Why are you politically inclined?

[Lucinda]

I've been away from DU for a couple years due to illness, and as I play catch-up, reading the threads here, I am struck by how much diversity our little corner of the world contains. At first, I was sort of floored by this deeply passionate, violent, sort of energy that I see in a lot of threads. I get it. We are a diverse group of people. And a fed-up group of people, which can lead to a lot of "why dont you SEE that my guy/gal is the RIGHT CHOICE!!!!!" sort of posts. But one thing that we do have in common RIGHT NOW, that separates us from an unfortunately large part of the population, is that somewhere along the line we became "political". We care. ACTIVELY. And as I was sitting here, thinking about how it all started for me, I sort of wondered what made you involved too.

I didn't grow up in a house that discussed politics. I can remember though, vividly, when I started looking at the world outside my family. It started as a bribe. A grade school teacher offered a silver dollar to everyone who could recite The Gettysburg Address, from memory, in front of the class. A dollar was a lot of moola to the young wlucinda. :) So... I grabbed a printed copy of the text and started to think about the candy I was going to buy with my dollar. (We didnt "do" candy in my house - except on rare occasions, so this was going to be a TREAT.) And what makes me smile....all these years later, is the fact that I cannot remember if I succeeded that day, got my "prize" and bought candy, or if I failed. But I DO remember The Gettysburg Address. Every Word. And I remember getting interested in Lincoln. I wanted to know what sort of person could write those words.

So...if you dont mind sharing....how did you begin? :)

[poverlay]

1. I honestly didn't have much of a position when I was younger. I loved to read. I educated

myself a lot. However, I was mostly ambivalent about what was going on. (I know, I know~ terrible of me.)

Then a stolen election, a moron president, and a blatant lie taking horrible advantage of my country happened. Several arguments with very intelligent morans(I say that because there are a lot of really smart idiots on the right. If there weren't, this would be a lot easier...), working for a hugely repig bigot, and a touch of education/conversation with Coventina and a couple of the other smartest people I know, and here I am. A moderately intelligent, incredibly tenacious, passionate, caring, Republican nightmare...

[Lucinda]

10. "A moderately intelligent, incredibly tenacious, passionate, caring, Republican nightmare..."

Sounds like an excellent thing to be - no matter when you get to that point. :D

I was unaware for a long while...unaware in the sense that I still thought elections were just a difference of opinion among "honorable" candidates. Very naive of me, I know. :) That changed after the Iran Hostage Crisis. I started questioning a LOT after that.

[MatrixEscape]

2. I am very sorry ...

To hear about the illness that operated you from us in terms of communication and awareness. That is both unfortunate and worthy of empathy form those who have experienced the facts and impact of infirmity.

IN my opinion, DU has come a long way in scope and potential. That is in consideration of its long-term lag between being an early rising, (money making) upstart at the beginning and going more mainstream. In many ways, DU is neither democratic nor underground in actuality, but it certainly tries hard to portray itself as such. The membership drives and conflicts of conscience and opinion, as well as the sub-forum dungeons for subversive and counter-mainsream ideas, tend to prove that rather expected result. How many of us would want to be able to prosper and thrive while supporting and continuing a misnomer that we had full control over when it comes to calling the facade?

You might want to notice that there has been a strong tendency towards more posts that run counter to the status quo and even go so far as to question the underlying, yet still dominant, aspects of manipulative concepts so rife in the struggle of people versus manipulative and wealthy masters.

Language is our means of communication here. Many see that it has been commandeered by masters of language in order to manipulate and control large numbers of people who are prone to such machinations. Many people of an intellectual persuasion are embarking on a journey now to explore, investigate, and eventually challenge the use of language as a tool to control and manipulate masses of people for results that are not in their better interests, which most certainly should be first and foremost in that equation from a practically common point of view

Perhaps, despite the occluded income motives of this site and the political interventions that it might inspire from its vastly popular status, it may still provide an unbiased and effectually valid referendum for something that creates real cahnge and reformation as we all clearly comprehend and require.

[Lucinda]

13. Interesting

And its not just language that gets used as a tool for manipulation...I used to teach a Intro Speech-Theatre course. On the first day of classes I always spoke about Hitler, and political campaigns. We discussed they way that rhetoric and symbolism were used to manipulate "hearts and minds." My interest in HOW Hitler was able to gain and hold power through manipulation has helped me understand how the current administration could possible have done the same, despite every fact that arises that proves that they lie. Words have power.

Though I find a lot of the infighting here painful to read, I love this place. Warts and all.

[Stardust]

3. During the sixties I was political but pretty young. Then after the war was over, my life

changed with raising children, working and stuff. Carter was in the White House and all was right with the world (at least from my shallow perspective.) The Reagan years were scary (especially how my country could vote an actor who exuded phoniness into the highest office in our land.:puke: ) Still concentrating on family and job during Bush I years, living out of the country much of the time, more concerned with my immediate surroundings and political climate than what was taking place back home. All seemed pretty tranquil during the Clinton years although it sickened me to see him vilified. My cynicism from the sixties roared back to life. After a job lay-off in the spring of 2004, I tuned in with much anticipation to the launch of Air America Radio, and a radical was born. And here I am, back in the underground after all these years. I'd love to see a DU poll of older members: were you hip? or were you straight? (I honestly don't think there was a middle-ground.) Dollar to a donut that more DUers were hip than straight.

Hope you're feeling better wlucinda. My sister was chronically ill for several years. It's hard on everyone involved. And Kudos for memorizing the GA and STILL remembering it! That's amazing!!!

Love, Power, and then Peace.

[Lucinda]

14. Thanks! I'm sorry about your sisters illness...

It can be very tough...the world sort of fades away when you're dealing with that much pain and discomfort, day to day. I'm 'functional" at the moment... :D

I dint get "hip" until I started college (after a divorce) - so I'd be in the gray area if we did take a poll.

[Stardust]

37. Me, too, hip-wise (cute). Already had a kid and a marriage under my

belt. Never really felt like a genuine "hippie" but I sure wasn't "straight, (as in un-hip, not gay) when it came to ideology and goals.

As far as the area you'd be in, I'd vote for blue. So what matters when you made your changes. Many, many didn't I suspect that they're 100% Repupublican. Hated the straights back them, hate them even more now.

Being functional is effin great if you've had bouts where you weren't.

[cassiepriam]

4. Because I have a brain and I know right from wrong.

The Viet Nam War was wrong and I knew it when I was 12.

[Lucinda]

15. Wouldn't it be great if those two things always went hand in hand?

I can remember adults saying things (I was maybe 5) that I knew were pure BS. It seems so simple to me...

[cassiepriam]

45. Me too starting at age 4. :(

[murielm99]

5. I did grow up in a house where politics was discussed.

My parents were Democrats, and my father was union.

We got a local paper, a Chicago paper and a union paper. For some reason, I read them all, starting at about age seven.

We got our first television then, too. I watched the Presidential conventions, and any other political programming.

I was active during the sixties and seventies. I was anti-war and a Watergate junkie. When I moved and raised my family, I voted, and got to know the local Democrats. As a working mother, I did little else.

Then the 2000 election happened. I was livid. With only one child still at home, and that one in high school, my activism was reborn.

[Lucinda]

16. So its in the blood with you? :)

I'm still surprised at the number of people that I know who are oblivious. They have absolutely no interest in what's happening.

[murielm99]

35. I think it is in the blood.

There have been recent studies that show actual brain differences between Democrats and Republicans. There have been studies that show differences in temperament in children, and indications that those differences can predict if children will grow up to be conservative or liberal.

I am surprised too when I meet people who simply do not care. I see it in my community all the time. I see it when I walk my precinct.

To be fair, it is harder to get information these days. The newspapers and television do not really give us the news any more. Many people do not have time or do not know how to dig for it.

[raccoon]

43. Many people don't know that the newspapers and television don't really give us the news.

I didn't know that myself as recently as Gulf War Part I.

[ixion]

6. I wasn't until BushCo

Actually, I had been very active in politics in high school and into college, but then decided to go a different route that required apolitical observation. I guess at heart, I'm still not really political, because I call'em as I see'em. However, the I have been more vocal since BushCo took over, because I can't believe that people actually tolerate his brand of fascist 'democracy'(sic).

[Lucinda]

17. The public acceptance of this admin is one of the greatest puzzles I've ever seen

I can understand how Hitler could have come into existence, but I dont see anything in our recent history thats sooooo traumatic that people should have rushed to poke their heads in the sand.

Maybe they were traumatized by all the Clinton sex talk? :D

[Lobster Martini]

7. Watergate, Hunter S. Thompson, Ronald Reagan, and my coolest pal

Watergate taught me that no one can be trusted; Hunter S. Thompson showed me that politics can be evil, inhumane and a hell of a lot of fun at the same time (Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 is still in an easily accessible place on my bookshelf); Reagan proved that the devil is smiling at you while misquoting Bruce Springsteen; and my pal reminded me that people I didn't vote for make decisions that affect my life.

[Lucinda]

18. Thanks for mentioning the book

I haven't read it...will check it out.

[Lobster Martini]

38. PLease do...Hunter S. Thompson should be the patron saint of DU...

Of course, one might suggest that he might have made a few bad decisions towards the end of his life...but the books are what they are. alternately weird, insightful and devoid of all moral values...and at least in this house, always within a ten foot radius. Read Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72. It is worth it.

[Perry Logan]

8. I got started trying to figure out why Republicans kept winning elections.

I noticed that Republican policies always fail. In fact, they fail catastrophically, causing many foreigners to die, and money to hemorrhage out of the country.

Republican policies always failed, and yet no one was pointing out this obvious fact. Furthermore, the polls always show that most Americans favor liberal policies by a wide margin.

And yet the Republicans kept on winning elections--only to screw things up still more--and then win still more elections! And still, no one anywhere was wondering what was up. You didn't have to be a political scientists to smell a rat. So I got interested in the scam that U.S. politics has become.

[Lucinda]

19. It is amazing isnt it?

We have rabidly fanatical Republican family members who are normally nice people, until they start talking politics...then its almost as though they have been posessed. Counter their claims with FACTS and its like we arent speaking the same language anymore. :)

They have been VERY quiet as of late...

[JPettus]

9. Vietnam

And the early 1970's. I was in high school and facing the draft, and watching things on the news like Kent State. It infuriated me, made me feel helpless, and I wanted to be involved.

[Lucinda]

20. That would do it...

That was another one of those times, like now, when you look at whats happening around you, and wonder where your country went.

[DemExpat]

11. I began by wondering at the early age of 4 why African Americans

in East Texas in the mid-1950's were treated so differently than white people treated each other.

It shocked and saddened me then.

DemEx

[Lucinda]

21. It's something I still don't understand...

I know WHY things happened, but I don't understand how anyone could really believe that it was acceptable.

[Bullwinkle925]

12. I'm passionate about humanity.

I'm passionate about right and wrong. That is it in a nutshell for me. I 'bought' into the Golden Rule.
That's what keeps me going - and hoping and fighting for a brighter future for this country as well as this planet.

[Lucinda]

22. Golden Rule-rs Unite!

;)

I found a page at religioustolerance.org that lists variations of the Golden Rule that exist in 21 other religious/belief systems. It could change everything if we followed it...

http://www.religioustolerance.org/reciproc.htm

[illinoisprogressive]

23. my mother indoctronated all of her kids into politics. lol

[Lucinda]

25. :D Good mom! <nt>

[jenmito]

24. I had NO interest at ALL in politics until the Clinton/Monica scandal...

Until then I didn't even know Faux was a Repub. channel. But I started seeing stuff on the news about Clinton and Monica and then one day in K-Mart I saw the book "Monica's Story" and bought it. From that time on, I became REALLY interested in politics. I told my aunt I was reading the book and only then did she tell me she was the assistant secretary of HUD in the Clinton administration! (Susan Wachter is her name). She was so happy I had a new-found interest in politics. She sent me a greeting card that the Gore family gave her. She had pictures with Clinton. Even though I felt Clinton deserved to be impeached at the time, I started studying politics and discovered I was a liberal. I developed M.S. and had to stop working in '99 so I threw myself into politics, and was sooooo interested in the 2000 election, rooting for Gore. From that time on politics has become my top interest. To this day I can't believe I didn't realize "Fox and Friends" were a bunch of RW hacks! I feel like I've learned so much in the past 8 years or so and can't believe how many years I missed out.`

[Lucinda]

27. Wasn't it amazing to see

the "play within the play" for the first time? I was very naive for a long time regarding the news...I bought into all those old black and white movie versions of journalism...you know, the ones where the truth was what mattered, regardless the outcome? :D

[Blue_In_AK]

26. Some politics was discussed at home...

My dad was a good old Roosevelt Democrat ... but what really got me going was the JFK assassination my senior year in high school and then the Vietnam war. My guess is that many of us here were shaped by that.

[Lucinda]

29. I was so young when JFK was murdered that my only personal memory

of the time is seeing my mother standing at the ironing board crying and listening to the news. Then I became really confused when I got a picture of LBJ's family in the mail after we wrote a letter to the White House expressing our sympathy. :D

[Jed Dilligan]

28. Before Bush my only participation was protesting,

and I'm still uncomfortable working "within the system."

In this next one the chips could fall to where I'm back in that position.

[Lucinda]

30. I understand the idea of working within the system

especially when you combine it with the general lack of interest on the publics part - or maybe its apathy? Anyway... I do find it very diffciult to be "patient"...there are times when I wish the powers that be were less concerned about maintaining the status quo (in realtionship to HOW things are done) - and more concerned about actually doing what is right.

[flying rabbit]

31. Never really paid attention to it when I was young.

The 2000 election started my interest in politics. Then after 911 I started paying more attention to it. The snowball kept getting bigger. The more I looked at the game, the more I moved to the left. Now I am just frustrated. It is better to be awake, but sometimes it can be overwhelming.

[Lucinda]

36. I agree...it can be VERY overwhelming.

I feel like I have to take it a bite at a time or I get buried under all the BS. :)

[RushIsRot]

32. I was semi-apolitical until a very close friend gave me a

Molly Ivins book about Shrub. After reading that, I got so angry that I began to take much closer notice of the activities of those in charge. I'm very glad I did! THANKS, MOLLY!

[Lindsey]

33. I always kept an eye on things but never dug deeply at all...

then when Clinton, who I admired, was going through the Lewinsky thing, I got more involved. When the 2000 Supreme Court installment occured, I've been a completely different person. There's no way to decribe the places I've gone emotionally and spritually. I've been so angry that there have been times when I honestly thought I'd loose my mind. Fortunately, I've been turned on to some unconventional spitual teachings that have given me peace and perspective. Growing up my parents were pretty moderate leaning to the left. They were civil rights advocates in the south and taught my siblings and me to never think that we were at a higher level than others because we were white. That's something that is still a part of me and all of my siblings to this day.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

34. Labor union family

[ToeBot]

39. Too poor to have any real power. I like to pretend. nt

[polichick]

40. Growing up, the men in my family talked politics at dinner...

...but I was interested at a very young age and was always jumping into the conversation. At first my mom tried to tell me that females shouldn't discuss politics, religion or sex ~ but I came up with a little-girl version of "Forget it, that's all the good stuff," and she eventually joined in herself. Now she's as politically active as I am.

[More Than A Feeling]

41. Well...

I was first a Democrat because my corporate conservative father liked Clinton, and so I too liked him and his party. I was conservative, because although my public education had taught me that liberals were on the right side of history, I foolishly believed that the liberal project had already been accomplished. I stayed a Democrat because I was for gay marriage, and against the religious right. Howard Dean, classes on social organization and public housing, and the blogosphere made me the proud progressive I am today.

[Totally Committed]

42. I was greatly influenced by my Grandfather.

He thought being able to participate in the political process in "the greatest country on earth" was a gift. He thought the Democratic Party was out to save this country, take care of poverty forever, and make sure every AMerican was equal to another. For years I have been as naive as he was.

Let me just say, he'd be horrified if he were alive today.... so I'm horrified enough for both of us.

TC

[raccoon]

44. I always knew the Vietnam War was wrong, and the stupidity of many

people going along with it and acting as if it were OK and protesting or questioning the war was "bad" infuriated me. As did the murders at Kent State.

The war was so pointless and just a meat-grinder, and yet year after year, the US stayed involved, sending servicepeople into the meat-grinder.

[Irishonly]

46. June 30, 1967

My parents were democrats and my dad was a union man. We watched the news and I was expected to have an opinion. I was only nine when Kennedy was assassinated and I think I reacted more to my parents rage and sorrow.

My dad was a WWII vet and like so many others we never heard about the years in service. Those discussion were only with other vets. My dad was active in the VFW and by 1966 he wasn't liking what he was hearing. My cousin was drafted and my dad wanted to to apply for a deferment but my cousin chose to go into the Marines. He was killed on June 30th, his first day in Nam and his body was never found. The day of his memorial I was in shock. An American Flag was draped over the table and I don't believe that my uncle or dad ever stood without slumped shoulders again.

My protest days started and I started really listening and reading what politicians said. Kent State happened and I saw how the government could turn against its citizens. I read about WWI and WWII. I was sickened about the treatment of the vets and that the government turning against its citizens was nothing new.

I was fortunate to hear Ellsberg speak. I remember the day Nixon resigned. I was sitting in a summer school class and the professor brought in a TV. She told us what we were about to watch was a hell of a lot more important than anything she had to say that day. I swear you could hear the cheers throughout the campus.

I am now disabled and I guess I am an armchair activist. I would have to take my wheelchair to a protest with a protective bubble. My fibro, neuropathy and arthritis are so bad I couldn't stand the jostling. So now I write, call and talk to people one on one. My activism lives on in my daughter. She brought over a group for me to talk to about the environment and Lord knows, I am no scientist. Many of them had never seen the recyclable containers, the canvas bags and didn't know we had completely converted to energy efficient bulbs. They were impressed with the Bush Lied, They Died shirt and the bumper stickers on the fridge until I broke their bubble. I told them the shirts and bomber stickers didn't mean anything until you put actions behind them. Anyone can have a bumper sticker on their car and wear a t-shirt but until you start speaking out and taking action you are no better than the PTB. They asked about the draft and I told them I didn't have a crystal ball but the longer we were invading countries, the smaller our military was going to get. I don't know if I changed someone forever but I hope I planted a seed.