Who influenced your present politics most?

[TrustingDog]

Mine is Noam Chomsky.
Before reading some Noam I was essentially a quiet freeper media believer.

[NMDemDist2]

1. the Viet Nam war and the Democratic N'tl Convention of 1968

I remember being 13 yo girl crying as i watched the "hippies" be clubbed in the streets of Chicago as I thought "that could be me or my friends, this isn't what I was taught in school about my country" and watching the Evening News and seeing the children and women of VN lying dead in their streets and seeing monks set themselves on fire in protest.

within 6 months I was being gassed in Berkley in anti war protests and have "Questioned Authority" ever since :)

[Fovea]

2. A beat cop in Chicago @ 1968 DNC convention

And the beating I watched him give an innocent guy on the sidewalk.

[immoderate]

3. You will love reading Chalmers Johnson

I was in high school during JFK. He was an inspiring personality. I was also impressed by (believe it or not) Barry Goldwater.

Then it was Gene McCarthy, and the smartest man to ever run for president, George McGovern.

--IMM

[zmdem]

4. Good question, and my answer is ...

From a broad view, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton. Recently, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

[Ekova]

5. Allister Sparks

A South African journalist and brilliant writer. Zaphod Beeblebrox, the greatest figurehead of the fake government in the Universe.

[Mz Pip]

6. The Republican Right

Seriously, I could have spent years as an uninvolved
Democrat if it had not been for the RW's insane desire to destroy Clinton. The freak show that was the Impeachment made be stand up and pay attention for the first time since the Vietnam War.

I was in Chicago in 1968 but nothing affected me like the Impeachment. What a waste of time and tax dollars.

MzPip
:dem:

[question everything]

25. Same here, but it started with Reagan election in 1980

when the religious right found a home in the formerly "live and let live" Republican party.

And it has been going downhill from there. Pat Buchanan "culture war" in the Republican convention of 1992 and Bush who is never making any mistakes 'cause god talks directly to him.

Today, those who vote for Bush are the ones who go to church at least once a week, or so, who describe themselves as religious, who are Evangelical, who believe in the "rupture" books etc.

I doubt that Catholic priests would have taken such a public stand about politicians who support a woman's right to choose had we not seen this deterioration of the wall that is supposed to separate state and church.

This is why, during last week when so many praised Reagan I had to keep posting, again, and again, that he started the diverseness based on religious belief that can never be bridged.

[Syrinx]

7. probably my great-grandmother

She was about 90 years old when she told me "Never vote for a Republican. The Republicans are only interested in protecting the privileges of the wealthy and powerful. They care nothing about the common person."

[seabeyond]

8. reagan

i was a young business major, conservative though in calif, and saw what he did, and have never been able to step to repug party. always been a part of the political scene since young

[TrustingDog]

13. that transition...

from comatose tv news land to reality was quite traumatic for me. Like a kid told that the santa bunny easter clause didn't exist. I felt so betrayed and stupid. But i"m over that, now I just feel betrayed.

[Left_Wing_Fox]

9. To stretch a Matrix metaphor...

Dubya was the glitch that made me doubt the Matrix.

Jon Stewart was the guide who helped lead me to the truth, and made it less threatening through humor.

Eric Alterman's "What Liberal Media" was the Red Pill, which lead me to the world of the REAL.

Thom Hartmann was the captain of the ship that picked me up and took me in. ;)

[DieboldMustDie]

10. Kenneth Starr

His persecution of President Clinton got me to see how anti-democratic right wingers really are.

[LumitraC]

33. ya, me too

that piece of shit.

[Nevernose]

11. Ronald Fucking Reagan (n/t)

n/t

[thebigidea]

12. Groucho Marx

[Media_Lies_Daily]

14. JFK, RFK, MLK Jr.

[senseandsensibility]

15. My social studies teacher in high school

He offered elective courses with titles like Minority/Urban Affairs. He was probably the first blatantly liberal male I knew.

[troublemaker]

16. Hitler

I could cite Michael Harrington or Jesus or other positive sources, but in truth my politics have always been most profoundly shaped by reaction to fascism than anything else and Hitler has always been the counter-example par excellence... the North Star of what to avoid.

Like most kids who read the Diary of Anne Frank I grew up afraid of the gestapo. The rest came naturally.

[donhakman]

17. the usual

My dad was a political science professor and taught Constitutional Law at SUNY Binghamton.

[starroute]

18. My parents and my aunt

My mom who used to tell me political stories when I was little to help me get to sleep. Who would tell me everything she could remember about all the mayors of New York City back to Mayor Hylan in the early 20's. Who would tell me about the awful things they used to say about Eleanor Roosevelt -- and then she would start crying and I would start crying and we would cry together. Or about how terrible she felt when the Supreme Court struck down the NRA. Or horror stories about Father Coughlin. She made politics seem like an emotional drama.

My dad, who belonged to a Reform Democratic club that was working to overthrow Tammany Hall (and finally did). Who would take me around to the neighbors when he was doing get-out-the-vote or bring me to the local club where I would help sort campaign flyers. Who told me about going to City College business school back in the 30's, when it was full of Communists who wanted to learn how to run things when the revolution came. Who fostered a certain cynicism in my younger self by explaining things like how to jigger the results in your own candidate's favor when counting paper ballots. (You don't show obvious bias, but if your guy is behind in your district, you argue for strict constructionism and toss out as many ballots as possible. If your guy is ahead, you go with generosity in deciding what is valid.) He made politics seem like a science to be studied and mastered.

And my aunt, who lived in New Jersey and was involved in Democratic politics there in the 1950's and 1960's. Who did her own sewing -- and did some for the governor's wife as well -- and could tell you exactly what dress she'd worn to every political affair for the previous 20 years. Who was always full of the latest risque gossip about people like Nelson Rockefeller. She made politics seem like a glamorous game.

I've probably picked up some political opinions along the way that I didn't get from my family (though not many) -- but my political attitudes come entirely from those three.

[Swamp Rat]

19. George W. Bush

He awoke the sleeping giant within...

[Anarcho-Socialist]

20. Common sense

Although, I have to admit a little Noam Chomsky :bounce:

[Selwynn]

21. Chomsky, Zinn, Camus, Hesse, Tillich, and a girl I know... :)

[Feanorcurufinwe]

22. Richard Nixon

he was so corrupt and evil, he put a face on everything I hated, and he was Mr. Republican.

[mvd]

23. My parents and maternal grandfather

Combined with FDR, liberals of the 80s like Mondale, Dukakis, and Ferraro - and fighting liberals like Wellstone, Kucinich, and Sheila Jackson-Lee.

Reagan's policies got me annoyed, and then Bush Sr.'s tactics helped solidify me as a Democrat.

[Djinn]

24. My parents

and then as I got older I went further to the left.
A punk guy I used to know when I was a teenager who turned me on to Jello Biafra's spoken word
John Pilger and Robert Fisk.

Edit - Oh and nearly forgot working for a hideous union hating Public Relations industry facist helped too!

[struggle4progress]

26. An woman interviewed on TV in May 1970 ...

.. who said she wished the National Guard would shoot more war protestors. :(

[Zinfandel]

27. The 60's. Me. I researched...and I have to give a big thank you to

Gore Vidal, Jerry Brown, Dick Gregory and RFK.

THANK YOU!!

:kick:

[NewEmanuelGoldstein]

28. mine

Joseph Heller (of Catch-22 fame)
Thomas Payne
Thomas Jefferson
Lincoln
Ghandi
MLK
Zinn
Chomsky

and myself, I think for myself, and form my own opinions based on what I've studied and experienced. IMO, too many people just toe the party line when it comes to politics.

[Mnemosyne]

29. Gandhi, Buddha & Christ, et al....

[Killarney]

30. Foaming at the mouth, crazy, selfish, hawkish Republicans.

The more Republicans I met, the more I realized how wrong they were.

[wickerwoman]

31. Gary Trudeau

Taught me to be cynical and laugh in the face of the greedy and powerful.

I majored in English Lit and Classics with a minor in Philosophy. All those humanities rubbed off, I guess.

[Solly Mack]

32. My mom.

She was anti-Bush back when Prescott was a senator.

[ronatchig]

34. "I Have A Dream"

by Dr. King. I remember as an 11 year old white boy in a completely segrated town in WV being completely floored by this great man's vision. It was then that I realized that Dr. King was speaking as much to class divisions as racial divisions in our country. Alas his dream is yet just a dream.

Also I would add john Kaye's "Monster", CSN&Y's Ohio", Lennon's "Imagine".

[SCDem]

35. My mother.

She never said she was a democrat and we never really talked politics but she was a teacher and stressed the importance of the environment and so I guess out of that came me a bleading heart liberal that is not shy to say it.

[neebob]

36. George W. Bush

taking advantage of September 11th. You just had to know something was wrong there.

[Cheswick2.0]

37. It is great that Chomsky made you think

Don't stop there however. There is nothing sadder than someone who thinking is dominated by one or two people just because they wrote some books. I am not saying that is what you are doing. I just see so many people who do think that way that it makes me cringe.
Read a lot of authors and then make up your own mind.

[Trailrider1951]

38. Robert Francis Kennedy

I'll never forget him.

www.rfkmemorial.org

[Cheswick2.0]

39. Reagan/bush

I will never forget how amazed I was that Reagan appointed Watts to take care of the US lands and environment. It had never occured to me that any President, regardless of party, would appoint the fox to guard the hen house.

[Trajan]

40. My dear Momma ...

Who adored JFK, whom I watched speak (on TV) as a little boy, and who even then inspired a sense of optimism in me about the US ( perhaps by proxy through my mother ) ...

Also: Nixon sealed the deal with his harsh rhetoric about AntiWar protestors and his War on Drugs .... The rantings of the Loony Right helped build a wall between me and the GOP that thrives today ....

[Frederic Bastiat]

41. Frederic Bastiat

French political economist circa 18th Century. His wit in French is a delight to read.

[linazelle]

42. George W. Bush's selection and his march to war

I tried to ignore the selection--tried to accept the idiot and thief as best I could. But then on 9/11 he was AWOL. And after that, he started going after Iraq and I was absolutely flummoxed. Anybody who does not see this man for what he is is blind.

[clyrc]

43. Grandpa!

He is a big Democrat who hated Reagan when I was too young to really know anything about politics. I listened to him because it was sort of hard not to hear him when he got started. Now, I am every bit as rabid as he is about politics, but more liberal.