For me I guess it was a slow process from the time I was like 11 through high school, as I got more aware of the world. Initially I only understood common stuff like social concerns or people who were in a hard situation (i.e. homeless, abused women, runaway kids). I guess part of me always wanted to help everyone out and make them feel better. I used to sometimes watch the news or shows like Dateline, in late elementary and middle school, so that made me more in tune with things I guess. There was personal stuff in my life too (i.e. my parents being split up temporarily, and mom being with a loser, chauvenist-esque boyfriend on and off) which probably contributed to me being a feminist.

My compassionate, giving and understanding nature probably made me become more Liberal...but to be honest I don't even want to call myself a 100% Lib (even if I'm more left) just because I'm usually good at seeing both sides of an issue or the way most people think. In fact, that's what I wish everyone would try and do. There are some right-leaning things I agree with too, and they make lots of valient points as well.

Later on something that also got me more aware of politics was from Jerry Springer. Yeah I know you're shaking your head, but seriously, hear me out on this. :D

It's funny because when I first learned he was a politician and used to be mayor of Cincinnati I was like "whoa no way!" but it actually made sense to me after awhile. He was intellectual and compassionate, and I sometimes saw reruns of his really old episodes (in the early-mid '90s) when the show was serious. I admired his sincere side and when his autobiography came out around 1998, there were things he said (both about social issues in general, or stuff I learned about his life) that were just really practical and well worded. Like I may have felt a similar way, but couldn't put it into words that well.

Corny as it sounds, stuff like that actually helped me through my teen years.

  As someone once reminded me - you may not be interested in politics but politics are interested in you...

For me it was the 2000 election -- of course I was only 11 at the time, lol.  But it was the first time I actually got into anything like politics which seemed totally boring to me before that.

This board.  I'm not going to lie.  I didn't really give a crap about politics until I came on here and started conversing with people like Don Carlos and Catwoman and Danoota on different things.  It made me realize how ig'nant I was, so I started reading more about the US Government and how it works and what goes on that affects the well being of all of us.

^ Yeah this board has helped me become better versed and knowledgeable about stuff too.


For me it was the 2000 election -- of course I was only 11 at the time, lol.  But it was the first time I actually got into anything like politics which seemed totally boring to me before that.

Oh yeah I was like 12 too, so I know what you mean. I remember hearing names like Saddam Hussein and thought "who's that" and didn't much care. I peripherally knew about the Gulf War in early 1991 (when I was 9 and a half). I had no idea what it was, but I was a little scared lol, although I felt good about it when it was over.

Oh yeah I was like 12 too, so I know what you mean. I remember hearing names like Saddam Hussein and thought "who's that" and didn't much care.

(I love this thread.  Your beginning sounds like mine, except it was a different bad guy.)

I was probably around 10 years old.  One of the TV stations used to air WW2 documentaries an hour or two after the Saturday morning cartoons.  The good kind of documentaries, where, over the course of a 13-week season, they covered an entire campaign from Hitler's rise to power and the invasion of Poland, all the way through to the fall of Berlin, and the next 13-week season would cover the rise of Japanese nationalism that lead to Pearl Harbor, all the way through Hiroshima.  The first episode of every season was, of course, about the prelude to the war. 

I'd usually watch my cartoons and go back to whatever else I did on my childhood weekends, occasionally seeing my Dad watching his weird TV show that was always in black-and-white.  Lots of stuff blew up, but it was a pretty boring action movie.  Just a guy talking in a British accent while stuff blew up.  Same thing every week.  I didn't get why my Dad watched it.

So one weekend I'm walking by, and by sheer accident, it's the first episode of the European Campaign season.  I see a funny-looking guy with the moustache raving in German at a crowd of screaming fans.  I don't know a word of German, but I know happy fans when I see 'em.  And the crowd is loving this guy, great big grins on their faces, and they're all waving at him with their right hands.

"Who's that guy?  What's he saying?"  (I have no idea why the crowd loves him, but he must be pretty cool if he can get a reaction like that, right? :)

"Son, that man is a very evil man."

"Huh?  Everyone's happy!"

"Sit down, son.  I think you're finally old enough to watch this show with me."

I was hooked.

Learned what the Holocaust was a few weeks later.  Learned that just because the Russians were our friends during WW2, didn't mean their leader (Joe Stalin, another guy with a funny moustache :) was a nice guy either.  Learned about Nanking a few months down the road, and ended my summer vacation by learning what nuclear weapons could do.  50,000,000 people died in WW2, ultimately because they held different incompatible political views.  I obviously didn't understand the fine points, but at least I'd figured out that this "politics" stuff mattered.

I've been a history buff ever since.  Also been scared to death of any politician who's good with a crowd, funny moustache or not.  The 20th century was the first century in human history in which a civilians were more likely to be murdered by their own governments (10M German civilians killed by Hitler, 20-50M Russians killed or starved out by Stalin, and 50M Chinese civilians from Mao's Great Leap Forward, and 10M random Chucks from the combined forces of totalitarianism's peanut gallery such as Idi Amin, Pol Pot, and Kim Jong-Il) than from either street thugs (random genocides a'la Rwanda or Darfur) or foreign military forces (around 50-70M total civilian and military deaths in WW1, WW2, and the various Cold War proxy wars) combined.

As much as we laugh at it from time to time, yeah, this politics stuff matters.  We can't change it, but at least our rulers have deigned to let make funny photoshop caricatures of them, and fight each other over which of their representatives we prefer.  As Hitler, Stalin and Mao found out the hard way, and as the West has found out by learning from their mistakes, a population is much easier to control when it has a multiplicity of ineffective and harmless ways to blow off steam.  Long live bread, circuses, and lulz :)

I was 8, my Dad took me to a town hall meeting that former congressman Robert Walker (R) was holding.  I told him I was a die-hard Republican.  I was also a Reagan fan.  As I grew up and realized what my political views were I leaned more Democrat.  What got me into political activism was meeting the late Senator Paul Wellstone.  I've worked on quite a few campaigns and now I'm working for a group that lobbies for single-payer universal health care.

This board.  I'm not going to lie.  I didn't really give a crap about politics until I came on here and started conversing with people like Don Carlos and Catwoman and Danoota on different things.  It made me realize how ig'nant I was, so I started reading more about the US Government and how it works and what goes on that affects the well being of all of us.


Thanks Jess.
I got interested in high school and especially watching the Nixon-Kennedy debates on TV.  Unlike most people, I started as a conservative, but gradually came to realize that most of what they had to say was coded and implied racism and classism.  The more I read and saw, the more radical I became.  The time I spent in Chile doing dissertation research (1971-72, Allende was pres.) was also transformational.

Discovering politicians were to blame for how crappy our lives can be.

I always voted but never really paid much attention. It was probably the election of 1996 with the House race of Bernie against Republican Susan Sweetser. I was watching the news and Susan just walking out of her office to do a meet & greet on the street (which is why the news camera was there). The first person she met, she extended her arm and said, "I'm Susan Sweetser and I'm running for Congress." The person said, "You are too conservative for me" and just kept on walking (no handshake). I was ROTFLMAO!!!! Also, at that time, I was dating a VERY political guy. He was such a "bad" influence on me. I must confess that I was a little disappointed when the election was over because that meant the "fun" was over too-until the next one. What happened to that guy I was dating? I married him.  ;)  Yes, he created a monster.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

The Gulf War.

I was gung-ho with Bush Sr. (Yes, I liked the guy.) But when Clinton was elected, I was upset (I still don't like Clinton and I'm not that happy with the Bush family either.)

I got interested in the Democratics was 2006 because I wanted the Bob Taft Administration to be dead. (And I beleive he's the worst Governor that Ohio has ever has.) So I went for Ted Strictland, but I only want a Democrat in there now so that I can see what they do with Bush's mess.

I didn't have any interest in politics at all before the 2000 election. I was on the edge of my seat from the long recount process through the "selection" of George Bush. Then, after 9/11, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the Bush disaster, there's been too much going on in the world to really lose interest.

I grew up in a politically charged atmosphere.  My dad was this kind of angry libertarian hippie back-to-the-lander.  He hated the Kennedys as much as he hated Nixon!  My initial values were ultra-liberal, but closer to Angela Davis than Phil Donahue!  My father used to speak highly of the Black Panthers and Ho Chi Minh. 

I compared the things that worked in my parents' generation (late Silent Generation, not Baby Boomers) had got it right and where they had erred.  I found most of the error social liberalsim (as compared with political or economic liberalism, but which I mean Left). 

I sometimes call myself a pragmatist, but who does not think his own thinking pragmatic?
???

I depart from my upbringing on issues such marital fidelity and familial experimentation.  I think a stable family is invaluable.  Of course, I remained single and had no kids!
:-\\

Without a stable family structure we grow weaker as a society. 

I really became cognizant of politics du jour during the '84 Reagan/Mondale race.  I took real notice of what a crummy candidate Walter Mondale was because Reaganomics was an economic calamity by 1984 and everyone knew it.  They needed a candidate who would bust Reagan's azz and not wimp out at "Well, I can't help it, there you go again!"  That's the best Reagan could do against the provable claim that his policies caused the national debt to double in three years!  ...and yet, people were eating it up!  They couldn't get enough Ronnie!  Reagan was Curly.  We needed a Moe, but we got a Larry.
::)
::)

My parents have always been political.  They're very much Democrats.  My mom's side of the family is mostly Democrats, while most of my Dad's side is Republican.

I guess with this mix of political interests, it only makes sense that I'm a left-leaning Libertarian.

I grew up in a politically charged atmosphere...
...
Without a stable family structure we grow weaker as a society. 

I grew up in a fairly political family, too: my mother ran for parliament when I was 7,8 and 13 (from that, you can work out how old I am to within a couple of months ;))... the first time I stood in front of my class to talk about something (when I was 8), I talked about proportional representation - just what all the other kids would have been interested in.  Not.

I was very politically active up to the point where I went to university, when cynicism kicked in: I looked at the activists in all three parties at uni, nearly all of them in it for themselves :(

While I agree, Max, that a stable family is an ideal, I don't think the state can do a damn thing about it - it shouldn't really be part of the political arena at all.

I didn't have any interest in politics at all before the 2000 election. I was on the edge of my seat from the long recount process through the "selection" of George Bush. Then, after 9/11, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the Bush disaster, there's been too much going on in the world to really lose interest.


Yeah, it's kinda cool in a way to think the 2000 Election got ALOT of people into politics who might've previously not cared. Even my parents got deeper into it then (and I don't remember my mom caring too much before then). I'd say they're easygoing Republicans if I had to classify.

I grew up in a fairly political family, too: my mother ran for parliament when I was 7,8 and 13 (from that, you can work out how old I am to within a couple of months ;))... the first time I stood in front of my class to talk about something (when I was 8), I talked about proportional representation - just what all the other kids would have been interested in.  Not.

I was very politically active up to the point where I went to university, when cynicism kicked in: I looked at the activists in all three parties at uni, nearly all of them in it for themselves :(

While I agree, Max, that a stable family is an ideal, I don't think the state can do a damn thing about it - it shouldn't really be part of the political arena at all.


My generation doesn't seem to be holding up much better than my parents' generation.  I remember growing up the concept of "divorced grandparents" seemed hard to grasp--because nobody's grandparents were divorced.  In my nieces' generation, it's the norm.  Heck, a lot of kids parents nowadays were never married in the first place. 
::)

My true heritage are the original Massachusetts Puritans (Mayflower people) on my mom's side and shirt sleeves-to-shirtsleeves in 3 generations Irish-Americans.  I've got a puritanical streak (to coin an oxymoron), but then I got p*ss-drunk and forget about it!

I suspect my old man hated the Kennedys so much because they were Irish-Americans who got rich at the same time as his family.  The difference is, after 1960 the Kennedys were still rich and his folks were faking it, hanging onto the trickling residuals of trust funds and Social Security! I didn't get much in the way of ethics--outside of social graces--from my dad's side of the family.  That's more mom's side of the family.  Heavily WASP, but progressive and open-minded (many Unitarians and Abolitionists); however, they tend to run themselves loopy with guilt and head-trips!
:D

On the other hand, my dad's mother could charm you over a dry martini with her story about getting a personal tour of the White House with Pat Nixon, who declared in a windowless room: "Isn't the view beautiful from here?"
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/13/laughing7.gif

My true heritage are the original Massachusetts Puritans (Mayflower people) on my mom's side and shirt sleeves-to-shirtsleeves in 3 generations Irish-Americans.  I've got a puritanical streak (to coin an oxymoron), but then I got p*ss-drunk and forget about it!


My grandfather's relative (from my mom's side) is Nelson Miles. And he too was a descendant of the Puritans.

It started in third grade.  Carter was president, Iran had 50 American hostages... and my teacher was quite a bit different than any other teacher I ever had.  We had a TV in the classroom, and we watched the debates on TV and analyzed them.  We had more politically-inspired assignments that year than all other grades combined.  When the hostages were finally about to be set free, once Reagan won the presidency, she played "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" on a record player in the back of our classroom all afternoon.  We were asked to wear yellow ribbons to school.

We did civil war reinactments... I can remember singing a song called "Over There" which I had never heard before third grade, and have never heard since.  I look back on third grade as one of the best.

My grandfather's relative (from my mom's side) is Nelson Miles. And he too was a descendant of the Puritans.


More people than you would expect can trace ancestry to one or more Puritans.  That was my mom's side of the family.  My grandmother's family was from Wakefield and my grandfather's from Williamstown.  I have ancestors buried down the road from me in the Northampton cemeteries.  I'm anchored to Massaschusetts for most of my heritage.  My dad's side of the family were relative newcomers from Ireland via New York City.  By relative newcomer, I mean 1840s rather than 1620s!

So my mom's people were very much steeped in a sort of Liberal Protestantism (socially progressive and stubborn about it). 

When I see GW Bush, I don't see a Texas cowboy, I see a New England prepschool kid with a mohawk.  Nice act, but nobody gives a crap in the real world...but I misunderestimated them all!
:D

I got into politics at about age 10 when watching tv I saw the police open firehoses on "negroes".  I asked my mother who the negroes were and why they were getting beat up.  She said negroes are people like us with dark skin and all those people wanted to do was vote.  The people with hoses were bad people who didn't want them to vote. 

I got into politics at about age 10 when watching tv I saw the police open firehoses on "negroes".  I asked my mother who the negroes were and why they were getting beat up.  She said negroes are people like us with dark skin and all those people wanted to do was vote.  The people with hoses were bad people who didn't want them to vote. 


Yes, that would tend to arouse one's interest to see people being beaten in the street because they looked like you!  That era was a catalyst for the '60 consciousness.  People got it into their hearts; this racism just isn't right. 

I don't think schools teach enough about the culture of the Jim Crow era.  This is not to say we should teach children their country is a bad place.  However, in order to gain a sense of historicity about American culture post-Reconstruction through Civil Rights a person needs to understand the way we actually did things.

Yes, that would tend to arouse one's interest to see people being beaten in the street because they looked like you!  That era was a catalyst for the '60 consciousness.  People got it into their hearts; this racism just isn't right. 

I don't think schools teach enough about the culture of the Jim Crow era.  This is not to say we should teach children their country is a bad place.  However, in order to gain a sense of historicity about American culture post-Reconstruction through Civil Rights a person needs to understand the way we actually did things.


The 50s and 60s showed the good of what television can do.  The images were broadcast around the world so that there wasn't anyone who could claim that they didn't know what was going on.  Unfortunately it has devolved now that people involved in media are more likely to tell you what happens to Paris Hilton than what happens to the poor and disenfranchised.  People need to understand the way things are actually done now.

It started in third grade.  Carter was president, Iran had 50 American hostages... and my teacher was quite a bit different than any other teacher I ever had.  We had a TV in the classroom, and we watched the debates on TV and analyzed them.  We had more politically-inspired assignments that year than all other grades combined.  When the hostages were finally about to be set free, once Reagan won the presidency, she played "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" on a record player in the back of our classroom all afternoon.  We were asked to wear yellow ribbons to school.

We did civil war reinactments... I can remember singing a song called "Over There" which I had never heard before third grade, and have never heard since.  I look back on third grade as one of the best.


The famous war song "Over There" was written in 1917.  I hope you teacher was having you sing it during discussions on WWs 1 and 2 and not the Civil War.

The famous war song "Over There" was written in 1917.  I hope you teacher was having you sing it during discussions on WWs 1 and 2 and not the Civil War.



To be more specific, it was written by George M. Cohen (of "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" & "Give My Regards To Broadway" fame).



Cat

We did civil war reinactments... I can remember singing a song called "Over There" which I had never heard before third grade, and have never heard since.  I look back on third grade as one of the best.



Over There!!  One of Cagneys best scenes

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxME4ulgKcw

To be more specific, it was written by George M. Cohen (of "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" & "Give My Regards To Broadway" fame).



Cat

Ah, George M. Cohan, an Irish bandleader with curiously Jewish-sounding name!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_M_Cohan

;)

Danoota is totally right-on about the lessons the media learned from the '60s.  Embedded reporters sounds a little too much like "in-bed-with-reporters" for my liking!
:P

Personally, I really became aware of politics while I was in the military.

I saw the horrible equipment and conditions that many of us had to live with.  Bases with condemned barracks, 20+ year old jeeps, major weapons systems not updated since Vietnam.  Pay that was on par with a job at a fast food joint.

The President at the time was doing the first major pay raises in decades, and spending a huge amount of money on improving equipment and bases.  Yet at the same time, people were screaming that the money would have been better spent on other things, like making homeless shelters and giving every student a free breakfast and lunch.

I became motivated to start looking and researching politics because I rapidly became aware that the decisions made directly affected me.  I was one of the people that would be sent into harms way.  And it became even more important once I got married.

My son is 21, and barely remembers my being in last time.  He does not remember my wife and I being told we made 50 cents to much a month to qualify for food stamps.  He simply can't comprehend how we survived on a monthly income of $1,200 a month (and I can barely comprehend it either, we ate lots of rice and raman noodles).

And over the years, I have found myself becoming both more Conservative, and more Liberal.  My belief in a "safety net" has become stronger, especially since for so long I lived on the street wihout such a net available.  But I have become even stronger when it comes to issues of National Security.  While I believe the US should not be the "Policeman of the World", I also see nobody else stepping up to take the job (and that includes the impotant UN).  Once a big supporter of the UN, real life experience has showed me how worthless the organization has become.  Now I see it as a "League Of Nations II".

Personally, I really became aware of politics while I was in the military.

I saw the horrible equipment and conditions that many of us had to live with.  Bases with condemned barracks, 20+ year old jeeps, major weapons systems not updated since Vietnam.  Pay that was on par with a job at a fast food joint.

The President at the time was doing the first major pay raises in decades, and spending a huge amount of money on improving equipment and bases.  Yet at the same time, people were screaming that the money would have been better spent on other things, like making homeless shelters and giving every student a free breakfast and lunch.
We could have done that last thing with half of one percent of the Pentagon budget.  I don't recall most people being against defense spending to improve the living conditions of soldiers so much as pork barrel weapons contracting. 

I became motivated to start looking and researching politics because I rapidly became aware that the decisions made directly affected me.  I was one of the people that would be sent into harms way.  And it became even more important once I got married.

My son is 21, and barely remembers my being in last time.  He does not remember my wife and I being told we made 50 cents to much a month to qualify for food stamps.  He simply can't comprehend how we survived on a monthly income of $1,200 a month (and I can barely comprehend it either, we ate lots of rice and raman noodles).

And over the years, I have found myself becoming both more Conservative, and more Liberal.  My belief in a "safety net" has become stronger, especially since for so long I lived on the street wihout such a net available.  But I have become even stronger when it comes to issues of National Security.  While I believe the US should not be the "Policeman of the World", I also see nobody else stepping up to take the job (and that includes the impotant UN).  Once a big supporter of the UN, real life experience has showed me how worthless the organization has become.  Now I see it as a "League Of Nations II".




Anybody who has even applied for public aide knows the hassle and humiliation of the nit-picking bureaucracy.  They'll spend more money figuring out how to deny applicants than helping people get something to eat and a roof over their heads!
::)

We could have done that last thing with half of one percent of the Pentagon budget.  I don't recall most people being against defense spending to improve the living conditions of soldiers so much as pork barrel weapons contracting. 


Not true.  And never has been true.  Here is a rough breakdown of whre the money from the 2007 Military budget went to:

Operations and maintenance $152.2 Bil.
Military Personnel $110.8 Bil.
Procurement $84.2 Bil.
Research, Development, Testing & Evaluation $73.2 Bil.
Military Construction $12.6 Bil.
Family Housing $4.1 Bil.
Working Capital Funds $2.4 Bil.


Operations & Maintenance includes things like training, fixing equipment currently in the inventory, repairing bases, and the like.

Personnel is mostly pay and benefits for the military.  It is the #2 spending (and total of $127.5 Bil if housing and other construction is added to that figure).

Procurement is the actual purchasing of equipment.  Everything from Rifles and Tanks, to Medical Equipment and Computers.  These re all purchased from civilian companies, meaning civilian jobs.  And most are contracted years in advance, so any cuts here would not be seen for several years.

R&D, Testing & Evaluation is next on the list, another very important section.  This not only includes things like developing new weapons, but things like research at USAMRIID (the nations foremost research facility in infectious diseases), developing new defensive equipment (everything from reactive armour, THAAD, and UAVs to Uparmored HMMWV and Interceptor Body Armour).

The rest of the list is pretty much self-explanitory.  I have never seen much "pork" in the budget, and it is pretty much all used and then some.  I know that my unit has had to cancel some training, because we are currently around $2 million over-budget for the year.  I have only been in the field 1 time (for 1 week) since April.  My Battalion simply does not have the money to do so.  And because of the recent BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure), there has been major construction on my base to house an entire Armour Division that is being moved here starting next year.  This will effectively double the number of Soldiers on my base.