What or who prompted you to become politically active?

[JimmyJazz]

Did you grow up in that type of family? Was it a teacher? Or an event?

[sniffa]

1. i'm just Looking for dates

what are you up to Later?

[bettyellen]

4. hey, speaking of looking....where's the missus?

for amy :*
:hi:

[sniffa]

16. you're right

i think she's due to have her account activated. :bounce:

she won't be around untiL suppah time though.

[bettyellen]

20. and then the worlds collide.

eeeeek.

[48pan]

2. Dick Fucking Nixon drafted my ass...

and sent me to Viet Nam! I voted for McGovern.

[Bouncy Ball]

3. My family was pretty politically aware when I was young

but they seemed to lose hope during the Reagan years, when my stepfather just took to mumbling "that sumbitch" and they stopped voting.

But my moment was election day 2000.

I vowed I would NEVER be politically uninvolved again (I did vote, but that was the extent of it).

And I've made good on that promise EVER SINCE.

And I'm not stopping. Ever.

[hickman1937]

5. A lying piece of shit named

Lee Atwater. May he rest in peace.

[ceile]

6. When my mom cried after Reagan was elected

I decided it was time. I was 6.

[KitchenWitch]

7. I was raised that way

My parents both believe that voting is not only a privilege but a responsibility.

Figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Hubert H Humphrey, Paul Wellstone, and many local politicians have served as inspiration as well.

[brainshrub]

8. My Mom & Dad lived in Argentina.

They taught us kids what RWers are capable of.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

9. NIXON...and the WAR

and my extended family has always been politically active

[davidinalameda]

10. the lust for power

at a young age

:sarcasm:

my first political memories were of the 1976 election and it went from there

I was coming to terms with my sexuality and realized that being gay wasn't a real popular thing, which made me a raging liberal

[liberalitch]

11. I can't help it.... I was raised this way

When people ask me about how my 75 year old mother would feel about my political leanings: "Do you talk this way around your mother?"

I say " How do you think I go this way?"

[blm]

12. My first political hero was a very young Dennis Kucinich.

He was also my first major schoolgirl crush.

[LynzM]

13. Dating my husband....

He introduced me to being aware, and to DU :)

[krkaufman]

14. Relatively active...? Sadly, Florida 2000 and the ROG response

Been aware for ages, but never actively followed politics until November 2000. (Am not yet what I would consider "active.")

[RandomKoolzip]

15. My dad was an anarchist.

He grew up poor, in a trailer park, and served in the Army during Vietnam, at a VA hospital, taking bodies out of body bags.

What he saw radicalized him, and after he left the army, formed a few radical-left groups like Wages For Students. He also marched with a group that shut down Yale University for a day in 1970, in the front lines with the Black Panthers.

After the revolution failed to happen, he settled down to a life working for the post office and at a library and raising me and my brother. He taught me about skepticism and media control, and about the various weirdnesses surrounding the Kennedy assassiation, the CIA, etc.

At the same time, he always taught me to love my country. He always said that the USA was the best fucking country in the world. Almost every vacation we ever took as kids was to see the sights in Washington DC. He was a patriotic leftist, a guy who loved his country and simply wanted it to own up to its crimes.

He was a great man.

[JimmyJazz]

That is an AMAZING story. I don't know many people in real life

who are that passionate. He sounds like someone I wish I could have met. :)

[RandomKoolzip]

26. He also taught me how to play drums, bass, and guitar.

Thanks, pop!

Yeah, he was the most interesting person I've ever met. Being raised by a guy like that has spoiled me to the rest of humanity.

Thanks for the kind words! :hi:

[Zuni]

32. your dad sounds like a great guy

I lost my father when I was younger myself. I still miss him everyday

:hi:

[Liberal Dose]

17. I became aware and active the day Bobby Kennedy died.

It was my 6th birthday.

[redqueen]

18. An event...

The Selection. :grr:

[Trigger Hippie]

19. I was a late bloomer...

The Lewinsky Scandal. My then boyfriend was (and is) a staunch Democrat. He and his pal wrote a tome on the talking points and ended up being all over the news for a while. Julie Hiatt Steele even called my house!

:)

[AlCzervik]

21. My Grandparents, both pretty liberal and both very kind

Grandpa was a plumber and he ran a union shop, Nana ran the house and kept the books. They were always doing for somebody, taking care of a sick relative or doing food drives. My grandfather died about a year and half ago and since then Nana has declined somewhat but she still gets out and votes and her and her "girls" loaded up the oldsmobile with their canes and went to see Fahrenheit 9/11 "George Bush and not too bright dear and with far too much power, a very bad combination honey" they were both very fond of Jimmy Carter while acknowledging he had his problems but they really loved him.

[MissMillie]

22. Gingrich's "Contract on America"

What were people thinking in '94? (What are they still thinking?)

[jandrok]

23. My brother was an influence, as was this guy....

http://www.tomrobinson.com/pages/biog.htm

I remember picking up a copy of "Power in the Darnkness" when I was 14 or 15 and just being amazed at the power and the ferocity of the lyrics and the music. It was my introduction to real punk rock, and I liked it. A lot. Tom Robinson was ANGRY and passionate, and that seemed like a good thing to me.

My older brother was politically active in the late 60's and early 70's when he was in college, so I had ties to the political activism of the hippie era through his example. He and I still have great political conversations.

[kcwayne]

24. The prospect of dying in a rice paddy in Viet Nam

while some douchebag for liberty like GW Bush partied, snorted coke, and partied on daddy's money.

[NewJeffCT]

25. Bill O'Reilly!

I always followed politics and was always left of center politically, but never really active. And, I'd actually been discouraged after Dukakis lost in 1988 and with how Clinton got hammered in the 90s with nobody in the "liberal" media on their sides, and of course, the 2000 elections really discouraged me.

However, when I heard about O'Reilly trying to sue Al Franken for his "Lying Liars" book, I figured that I had to buy "Lying Liars" and read it. Attempts at censorship really get me interested in what is being censored!

The book was a real eye opener for me, and led me to eventually find DU, gave me a ton of info for lots of LTTEs, got me donating money to progressive causes, etc.

[Democracy White]

27. I was raised as a moderate

my mom's a social liberal but somewhat leans to the right spiritually.

I am kinda active with politics, I guess I am just confused on what I can do and my organization skills suck. It was the 2004 elections that spurred me to politics though

[xmas74]

28. I don't think it was any one person or thing.

As a child I was the kid who always volunteered to do walkathons, skateathons or anything else that raised money for various social causes. In high school I led protests against our school using brand name products that also did business in S. Africa, against pay to participate (I knew that the costs just to try out for a team or school play would exclude quite a few students because of finances), a threatened budget cut to special education (I was really harassed by some students for that one) and one against the cafeteria for not using tuna that was dolphin-safe. I also wrote a number of articles for the school newspaper in jr high and high school about AIDS awareness, military recruitment (it's always been in issue) and the teen pregnancy rate at my high school. I was also a petition passer on a number of subjects. My previous actions led me into becoming more interested in politics in general which has brought me to where I am at today.
Growing up I had a very strong belief in equality for all. No one had to teach it to me (my family has stated that before)-it's just who I have always been.

[Left_Winger]

29. Several things...

First off my brother was drafted, sent to Vietnam and was killed in action at the age of 19. When some people tell me that he died for nothing, I correct them and say "no, he died for a lie."

Secondly, there was Nixon (with his expansion of the Vietnam War), Watergate and Ford granting him a pardon.

Then along came Reagan and Iran-Contra.

Now there is the Bush family, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove, DeLay, Santorum, Fox News, and the list goes on.... I don't want to go into a rant, so I will stop here.

[JimmyJazz]

31. I'm sorry about your brother.

I'm so sorry.

[Left_Winger]

37. Thank you so very much for your understanding

I think about him every day and what he could have contributed had things turned out differently. He always cared more about others than for himself. The official report stated that he was killed while providing first aid to a wounded soldier while under fire and using his own body as a shield (he was a medic). His death still hurts after all these years.

I have to end it here before the tears return.

Once again, thank you for your understanding.

[kick-ass-bob]

30. I think it was my grandmother - who had her pic with

Ronny Reagan. Downstairs they had a s'load of RNC convention crap.

I vowed I did not want to be like her and when I saw all the Repub stuff, that confirmed it all.

On edit: my parents were more liberal than me for a while - but I think I have lapped them now.

[WCGreen]

33. I happened to be home sick from school the day Kent State

happened....

My dad said, he was drinking even at that early time of the day, they should have killed more of the bastards....

I immediately became politically active......

[Shakespeare]

34. My apolitical parents often wondered what the hell was wrong with me.

Age 6, became a rabid tree hugger after reading The Lorax. A few years later, I mailed off to the EPA for all of their Woodsy the Owl goodies (they used to have some wonderful educational packages for kids).

Age 9, became fascinated with beltway politics after spending much of my summer watching the Watergate hearings (that one really baffled them).

Age 16, caused such a stir over a first amendment issue at school and in my school paper that I wound up on two local news broadcasts and one nationally syndicated PBS issues show.

And on I went...and so I go. ;-)

[XemaSab]

35. My family's pretty politically aware

but Howard got me really out and motivated.

[ALago1]

36. 9/11 - Instantaneously made me political

I figured that I should know a little bit as to what the hell is going on in the world.

Naturally, after I did some research and thinking, I became a liberal.

[Beware the Beast Man]

38. I was always a little left of center.

Throughout college, I had a strong distaste for all things Right Wing (especially Limbaugh). I have to say, though, I was always apathetic about politics until about a yearn and a half ago, right around the time I discovered DU and other political forums and websites. While I have always had a decent sense for what is fair and just (and what isn't) about this country's political process, I'm still fairly green on the topic. Heck, I just sent out my first LTTE yesterday, and have only voted twice in the past 12 years (that has changed). I still have a long way to go. Sometimes, it gets frustrating even reading about anything political, so I move on to other interests.

[GreenPartyVoter]

39. My dad has always been into politics, so I was a Green from the day I

could register to vote BUT I didn't really throw myself into the political scene until ** stole the election the first time around. That just pissed me off but good and now I just about live on DU trying to find out the latest dirt we can use against them.

[Allenberg]

40. My 9th grade civics teacher

(Keep in mind, I was born in 1981)

He was a delegate to the Democractic Convention in 1992. Until my civics class my freshman year in high school, I was largely uninterested in politics, though my parents were lifelong Democrats. I still have a Dukakis-Benson bumpersticker somewhere at my parents house. At anyrate, the way he described government and politics with such passion got me interested, and the 1996 presidential election got me really interested in politics, and when I turned 18 I registered as a Libertarian, because I was pretty naive at the time.

What happened in 2000 really inflamed me against the right, and then I started reading articles by Maureen Dowd, Paul Krugman, and Bob Herbert, along with talking to some folks I met while being active in politics (demonstrations, marches, protests and the like) when I was stationed outside of Washington DC from 2000-2002. I found that I disagreed more and more with my fellow Libertarians, and more with Democrats. When I got out of the military in May and had to renew my driver's licence, I re-registered as a Democrat.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

41. My mom was a political activist in the 60's and 70's

I grew up on a diet of sprouts and politics. I am a product of my environment. :D

[Shell Beau]

42. 9-11. It changed my views on a lot.

Plus I was getting older and actually cared about what was happening in the world and our country.

[tigereye]

43. pretty politically active family

gm was a Rep in the 50s and was a precinct leader. Other GPs were Dems and also quite active. Mom a Rep who voted Dem, Dad a Dem who voted Rep for a while in the 60s. They taught us to think and ask questions. Several relatives work/ed in DC for congresspeople and Senators. Two sibs worked for PIRGs and I was active with NARAL, NOW, etc. I used to do pro-choice escorting at abortion clinics. We have all worked on various political campaigns in some capacity, marched, protested, door knocked, phone banked, mailed stuff etc. We are polite, but opinionated.


I think it's in our blood, actually. There is always political conversation at the dinner table in our family. So to me, talking and aruging about politics is just normal behavior! :)