always had the feeling that when you followed the 'leaders' (teachers) like geese, then everything would be alright. There were more popular kids, who were taught by their mommies and daddies to be materialistic and fashionable from a very young age, who got all the attention and could do all they wanted.
When you had to draw a house, I drew a fairy tale castle, with fairies, flowers, animals and leprechauns dancing around. My drawings were always beautiful, but still the teachers came up with the lame excuses that 'it's beautiful but not a part of the assignment'. Having to draw a normal house was too concrete, boring and a lack of fantasy to me. I always hated that. I was proud to be the freaky kid and also proud of the fact that I was a nerd, but I felt that there was no room for creativity in those years, but hey, it was the '80's and most teachers finished their education in the '70's were it was a common idea that what was good for one kid, counts for the whole bunch!

In high school I finally felt I had the chance to stand out, in my creativities, clothing style, opinion and life philosophy; there was room for it for everyone. I spoke out and stood up against these stupid popular fashion kids who tried to tell everyone how to live their lives. I was still a creative nerd (better to be a nerd than a slut) with a big mouth.
The teachers were always open to new ideas and discussion; it was a Christian school by the way and most teachers were conservative but very open! I had a great time there.

4) Radical left winged professors in Egyptology??? Not when I started my studies! The younger professors now and the professors I had in archaeology, yes.
But I never cared about their political views. I find it more valuable if someone is capable of teaching and is open to new ideas (not demanding from the students to have and speak the same ideas), you don't have to be left or right winged to do a decent job, but maybe it depends on the subject you choose.

5) Myself. Whatever I believe in. My dad once told me, years before I went to university, that the majority of students vote left winged, but as soon as they finished their education, they vote conservative right, due to a good paycheck. I'm not like that. I don't throw away the values and morals I believe in! The day I would do that, please people buy a gun and shoot me!

6) No. I always find it interesting to read the discussions here, but most of the time it's all about US politics. I sometimes discuss politics at political forums on Hyves, but that's all about Dutch politics.

I think I'm too lazy to start a thread about Dutch or European politics here. I think I'll just wait until Geert Wilders misbehaves again! :wink:
 
1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?
2) What political side did your family take?


My parents were civil rights activists, as were most of their longtime friends in Mississippi where I grew up; so, they definitely weren't apathetic. In general, people of that background tend strongly Democratic, at least at the national level--that being where their strongest support in Washington has come from since the '60s--and my parents were no exception. As far as state and local politics, that's a bit more variable, particularly since MS is very much the kind of place where most towns are effectively one-party-only, meaning that your electoral choices typically boil down to a weary "Well, who's the least corrupt of this batch" rather than ideologically meaningful distinctions. (And in either party's case, at the local level, you're going to be locking horns with them all the way on things like civil rights issues anyway.)

My parents did despise the sort of petty tribalisms that depressingly often characterize US political discourse, so there weren't any hair-trigger rants about 'Damn Republicans this, damn conservatives that' or whatever. In general, their approach to discussing political issues with me and my siblings (usually race, poverty, or foreign policy issues, those being their major interests) was to explain the problem at hand in simple language, some pros and cons of the various proposals out there for addressing it in equally simple language, then we'd say what we thought about it and the discussion would go from there. My father was both a much bigger talker and a much more passionate person (on everything, not just politics) than my mother was, so in practice these tended to be conversations between him and us kids, with my mother only occasionally interjecting to say "I think that's a little extreme, David," which always perked our ears up, because that meant she was about to go through and very clinically cross-examine all the overreaches and generalizations and oversights in his argument, which was usually quite entertaining. In actuality they held very similar political views, so this was mostly a difference of personality and intellectual style.


3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?
4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?


From high school(s), I can recall one teacher who went on pro-life rants in class, one teacher who went on anti-feminist rants in class (sneering about the "dumb broads" of N.O.W. etc.), and one teacher who went on Israel-can-do-no-wrong rants in class. That's about it; I had little awareness of the political views of any of my high school teachers beyond that, and none at all from elementary or junior high that I can recall. In college I had one preachy prof who was a conservative of the curmudgeonly Allan Bloom type, and one hyperpartisan liberal professor who rather than stating his views openly, employed the annoying and infantilizing tactic of "planting" students from his other classes in our class to go off on scripted rants, which was supposed to provoke discussion (this was a very large lecture-based class, which was how he could get away with it). Those two were the only grandstanders, though as Axver touched on, by the time you're in college (and especially if you're majoring in a highly politically salient field), you're almost inevitably going to discern at least a vague idea of what your professors' basic political leanings are, based on their choices of readings, the things which spring to mind for them as illustrations of some principle or another, stuff like that.

Where I teach, you'll be quite poorly regarded by your colleagues, particularly the full-time tenured/tenure-track ones, if you're known for partisan grandstanding in class. There's no rule against it though, so generally it becomes an administrative issue only if your student evaluations recurrently suggest that you're wasting lots of instructional time on irrelevant indulgence in sharing your own opinions.


5) What has your political education left you?

Not sure I really understand the question...? I'd consider myself a moderate liberal overall. Like my parents, I despise petty tribalism in politics, and consider much of what passes for 'political discourse' in the US to be a (mutually) worthless, whiny, hot-air-blowing waste of time.


6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?

'Continuation of my education' would be an overstatement. I come here mostly for social pleasures; it's fun and thought-provoking to read and discuss political, social and cultural issues with a group of smart, interesting and aware people. In real life, I'm not a big talker at all (I'm not really here either, but often closer to it), and I've always been quicker on the draw in writing than in speech, so it's an added attraction for me that in this case, the interchange is taking place through a reading/writing based medium.
 
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1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic? I think it's more like I raised myself politically. They weren't apathetic though. I do think that many of my family dynamics influenced my political views, especially my views about women's issues

2) What political side did your family take? My mother is more religious and more liberal-my father not as religious and more conservative. She's a Democrat, he's a Republican

3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics? It was just school, I never noticed. Went to all of my schooling in the same "liberal" state I grew up in and still live in.

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different? I went to a secular college for two years and transferred to a Catholic one. Never noticed any difference in teaching or professors.

5) What has your political education left you? cynical

6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education? I just enjoy reading a small sample of what some people think and think about-sometimes. I don't participate in any similar online forum. As bad as it can get between people in FYM I've seen and observed much worse in other sections of Interference, so from that point of view I prefer it.
 
1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?

My grandfather was a true libertarian. He told me that FDR started the U.S. on the road to ruin.

2) What political side did your family take?

Questioning, my parents were always discussing and questioning politics.

3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides?

They tried, but I ignored them.

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?

I kept my library card active.

5) What has your political education left you?

Liberty

6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?

I like to read other people's opinion and engage in civil debate.
 
1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?

My parents always voted. My dad was vice-president of his union, so even as a very small child I was aware of elections. The first one I recall was Mondale v Regan, I was 7.

2) What political side did your family take?
My Dad was a moderate Democrat. My Mom was a moderate Republican, and pro-choice. She has since become very, very conservative and while pro-choice would rather it be decided by the states.

3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?
My hometown is pretty conservative, they wouldn't let my bio teachers teach evolution. Now my teachers were always very apolitical. Although, i do remember asking my water polo coach who she voted for in '92 and being suitably happy.

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?
I had one very left wing poli-sci prof, but it was never railing against Republicans, it was more theoretical. My Classics profs were all liberal I'm sure, but again not overtly political. Keep in mind though I attended from '95 to '99 so they were probably much happier with the leadership than from '01 to '08.

5) What has your political education left you?
I'm much further left than my Dad or my Mom. I was always politically aware, and remember being angry i couldn't vote in '92. I worked on Clinton's '96 campaign, and wanted to work on Obama's. Honestly, what college taught me was to read up on the issues. Some of my favorite parts of college was the political discourse with my close friends, we were all across the political spectrum and because we were friends were never nasty with one another. I will say though that in the years since graduation the discourse has become more testy.

6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?

Not education, but I do like the back and forth, and the fact that there are a wide spectrum of opinions, including Libertarians whom I find fascinating.
 
I am curious about where everyone got their political views from. So here are some questions:

1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?

It wasn't discussed a lot. Maybe during elections etc, or when the occasional issue would come up, but most of my political education came on my own, after high school.

2) What political side did your family take?

My mom is a pretty traditional Democrat, most of her side of the family are typical "union Democrats", a little left economically, pretty right socially. My stepdad is an old-school small government conservative, and my dad is pretty conservative (he's very big on 2nd Amendment rights).

3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?

I don't remember much of that in high school. I'm sure I had teachers who leaned left or right, but I don't recall them bringing it into the classroom.

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?

I had a couple of profs who pretty clearly leaned left, but not to the point of them discouraging opposition the way you read about occasionally. I did have one who was pretty clearly a socialist (not a "You're a SOCIALIST!!![/Rush] socialist, a real one) and I'm not sure how receptive he'd have been to an openly conservative student, but I don't think there were any in the class. It was pretty common knowledge where he stood politically, so you knew going in.

5) What has your political education left you?

Well, I'm definitely further left than anyone in my family. Reading is a wonderful thing, you learn a lot more vs. what gets spoonfed to you by the mainstream media (left OR right), and you need to read (and write) a lot to earn a philosophy degree :)

6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?

I do. I'm very big on discourse, I like hearing/reading what both sides have to say. I find if you surround yourself with a bunch of people who think the same way you do discourse dies and people end up spouting a bunch of dogma without a lot of thought behind it. It's better when people challenge you...
 
1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?

My mother was apathetic and probably a little liberal. My father was liberal until the Reagan Thatcher years and the communists in university gave him low marks for having negative opinions about Fidel Castro. He was also prevented from going on Archeological digs because of his politics. I was taught economics and politics so that being conservative becomes a default because we have as much government as we need or want in Canada. Though none of us are religious even if there is some respect for what religion philosophically can teach. BTW the learning now with my Dad is a two way street and is one of the best connections I have with him. Learning doesn't stop until you're dead.

2) What political side did your family take?

Most of the rest of my family are in South America and mostly left-wing. They get most of their points of view from TV media and read little books.

3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?

I only met one conservative teacher (accounting teacher). The rest were openly liberals and talked of their viewpoints as if no one disagreed. It started from Junior High and onward.

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?

2 open communists I met (Sociology - not a surprise, and Anthropology - not a surprise) and one I suspect (Business Ethics) based on his hilarious economic (hack) model he prepared and his finite pie assertions. He also marked the class on opinions of his San Francisco left-wing textbooks instead of testing our knowledge of the subject. You then would get low marks for putting your opinion (even if his ridiculous personal comments could be refuted) different than his. He would give you higher marks if you forcibly agreed with him but never the top marks if he marked you as conservative at the beginning. At least the communist sociology teacher marked you on knowledge of the subject only and not on opinions. This goes for the anthropology teacher as well. The anthropology class was interesting as global warming propaganda was starting to heat up then. I remember the refuted "hockey stick graph" being shown and students from third world countries openly showing their envy of the west and getting heated and wanting the west to "pay their dues". It was so nauseating to see students who hated conservatives and the west talk about their phony care for the poor but at the same time want cushy U.N. jobs. Philanthropy and self-interest are so :yuck: when mixed together. That university experience made me libertarian for a brief period.

5) What has your political education left you?

With a curiosity to devour more. I'm really enjoying digging into Leszek Kołakowski's "Main Currents of Marxism" at the moment. It's a long read but I think it will be worth it.

6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?

Sure. Most debates inform you at least of what other people think and their emotional reactions to certain debates and they can show weaknesses in your own opinions so you can work on them.
 
1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?

my family was always politically engaged. i remember the 1988 election, and i remember getting excited when my mother said, loudly, "woah," when Lloyd Bentson slammed Dan Quayle with the now famous "you're no Jack Kennedy" comment. i remember how thrilling that was, in a weird way, because i could smell and sense the importance of politics. i was always into Geography/Social Studies/History as a child, and as i grew a bit older, politics and current events seemed to naturally flow into that. i was reading Newsweek cover-to-cover by Junior High -- and i remember finding it a bit of a challenge putting together the lurid details of the Anita Hill hearings, and i began to realize that there was a racial subtext beneath the veneer of sexuality. from the 1992 election on, i was something of a junkie. my addiction was helped along by friends who were equally political, as well as beginning to take Bono's every statement as gospel from about 1992 on.



2) What political side did your family take?

my parents are somewhat moderate, but more anti-GOP than anything. my mother is a Main Street republican who voted Reagan, Bush 1 in both '88 and '92, she then voted for Nader in '96 as a protest, but the coming of GWB scared the life out of her and she became possibly one of the most anti-Bush people i know. on a local level she remains a Republican, but once the Jesus crowd took over the GOP in the 1990s, she ran away and never looked back. she also thinks Palin is a monster. what scares her, and my father, most is ignorance and the celebration of "guts" or "character" or "instinct" over intelligence, knowledge, and logic. my father is probably more of a traditional New Deal Democrat, his parents being from good Swedish stock and they thought the anti-government hysteria peddled by the Right as little more than madness.

of course, on some issues, they've failed to walk the talk and have totally dropped the ball, but that's another issue.




3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?

in class, i'd have to say no. i remember politics being alluded to, but i feel like my teachers were fairly careful not to take specific sides in class. in high school i belonged to some politically active clubs, and that's when some teachers would show up to some of the debates we'd have and we'd see what their politics were. but in class, i'd have to say no.

wait, except for one math teacher who once said, "i find it ironic that the school is sponsoring a trip to see 'Schindler's List' when there's a Holocaust of millions of unborn babies every year."

that was offensive.



4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?


no stereotypical radical left-wing professors. they were all too smart to be so obvious. i do remember many classes being concerned with race, class, and gender, but the political action part of this was never really discussed. you could logically deduce that this was a liberal viewpoint, but to me it just seemed an informed viewpoint. a classical liberal arts education helps you to understand thought systems, and how said systems operate and perpetuate their own existence. if you're concerned at all with, say, the plight of women or minorities or the poor, you understand very well how certain power structures replicate themselves using politics in order to guarantee their continued existence.

i can only remember one very pro-immigrant professor who ever seemed to go into actual politics, but this was in a class about American immigration, so it really didn't seem all that crazy. and he was almost unbearably nice, so no fire breathing there.



5) What has your political education left you?

disappointed in Democrats and aghast at most of the Republican party.



6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?


like Yolland, i'm more here for the personalities and the drama than to be actually informed on an issue. i enjoy hearing other viewpoints, and i enjoy reading about politics in other countries (though there is a huge American bias in here). many people make very good points, and there are certain posters i'll always read, but i really have lost a lot after the 2008 election. i feel like the adults are back in charge and we can breathe a bit easier now. there just seems to be less at stake and i correspondingly find discussions in here to be less contested than, say, 3 years ago. i still enjoy it, and it's occasionally interesting, but it's now more about the individuals than the issues.

it used to be a fascinating place when it came to conservative Christian posters. i'd never really been exposed to fundamentalist mindsets before, and there used to be many more of them in here. it was important, i think, to actually *read* thoughts like that, rather than just listen and get angry, because you can begin to appreciate that there are certain assumptions that we all have that we all do not share. it's digging deep to get to said assumptions that's the most interesting thing of all, to me.
 
1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic? I just remember my father pointing out errors in a history book that seemed to take a leftist slant on things. I think he was mostly right.

2) What political side did your family take? Averagely conservative Irish Catholics.

3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics? I honestly can't recall any teacher openly preaching politics. I think this is to their credit - I was privileged to have some very good teachers. I do remember a science teacher expressing some mildly critical viewpoints with regard to trade unions that probably went a little outside of the curriculum. Teachers in Ireland seemed to be on strike a lot during the 1980s' so possibly he was dissociating himself from this. Frankly, I agreed with him.

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different? I don't really remember any overtly political professors at college. I studied business, so I assume most were political conservatives, as business and economics professors tend to be, but there was no overt propagandising that I can recall.

5) What has your political education left you? With a deep and abiding dislike of far left and neo-'conservative' politics, and with a mistrust of globalism and neo-liberalism. I define myself politically, for the most part, in terms of the things I am against. I also hate drug dealers and stupid people. Basically, I am not interested in being bored by anyone with an IQ under 120. I am interested in advancing the interests of myself and my class, the middle class and deserving working class, and view Marxism as essentially correct in depicting society as class-based (albeit, wrong about everything else). I want to cut social welfare off, and cut loose the welfare moms and dads, the grifters, the wasters, the leeches and the ne'er do wells (including corporations that qualify for any of these categories). Also, I try to see the good in people and believe in people fulfilling themselves on all levels and not compromising. I want everyone to have the opportunities that I had, so that they, too, can waste them (Ok, this is starting to read like a bad self-help book).

6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education? I don't see it as a continuation of my education, as I already know I'm right. What I try to bring to the forum is a questioning attitude with regard to neo-'conservatism' and liberalism. And yet, I tend not to agree with the majority of the other right wing posters on FYM, and mostly feel alone here. :angry:
 
1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?

Oddly, my family are probably a lot like Financeguy's. Catholic of Irish descent, temperamentally, not ideologically, conservative.

2) What political side did your family take?

Broadly conservative though culturally so. Our family historically voted for the Australian Labor Party until the 1950s Split. Some probably then followed the DLP off on its slow journey into the conservative camp of politics, and never came back.

3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?

Some did, some did not. The most overtly political comments I can recall were one primary school teacher who was convinced that Indonesia would invade Australia in the future, and another who took a very dim view of John Wayne owing to his position during the Cold War/McCarthyist era.

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?

No.

5) What has your political education left you?

It has left me a social democrat. But for me political education and the reading of history are inseparable. The most I could say is that my views are considerably more nuanced than they were years ago. Extreme examples of dangerous stupid like the early-mid Bush era perhaps mask this fact... I know of a number of people online saying that they resented the hell out of GWB for making them feel like tinfoil hat people. I'm not particularly leftwing.

6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?

I see some political communities/threads/blogs online as those things, but not so much FYM. Its tendency is too far toward the tabloid for my taste. But its part of my daily rounds, so.
 
1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?
2) What political side did your family take?

My mother and father raised me to become religious, but not conservative. They both vote Liberal (the main centre-right party in Australia), but my mother's a firm supporter of Obama, so I'm not really sure exactly where she stands, centre I suppose. Dad just votes Liberal because his mother forced him to when he was younger and he seems incapable of thinking any other way, I don't think he really cares. But a lot of other members of my family are very, very conservative. Alternatively, I have an aunt who's a pretty prominent far-left Green politician, so there's a bit of variety.

3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?

I think the only thing I remember re: this in school was blatant racism and xenophobia, but that's not exactly out of the norm in a rural Australian school. Like when 9/11 occurred, the overwhelming majority thought the Americans deserved it, and when some friends and I were raising money for a local indigenous charity in year 12, I got a lot of very, very rude comments from people of different age groups. I fluttered between sides in my early teens. It was really only around when I was 17 that I started particularly identifying as left-wing, and I began to consider becoming atheist around that time - mostly out of disillusion of how other Protestants I knew acted, and things just sort of snowballed from there.

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?

I'm still sort of in that stage in my life, even though I'm not studying at the moment - but going to art school for a while, I was exposed to a really new breed of people that was hard to find from where I grew up, so it was quite liberating in a way. All my lecturers were left-wing to varying degrees, but radical rants were rare.

5) What has your political education left you?

Not sure. I don't know, I'm surprised by how much politics have affected me, because I still feel most other people around my age just don't seem to give a shit. I have an interest in getting into politics to a larger degree, but haven't decided how I'd get all that together.

6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?

I usually only come here to make one-liners.
 
1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?

My family was not particularly political at all. I don't think we ever talked about politics at home. My family is not American--they are from Trinidad, so maybe they felt more disconnected from U.S. politics, I don't know. I remember liking Ronald Reagan as a kid, mainly because he was likable and charismatic. I had no real concept of his politics. I still have a warm feeling about Reagan today. He kind of reminds me of my grandpa.

2) What political side did your family take?

None to speak of. Today though, I think they all lean left politically, though religiously most remain quite conservative (fundamentalist would be the better term, I guess). Ironically, with many very orthodox Seventh-day Adventists, they tend to be a more liberal politically (at least in certain key areas) whereas less fundamentalist Adventists tend to be more politically conservative. I suppose that's a broad generalization but I do know that among a lot of the people I went to school with who aren't particularly strict Adventists anymore, you'll hear them saying things like "America is a Christian nation" and so on. This is totally antithetical to old school Adventist theology which saw great danger in a Christianized government, mainly because we figured we would be targets for persecution from such a government because of our insistence on keeping Saturday rather than Sunday as the Sabbath.

That fear of "Sunday laws" being passed and ensuing persecution for those that refused to comply that I grew up with seems to be disappearing from my generation, which makes us less wary of exhortations for the Religious Right to "get the nation back to God" and makes them more comfortable with the Religious Right, which we actually do have a lot in common with otherwise. The church as a whole, in terms of it's official stance remains remarkably apolitical except for it's energetic involvement in religious liberty issues.

3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?

Again mostly apolitical. I went to Adventist schools.

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?

Nothing really radical in college. I know I became more liberal in college but I wouldn't ascribe that to any particular professor's left-wing education.

5) What has your political education left you?

I'm probably less left-wing than I appear to be. Often it's the attitude (and lately, what I veiw as the intellectual laziness and cheap shots of the right) that I find repugnant rather than the views themselves. Bush's advocacy of compassionate conservatism piqued my interest when he first ran for president, but then that never really panned out as far I could tell.

6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?

I love the diversity of views here, and in that sense I do see it as a continuation of my education. My biggest fear is that the handful of right-leaning posters will leave--we've already lost quite a few it seems. As much as I wrangle with them, I believe they may be perhaps the most important posters in this forum. I do wish--and my apologies because I know there's no way to say this without being offensive, so just know I do love y'all--that more of the posts from the right were more intellectually rigorous and less retreads of whatever is the latest from Limbaugh and Beck et. al. It's been awhile since I've seen a post from the opposite of the political spectrum that made me say: "Wow. Okay. Let me think about that." Perhaps, that's my own arrogance though? After all, like Financeguy I pretty much think I'm right most of the time. But then I suspect most of us feel that way. . . :wink:
 
I am curious about where everyone got their political views from. So here are some questions:

1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?

My parents were democrats. They did not raise me to be anyway in particular. They voted but were not engaged beyond that politically.

2) What political side did your family take?

Mostly democrat, more centrist.

3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?

My politics were shaped by debates around the dinner table. I loved to debate. I joined the debate team in 9th grade. I was the politician of the family. As a high school students I became the vice president of the state teen council here in MA. I was fascinated with the Kenendy family and spent more time that I care to admit into reading, studying, and writing about them. I attended a leadership conference in Washington, DC. I had the pleasure of meeting Senator Kennedy and Kerry on the capital steps and presented them each with an award. At that time I was introduced to Congressman Gerry Studds, a gay congressman from MA. I worked in his office three times a week through my Jr and Sr. years in high school. I was a case worker in the office. I worked on various local campaigns supporting mostly democratic candidates.

I went to Eastern Nazarene College. I never fit in politically. I was too liberal for the evangelicals. I loved being different, I loved the debates in history and politcal classes and I loved to take the opposite site of the majority on any issue even if I agreed with them. I worked on Gary Hart's run for the presidency. After Gary Hart, the only candidate that I liked over the next few years was Ross Perot. I loved that he may have shaken up the system even though he had is issues. Finally, John McCain in 2000 is probably the candidate that energized me the most.

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?

My professors weer all RIGHT WING. I was a pain in their ass, and I started my own underground newspaper when I was censored in the student newspaper.


5) What has your political education left you?

I am conservative in matters of $$$ and military, and more liberal in the areas of social issues for example - gay marriage.

6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?

I have pretty much retired from this place. I poke in now and again. The last election and the level of debate was not like past elections and I have found that upon going back through the history in this forum, that there was intelligent diatribe in here. The reality is, I am much more focused on the real word with my job now. My children and my wife are front in center in my life right now, and they have to be because of the work schedule. I cannot commit to FYM the way I used to and I used to put hours into reading to debate the topics of the day. I miss it sometime, but I so hated the way I felt during the last election, that I do not think I will be participating the way I used to again.

One thing for certain, is that I do not believe I can change the world by participating in an internet forum. I do believe that back in the day, this place, helped shape me.
 
1) How did you family raise you politically? Did they care or were they apathetic?

They were pretty apathetic or at least never talked about politics much. To be perfectly honest we never have discussed politics or religion much.

2) What political side did your family take?

I think my family is made up of democrats but again we never discuss it much.

3) Describe the politics of your formal education, from kindergarten through high school. Did anyone take sides? Did anyone, regardless of political views, openly preach their politics?

Politics never came up in school until Debate in high school. My teacher was liberal but there a range of views from my outgoing classmates. Many were varying degrees of conservative. I was probably the most liberal of everyone. I will mention that in sharing the class with the same people for so many years I noticed everyone’s beliefs become firmer over time. Despite differences in opinion, no one’s beliefs changed.

4) Now, what about college? Did you have any of the stereotypical radical left-wing professors? If not, did you have something different?

I haven’t encountered any overt leanings in any of my professors.

5) What has your political education left you?

I think my political education has left me more understanding of the points of view for those that have different political beliefs. I think it is easy to demonize the other side or any other political views. Being around intelligent people of opposite views has probably made me more open-minded. I suppose the best way to explain it is that I can attach a human element to political ideas.

6) What do you get out of FYM? Do you see it as a continuation of your education?

I don’t post in here much but it is interesting to read for the different views and opinions. I find that U2 fans can often be the most politically interested. It always makes for a fun read between breaks in the band’s action.
 
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