I was always aware, (Reply #140) - Democratic Underground

In the discussion thread: when did your political awakening happen? [View all]

Response to EricaGriswoldAuthor (Original post)

Tue Oct 15, 2019, 01:48 PM

hermetic (7,962 posts)

140. I was always aware,

due to growing up in a military family, living on bases. First major thing I recall is the Cuban Missile Crisis. We kids were all worried we'd be bombed or that our dads would be sent away. JFK's assassination had a huge effect on me and my family. Nixon made me realize our government was far from perfect.

To this day I still march in protests, work for state Dem's at fairs and go door-to-door encouraging people to vote. Last weekend I attended an ACLU Activist Training session. As several of us there said, "I can't believe I'm still having to protest this shit!"

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163 replies	Author	Time	Post
when did your political awakening happen? [View all]	EricaGriswoldAuthor	Oct 2019	OP
Bobby Kennedy's assassination	uppityperson	Oct 2019	#1
Mine too. I was 16 then.	ProudMNDemocrat	Oct 2019	#103
i graduated from high school on the NIGHT Bobby Kennedy was killed	trueblue2007	Oct 2019	#156
+1.	lastlib	Oct 2019	#112
Reagan's election	LeftInTX	Oct 2019	#2
Same here	Sherman A1	Oct 2019	#14
Me too!	Meadowoak	Oct 2019	#81
Moi aussi!	Mme. Defarge	Oct 2019	#47
my mom and grandma told me	EricaGriswoldAuthor	Oct 2019	#69
Me too - when I saw Reagan during the debates.	Marie Marie	Oct 2019	#61
condescending bastard. I hated him after that nt	yellowdogintexas	Oct 2019	#120
Reagan's inauguration for me	stopwastingmymoney	Oct 2019	#89
Yup. How that was so orchestrated.	LiberalLovinLug	Oct 2019	#152
Me too!	Dustlawyer	Oct 2019	#111
The Iran-Contra hearings	shenmue	Oct 2019	#3
Nixon.	TreasonousBastard	Oct 2019	#4
Yup. 17 I was.	benld74	Oct 2019	#39
Nixon's the One	lapfog_1	Oct 2019	#87
+++++++++++	HAB911	Oct 2019	#108
70 - 71. Just because I got out of my small town bubble and bothered to see other viewpoints.	dameatball	Oct 2019	#5
I went to NM's Boys State	Turin_C3PO	Oct 2019	#6
Sep 11.	pnwest	Oct 2019	#7
Most people flocked to Bush on 9/11	Polybius	Oct 2019	#98
2000	Ahpook	Oct 2019	#8
Me too... even though my parents were quite liberal	Upthevibe	Oct 2019	#83
The Iraq war is what did it for me. However my grandma was a poll worker every election	Luciferous	Oct 2019	#9
Nixon's re-election	tnlurker	Oct 2019	#10
I don't remember exactly when I began to notice politics	leftieNanner	Oct 2019	#11
After I voted for that lying pos Reagan. nt	doc03	Oct 2019	#12
The Gulf War, I was 13 and fell in love with politics. And	dewsgirl	Oct 2019	#13
JFK assassination	lordsummerisle	Oct 2019	#15
I can only imagine	Ahpook	Oct 2019	#19
My earliest recollection of TV was Kennedy funeral	liberal N proud	Oct 2019	#28
I paid attention but not too much until 911	rainy	Oct 2019	#16
Always into politics	MaryMagdaline	Oct 2019	#17
Kennedy assasination began the process	zeusdogmom	Oct 2019	#18
I'm old--JFK's campaign grabbed my attention.	JohnnyLib2	Oct 2019	#20
me, too	alterfurz	Oct 2019	#115
I was born awake, as far as I know, and never went to sleep.	Ms. Toad	Oct 2019	#21
after the evangicals didn't show up for bob dole back in th 90's	SterlingPound	Oct 2019	#22
When Bush was lying his way into Iraq	JonLP24	Oct 2019	#23
During the 92 Presidential Campaign...	NewDayOranges	Oct 2019	#24
My mother worked campaigns, even managed a state senators campaign	liberal N proud	Oct 2019	#25
Anita Bryant	Skittles	Oct 2019	#26
She went to my HS and played Nelly when we put on South Pacific in 55-56	bobbieinok	Oct 2019	#71
Somewhere around my senior year in high school.	llmart	Oct 2019	#27
I was born this way.	Hugin	Oct 2019	#29
same here (see my post below) nt	yellowdogintexas	Oct 2019	#121
Jack, Bobby and Vietnam were probably 3 of the	Golden Raisin	Oct 2019	#30
we must be about the same age.	yellowdogintexas	Oct 2019	#122
Summer 1968, watching the conventions with an older friend.	House of Roberts	Oct 2019	#31
me too	not_the_one	Oct 2019	#144
Around 2004	sakabatou	Oct 2019	#32
2000 when the supreme court appointed bush	kimbutgar	Oct 2019	#33
Born to it.	The_jackalope	Oct 2019	#34
My Dad was a committeeman for our ward. He would pay me	livetohike	Oct 2019	#35
My parents always voted and so I did too.	BlueTsunami2018	Oct 2019	#36
from Eisenhower's 1956 election (I recall family sad about losing Stevenson,)	elleng	Oct 2019	#37
In the fifth grade...	The Figment	Oct 2019	#38
I went to CU, too!	Raftergirl	Oct 2019	#43
Loved Boulder	The Figment	Oct 2019	#51
Things change	Raftergirl	Oct 2019	#57
No	The Figment	Oct 2019	#58
Not surprising	Raftergirl	Oct 2019	#66
Friend went to teach German there in 60s right out of grad school.	bobbieinok	Oct 2019	#73
Early 1960's	Raftergirl	Oct 2019	#40
Greenpeace	WVGal1963	Oct 2019	#41
My grandma was a hardcore liberal .my family	I_UndergroundPanther	Oct 2019	#143
May 4, 1970	CanonRay	Oct 2019	#42
I always voted, but my real awakening was Shock and Awe.	Crunchy Frog	Oct 2019	#44
Really early.	2naSalit	Oct 2019	#45
1994, with the Contract ON America. NT	Bleacher Creature	Oct 2019	#46
summer of '68..	dixiegrrrrl	Oct 2019	#48
Voted for Nixon in my first election..	Permanut	Oct 2019	#49
Carter-Ford, at the ripe old age of 7.	TwilightZone	Oct 2019	#50
Kent State 1970 couple weeks before my high school graduation.	IADEMO2004	Oct 2019	#52
Kent state	Ferryboat	Oct 2019	#145
My first real political memory was the election of 1972 - I was just blown away by Shirley Chisholm!	FM123	Oct 2019	#53
1992 - Clinton vs. Bush	scrabblequeen40	Oct 2019	#54
Watergate, the fall of South Vietnam and Jonestown . . .	hatrack	Oct 2019	#55
Jimmy Carter, first vote	Baked Potato	Oct 2019	#56
When the Smarra Mosque bomb went off...	Volaris	Oct 2019	#59
April 30, 1970.	WhiteTara	Oct 2019	#60
Probably when I smoked my first joint. Fall, '68	WheelWalker	Oct 2019	#62
2000 election showed me what ruthless, power hungry mad men conservatives were.	Initech	Oct 2019	#63
Little by little.	smirkymonkey	Oct 2019	#64
I Was Thinking	RobinA	Oct 2019	#65
Mostly JFK election. Lots of dem college friends. And I WAS'NT 21 and COULDN'T VOTE--	bobbieinok	Oct 2019	#67
here was mine	EricaGriswoldAuthor	Oct 2019	#68
Realizing the people who hated me for being gay had a name: Republicans.	NCLefty	Oct 2019	#70
When I maxxed @80K in college loan debt and some a**hole tried to blame it on me	Bonx	Oct 2019	#72
Bork nomination. At least, my first letters to my senators to vote NO.	question everything	Oct 2019	#74
Taking political science	oswaldactedalone	Oct 2019	#75
My family always voted (and voted Dem)	TDale313	Oct 2019	#76
Working on RFK's Nebraska Primary.	Sneederbunk	Oct 2019	#77
I finally became a hardcore democrat over health care policy	ooky	Oct 2019	#78
My dad was a political junkie. He came from a political family. Stories	applegrove	Oct 2019	#79
That's quite a story!!!	LeftInTX	Oct 2019	#93
1976. I was 9.	GaYellowDawg	Oct 2019	#80
'68. Martin, Bobby, the whole dreadful year.	nolabear	Oct 2019	#82
Randomly happened upon Fox News in my college dorm	ecstatic	Oct 2019	#84
Second grade. 1952. I remember reading about the candidates in Parade magazine.	hedda_foil	Oct 2019	#85
Can you imagine what Ike would be saying about current events?	yellowdogintexas	Oct 2019	#124
Everett Dirksen	Iterate	Oct 2019	#159
2000 for me is when I really woke up.	SlogginThroughIt	Oct 2019	#86
Our last honorable Republican president...	Binkie The Clown	Oct 2019	#88
I was a child under Reagan.	herding cats	Oct 2019	#90
1963 - When George Wallace closed my school	ThoughtCriminal	Oct 2019	#91
The Vietnam war	Cartoonist	Oct 2019	#92
1982. Ohio State Senate	Dirty Socialist	Oct 2019	#94
5th grade, history teacher ms. Miller, then social studies ms. Brown during Iran hostage crisis	onetexan	Oct 2019	#95
Parents always voted but weren't "political." I got into it my first year of college & by the time	Hekate	Oct 2019	#96
1996 was my first election and I voted for Dole	Polybius	Oct 2019	#97
JFK's winning the nomination at the 1960 Democratic Convention in Los Angeles...	VOX	Oct 2019	#99
high school	handmade34	Oct 2019	#100
1967 and anti-Vietnam war	vlyons	Oct 2019	#101
Bush v Gore	brucefan	Oct 2019	#102
Between age three and four	malaise	Oct 2019	#104
1960 Kennedy vs Nixon	wnylib	Oct 2019	#105
I forgot about the McCarthy hearings!!	yellowdogintexas	Oct 2019	#125
McCarthy hearings	wnylib	Oct 2019	#157
i was always reading the paper. we had a good lefty editorial cartoonist. then i discovered c-span	pansypoo53219	Oct 2019	#106
Baby I was born this way	Sedona	Oct 2019	#107
I always voted, and was alway aware (Watergate, Iran-Contra), but	phylny	Oct 2019	#109
I've always been aware of what was going on, even at a young age.	Vinca	Oct 2019	#110
I was at Boy Scout camp in August of '74.	bluedigger	Oct 2019	#113
Weeks after Sept 11th, 2001	JesterCS	Oct 2019	#114
1968	treestar	Oct 2019	#116
Clear Memory	ConstanceCee	Oct 2019	#117
Politics and atheism came together for me at about 12	LakeArenal	Oct 2019	#118
born into it. Fully indoctrinated by age 8	yellowdogintexas	Oct 2019	#119
The summer of 1968	ChazInAz	Oct 2019	#123
Regan cheese growing up Appalachian	TEB	Oct 2019	#126
Ann Richards had an impact on me in middle school	Mersky	Oct 2019	#127
Election 2000	mainstreetonce	Oct 2019	#128
1980 election when I was 10. At first I thought Reagan	muntrv	Oct 2019	#129
The 2000 Presidential Primaries.	Act_of_Reparation	Oct 2019	#130
Spring 1954 - Army McCarthy Hearings.	RichardRay	Oct 2019	#131
Actively? When I realized the right was deploying Scaife strategy to nullify Bill Clinton	Grasswire2	Oct 2019	#132
I grew up mostly with my grandmother	Bettie	Oct 2019	#133
Probably not long after I started reading MAD Magazine as a kid.	MineralMan	Oct 2019	#134
9/11	VWolf	Oct 2019	#135
In 1952 I was 8 years old, and	frogmarch	Oct 2019	#136
My dad was union.	murielm99	Oct 2019	#137
1986 !	stonecutter357	Oct 2019	#138
Grew up in a left wing household	I_UndergroundPanther	Oct 2019	#139
Assembly of God church	Turin_C3PO	Oct 2019	#148
Me too.	I_UndergroundPanther	Oct 2019	#158
I was always aware,	hermetic	Oct 2019	#140
GWB	JeaneRaye	Oct 2019	#141
This message was self-deleted by its author	elocs	Oct 2019	#142
Summer of 1968.	SeattleVet	Oct 2019	#146
I was 4, with help wrote LBJ "Please stop the Vietnam War"	MasonDreams	Oct 2019	#147
Unfortunately I was politically wake for the wrong side from my Jr High years.	GulfCoast66	Oct 2019	#149
I first became interested in politics during the Watergate impeachment trial.	Nitram	Oct 2019	#150
As a kid, I was inspired by...	polichick	Oct 2019	#151
There was no escaping politics in my childhood.	hunter	Oct 2019	#153
1964: Johnson v Goldwater	The Blue Flower	Oct 2019	#154
60s/Vietnam/Cold War	moondust	Oct 2019	#155
1973, with the growing scandal named Watergate. I was 12 and what was happening	madinmaryland	Oct 2019	#160
To genx, millenials, etc	wnylib	Oct 2019	#161
Reading the Kerner Commission report	central scrutinizer	Oct 2019	#162
Geraldine Ferraro's VP nomination in 1984 nt	SaulofTucson	Oct 2019	#163

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