BLUE or RED? The Place/State/Community where you grew up. Influences?

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Fri May 24, 2019, 11:36 PM - Edit history (1)

What influenced your views & politics the most? Teachers, education, parents, college town, religion, history, political science, civics, law. Friends, current events, news media, reading & books, TV, music, films. Union household or town; employment, travel, community or political activism, campaigns. Human rights, civil rights, social justice, environment, peace/anti war, immigration, labor policy, health & disability issues, more.

[nycbos]

1. Bluer than blue.

Upper West Side of Manhattan.

[appalachiablue]

5. Excellent, how fortunate for you and us. Great city and

area that I know somewhat. Brother and sister lived and worked there in the 1980s, mother 1940s wartime.

[Dem2theMax]

2. Born, raised and still living in the same Blue State.

And I swear I was born a Democrat. When it was time for me to register to vote, I didn't have a clue. My mom talked me into registering as a Republican, because that's what she was. My dad was a Democrat.

Even though I was registered as a Republican, I noticed that every time I had a choice, I was always voting for the Democrats. Needless to say, I switched parties.

There wasn't any one specific thing that influenced me to be a Democrat. I have always been a compassionate person, one who looks out for the needs of others before I look out for my own. So I guess I really was born a Democrat.

[appalachiablue]

7. Naturally you followed you instincts, heart and mind. Compassion

definitely is one of the mainstays, caring for others and trying to build a better world. Democratic values.

[doc03]

3. This area was deep blue but changed to deep red with the loss of Union jobs in steel and coal.

My parents loved FDR and were staunch Democrats. I had a union job in the steel industry and
knew the Democrats supported us and the Republicans were anti union.

[appalachiablue]

9. Good for you, those are strong Democratic Party associations,

similar to the area I was raised and the parental views I absorbed.

[riverine]

4. Red state near a river (thus the name)

Luckily I went to college where "librul arts" professors were the greatest influence I could ever have.

From Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter) to Melville to Twain (my hero) to Faulkner to Penn Warren and Walker Percy and Vonnegut the profs in the South taught me how to be a humanist and/or liberal.

[appalachiablue]

11. How lucky you are, liberal arts education and studying literary

greats, from the south. Excellent.

[Generic Brad]

6. Red town in a blue state

Now I live in a blue town in a red state. Go figure.

[appalachiablue]

12. You've seen it all That must require adaptability, having broad

perspectives, tolerance, understanding and more.

[Liberal In Texas]

8. The Viet Nam war.

Became a "liberal from the 60s" marched and if my lottery number hadn't been 341, I would be a Canadian citizen today.

Plus, I believe in progressive things and always have. Equal rights, ecology, peace, etc.

Yes, reading is important. It doesn't matter if you read non-fiction or fiction. Fiction is just as important: Brunner, Silverberg, Updike, Heller, Clarke, Kerr, Hillerman, Roddenberry, Kosinsky, Serling, Asimov (who I met), Dick, Bradbury. I could go on and on.

Thinking made me liberal. Not propaganda.

[appalachiablue]

13. The war was such a critical issue then, glad you made it

through. Agree that reading is so important, and Thinking! as you well know.

[RandySF]

10. Purple

Grew up in suburban Detroit. Becoming a parent pushed me pretty far to the left.

[appalachiablue]

15. I can understand how parenting and concern Re the future,

esp. in these uncertain times would require thinking, compassionate people to be engaged from the left.

[RandySF]

21. Future?

It’s day to day for me.

[appalachiablue]

31. Absolutely, for many people here it's day to day, and

a serious struggle for many others. 'Future' in terms of parenting and children's time ahead is what I meant.

[mia]

14. Not sure if it was red or blue back then

I grew up in Bethesda, MD. and remember my parents and their friends watching the McCarthy hearings on television and the excitement surrounding the election of President Kennedy. Most everyone I knew had parents who worked for the government. We went on school field trips to watch Congress in session in the 50s and 60s. The biggest influence was my father. We enjoyed talking about politics up until his last days in 2015.

[appalachiablue]

23. Lucky to have such a strong environment- McCarthy hearings,

JFK election, filed trips to Congress and discussions with your father. And Bethesda is a fine area, I love Maryland.

[NRaleighLiberal]

16. Blue - Rhode Island. Influences - grandparents and parents and their values

Dad in a union, I was in a union (grocery store prior to grad school). 63 years old, influenced by watching effects of Nam war on TV.

Many of my friends, though, told me "as your income rises, you will become more conservative - and turn republican".

How wrong they were!

Part of it is just me. I don't like authority or authoritarians. Don't believe in either following, or wishing to lead. Typical bleeding heart, but for the whole world, including nature. So having Democratic principles, being liberal, is just who I am and have always been.

[appalachiablue]

18. Strong history and blue associations. Distancing from authoritarianism,

and conservatism expected 'with aging, '- liberalism is natural. In RI, I've seen Newport so far, nice town what I saw.

[NRaleighLiberal]

28. Very nice. Grew up in Pawtucket...

Favorite is a little town near North Kingston called Wickford.

[sprinkleeninow]

54. Husband graduated from URI. We enjoyed RI even after got he obtained his degree..

'Almost' considered living in RI.

Wickford. Friends in CT had a home there. Well, I'll be...

[NRaleighLiberal]

68. we did the zillow thing - those are some pricey, pricey houses!

Clam Cakes and Chowdah on the waterfront. Can't beat that!

[Turin_C3PO]

17. Blue, mostly.

My hometown is a mixture of hippies, cowboys, unionized miners, and Hispanics. Very diverse beliefs. I was influenced by my parents who taught me compassion and empathy as well as a sense of history and a love for science. My parents were teachers, technically Republicans but in actual practice they were liberals.

[appalachiablue]

24. Broad background there, lucky you with those

vital democratic values of labor, diversity, liberal teacher parents , academic study. Democratic.

[Turin_C3PO]

44. Yes sir, Democratic in my bones and blood lol.

Oh my town is Silver City, New Mexico. I love it.

[appalachiablue]

46. Terrific. Knew it and love Santa Fe. Also briefly

visited beautiful Sedona and Phoenix.

[shanti]

19. Red for a long time

but turning blue now, thanks to Katie Porter and others! My maternal family has been in the OC (CA) since 1900. They were farmers and AFAIK, all Repubs. My dad, raised in WA, was a Dem and my mother too. I have several maternal cousins, and they're all R's like their parents. I have to choose my words carefully around them or not talk at all.

I lived through Kennedy, Vietnam, and Watergate, but was pretty walled off from politics due to being too busy with kids, etc. My first ever vote was for Jerry Brown 1974, and then Jimmy Carter in 1976

The 2000 election changed EVERYTHING and here we are!

[riverine]

25. Thank you SoCal for giving us Katie Porter and Katie Hill!

Thank you so much!

[appalachiablue]

33. Interesting background, Jerry Brown and Katie Porter

are terrific. I saw Carter debate Ford in 1976, such a good American. 2000 election, nightmare/kickoff to 21st cent.

[Leith]

20. Born and raised in Flint, MI

I wasn't in a shop household, but everyone I knew had stories of the grandfathers, uncles, and neighbors participating in the 1936-37 sitdown strike. One friend had a memory of being a kid being woken up in middle of the night by a loud noise. He looked out the window and there were tanks rolling down his street toward the factory.

I was in junior high Civics class when the Watergate hearings were being shown on TV. I thought that Sam Ervin was the smartest man I had ever seen. Not long after that, college students exercising their freedom of assembly rights peacefully were gunned down by wannabe tough soldiers. I still don't understand how anyone could support the crooked and corrupt rethug party.


To this day, I am strongly pro-union, liberal as hell, and proud of it.

[appalachiablue]

26. That's all wonderful, good for you Leith. That famous strike was huge,

I remember Sam Ervin, Howard Baker, Lowell Weicher and all the W.Gate figures as well. One time in DC late 1970s I walked right in front of Judge Sirica standing outside a drugstore.

[tinrobot]

22. Red State and parents LOVED Nixon.

I absorbed all of that as a kid, even read Ayn Rand in high school.

I rejected it in my 20's. Moved to a blue state and have been a Democrat ever since.

[appalachiablue]

27. Terrific, what a real change but you seem

definite so it's all good. Stay Blue!

[gopiscrap]

29. born and lived in Frankfurt am Main Germany

very liberal

[appalachiablue]

35. Good for you, have travelled through F. a couple times

on the way to Munchen, Freibourg, Austria, Switzerland, Italy. Danke.

[gopiscrap]

37. I love those areas bitteshoen

[a la izquierda]

69. One of my favorite places.

I’ll be there for 6 weeks later this year.

[nolabear]

30. It's complicated.

The Mississippi Coast and New Orleans are just not like other places. Extreme liberalism and conservatism are often two sides of the same coin.

[appalachiablue]

42. That's so interesting, I loved the culture and vibes of New

Orleans. Totally surprised me, just love it.

[GReedDiamond]

32. MLK/Malcolm X/Civil Rights, YIPPIES/Viet Nam war, "marijuana" legalization...

...and the "counterculture" were all significant in forming my political and overall philosophical/societal/cultural views.

Not to mention that I was anti-nuke power back in the day - still am.

I almost forgot to mention the JFK assassination, that was a factor as well.

The "blue or red" concept wasn't even a thing back then.

[appalachiablue]

38. Strong history there, so correct that 'red or blue' states

didn't even exist until more recent times. After 10 years, I'm becoming tired of it, and all the other lethal, growing divisions.

[GReedDiamond]

41. Yeah, I was thinkin about researching when the "red vs blue states" thing...

...materialized but I said to myself - "fuck it."

I'd rather look at this:

So I did.

I just know that the red/blue state thing didn't exist in the media when we had people like Walter Cronkite reading the news.

[saidsimplesimon]

34. SE KY, coal country

Early influences can see reversals when the light can't be blocked where the sun doesn't shine.

My grandmother was, what I came to understand in charitable terms, a cunning cynic. She freely admitted her vote was available to the highest bidder. It's long story, oft told.

[appalachiablue]

40. Hi central A. coal country person. You grandmother sounds

like a character, that area produces plenty of them and it's great. I appreciate colorful people, we have a number in my group.

[saidsimplesimon]

43. Sucks, I suspected you

were an influential person. Colorful and Character...not exactly positive attributes for joining any group.

(big grin here)

[appalachiablue]

45. Whut, I have no influence, except with my pooches maybe :)

Sometimes families need a few 'steady' types to tone characters when things get wild, makes good sense.

[saidsimplesimon]

47. This is wild?

A great sense of humour is best for all characters. Now, I could tell some truly wild stories about living on Trumbull in Detroit.

[Liberal In Texas]

36. Are you a Brit?

Just wondering due to the flag icon.

[appalachiablue]

39. Briefly lived & studied in Britain; dreams (fantasies) of returning. Lol.

[sprinkleeninow]

58. Stepdad British. We visited his family in the mid 70's. It was wunnerful! 😤 eom

[Liberal In Texas]

59. Wife is a Brit, just got her US citizenship.

Voted for the first time in local elections last month.

Actually first time she's ever voted. Never in England either. Anyway, one of the reasons she said she got her US citizenship was to vote against the Orange Man LOL.

[appalachiablue]

60. Congrats and that's super. On behalf of DU and the DNC

please thank her heartily!

[Hoyt]

48. I grew up among Dixiecrats, basically Southerners not comfortable with anyone different

but so thankful for Social Security that saved a lot of farmers and older poor people. Most of those Dixiecrats started migrating to the GOP after the Civil Rights Act.

I was pretty much apolitical, but did not subscribe to the racial hatred at the time. I had a professor my first quarter at a conservative college who was a true liberal rebel and set us straight, particularly with respect to racism and Vietnam. Thank goodness for that professor and a few more like him I had along the way.

[appalachiablue]

50. Many thanks to the influential teachers esp. in the 1960s.

What I've seen of the lower South includes Charleston, Savannah and their beautiful coastal areas, Atlanta briefly, NOLA and Florida. I haven't really spent time inland although there are distant relatives in NC and GA.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

49. Third grade, Catholic school, 1960 election...

My introduction to politics was at that time and that's when I identified as a Democrat even though I was too young to grasp much beyond the fact that JFK was Catholic too, which was a huge deal. The nuns were for JFK, my parents voted for him, so I was for JFK too. At the same time, I was imprinting on the love your neighbor/do good works teachings during religion classes, which complemented my Democratic identity as I grew and learned more about politics.

I'm now religion-free, but still a Democrat!

[appalachiablue]

53. Sounds good, great era for America, JFK, Dems.

[sprinkleeninow]

52. True Blue! My momma and dad. So grateful for their wisdom. n/t.

💙🇺🇸💪🗽

[appalachiablue]

57. Good for you, how wonderful of your parents.

[akraven]

55. Very red, but dad was blue.

Try Alaska for weird politics! We gave y'all Don Young and Sarah...………..

[Irishxs]

56. Grew up in Fl during 60's. That had a huge impact on me. Still have the same belifs at 69 yrs.

[Billy Ray Joe Bob.]

61. Music

Grew up in the Pacific northwest and played music for many years. Most musicians are pretty accepting people and my parents were pretty much Democrat. I remember when Nixon was elected my father said he could not believe that crook was president. Life has been good to me and I never take it for granted.

[Stonepounder]

62. I grew up in Columbus, Ohio

Fairly red. I can say with absolute certainty that my parents influenced my views and politics more than anything else in my life.

My father was a clinical psychologist working at the Columbus State Hospital. He taught me to not judge people beforehand, to accept people for who and what they were, and to understand that mental illness was just that, just another sort of illness. My father was also color blind when it came to race. We kids literally never even noticed skin color, any more than as children we actively noticed eye or hair color. I had no idea that my best friend was black until somebody made a snarky comment about it, and even then I didn't believe I actually looked at him again. (It didn't do anything for my friendship with him, but it really did chill the friendship with the kid who made the snarky comment.)

He moved on to become a "pastoral counselor" at a large (and very conservative) church. In reality you could drop the 'pastoral' from his job title. He was a damn good therapist. The church was so large that it had several 'ministers'. My dad only actually preached a couple of times a year.

The church threatened to fire my dad because he signed the Fair Housing Pledge*. He said, go ahead, but be aware that if you do I will preach a final sermon explaining to the congregation why I am leaving. If you won't let me preach, I'll be on the phone to every reporter who will listen to me and tell them why a Christian Minister was fired for being a Christian. He didn't get fired.

My dad was the kind of guy who never met a stranger, so they had friends who were Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, and every color you can imagine. I learned about the horrors of WWII when I asked one of our Jewish friends what the number tattooed on their arm meant.

I could write as much about my mother who nurtured my love of reading, who taught me critical thinking, who never missed a school play, who was my Den Mother when I was in Cub Scouts and on and on.

That's where I got my values.

*For those of you who missed the 50's and 60's, the 'Fair Housing Pledge' said that you would sell your home to any qualified buyer regardless of race, color, or creed. It was a really big deal at the time.

[sakabatou]

63. I live in Blue, and I think the person who influenced me the most was Olbermann

[Honeycombe8]

64. Born & raised in red. I think it was movies & the news that influenced me most. Liberal by 10.

Don't underestimate the impact of movies. I saw movies about the Nazis, the Holocaust, Frank Capra movies, Grapes of Wrath, Gone With the Wind, It's A Wonderful Life, Member of the Wedding, etc. All those movies had a big impact on me. I also saw and heard about the civil rights movement, which was going on at the time (early 60s), which also had a big impact on me. I remember mulling that issue over at the age of about 10.

[marlakay]

65. Grew up in Napa, CA in 60's

Before tourists came, small town friendly. My parents were Kennedy Democrat’s took me to a campaign drive by in Bay Area for Robert in late 60’s.

Always lived west coast CA, WA, OR. Live in Oregon now in conservative city but close to liberal college town where I hang out more.

Feel lucky to live out west I love it.

My dad influenced me the most we would have long talks when I was a teen about politics. He died in 2000 before Gore election, he wouldn’t have believed all this could happen again. I use to watch the Watergate investigation with him.

[Retrograde]

66. My grandfather told me never vote for a Republican

That was back c. 1972 when I was first eligible to vote. I have followed his advice ever since.

[sinkingfeeling]

67. Grew up in the middle of Ohio, mostly blue back then, but red as

can be now.