When did you first know you're a Democrat or progressive?

[mvd]

I'd say it was during the Dukakis/Bush I campaign. I really began to understand the issues and get an identity. Before that, I would hear my parents talk against Reagan, but I could still be swayed by speeches.

[Tobin S.]

1. When I was 28

I had very little knowledge about politics before then and was pretty much a non-political person. The thing that got me interested was 9/11.

[femmocrat]

2. When I went to a Hubert Humphrey rally in 1964.

I still love him and the ideals he espoused.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear mvd...

I had a sense of it from childhood, but I can't say why. I just did not like the people my parents liked...

:shrug:

[mvd]

I really had a good foundation from my parents

They are both strong Democrats and often believe like I do. I'd even say I'm more open to religion than my mom is. My dad had to form his ideas on his own.

Hi Peggy! :hi:

[graywarrior]

4. When my dad explained why he was voting for JFK saying that dems.

were for the working class and repubs were for big business.

[hippywife]

5. I guess when JFK was running for president.

I was only three but my folks said any time I heard his voice on the TV or radio I'd drop everything, evening leaving the dinner table, to sit nearby and listen to him talk.

It was confirmed when I was 11 and wanted to go out to CA to protest the Vietnam War with everyone else.

:hi:

[yellowdogintexas]

7. I think the election before that one but definitely 1960 I was 12

of course my mom was such a yellow dog anyway, I was going to get there myself

[hippywife]

13. My parents and grandparents were Dems

but I would hardly have described them as progressive. Even now my parents are not very liberal. More like Dem out of force of habit.

[Demoiselle]

49. My parents and grandparents were Dems....from North Dakota, of all places..

And pretty liberal, too, I'd say.
So I've never had a choice. Not that I could ever even imagine being a Republican.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

6. You ask a very complicated question for me personally MVD

I'll try and answer it as best as I can :hi:

I first became interested in politics, history and current affairs in the late 1980s –when I was eight or nine –and I think for the first decade of my life, I was either a conservative Democrat or a liberal-to-moderate Republican by the standards of American terminology. On many social issues, I would have classified myself as leaning toward being progressive –particularly on racial and indigenous affairs –but I still had some quite conservative beliefs on some policy issues. In foreign policy I was very hawkish but at the same time I very much believed in internationalism and multilateralism. In terms of economic policy, I was probably quite liberal

I supported the first Bush Administration but then, during the 1992 presidential election, I became inspired by Clinton and I think that was my first flirtation with being a Democrat in terms of the American political landscape. I soon became disillusioned with Clinton because I disagreed with some of his domestic and foreign policy decisions during his first two years in office but, after the Republican Revolution, it woke me up to how evil and repulsive the right wing Gingrich Republicans were and I switched back to Clinton and became an extremely devoted and steadfast Clinton loyalist. I greatly admired the job that Clinton did as President and his visionary policies in many areas and, up until the 2008 primaries, I was one of his staunchest and most passionate defenders. I was disgusted by Ken Starr and all the impeachment nonsense but, at the same time, I was not solidly in the Democratic camp in the sense that, in the post-Clinton aftermath, a particular type of Republican candidate would have been able to woo me back. At that time someone like John McCain or Lamar Alexander would have appealed to me but at the same time so would someone like Bill Bradley or Paul Wellstone (although I didn’t get to know about Senator Wellstone until much later)

All this coincided with politics in my own country, which also had a deep impact on me. I was initially supportive of the Liberal Party (actually the equivalent to the US Republican Party in my country) because at the time it had a very young and dynamic leader who, while being ultra-conservative in terms of economic policy, was actually quite left-wing or at least moderate in terms of social and foreign policy (he would later go on to oppose the Iraq War and many of the Bush Administration’s policies for instance). Our centre-left Prime Minister at the time was also quite brash and arrogant and his government was deeply unpopular. But things began to change when the Liberal Party went through a leadership transition and elected John Howard as its leader. I had never liked Howard –I had always seen him as the reactionary, racist, sexist, Bush-like snake he was –and it made me re-evaluate my own political beliefs. I subsequently also found that, even though I had some qualms about the leadership style of our center-left Prime Minister, I actually agreed with a lot of his policies. By the 1996 election, I was aligned with our Labor Party. I remember the night that Howard won government. I quite literally had nightmares for about three days afterward because I was so much in despair. And Howard acted just as I had predicted and only got worse as time went on. Due to my strong dislike of the Howard government’s policies and due to some personal reasons as well, I joined the Labor Party that year and became actively involved.

But I think my complete transformation to being a Democrat and a progressive really only came full circle after the 2000 presidential election and also with my entry into university. At university, I encountered a variety of different lifestyles and political beliefs and became a lot more liberal and open-minded in my thinking on some issues where I had previously been conservative. Meanwhile I saw Bush and the Republicans in all their glory once the Republicans took office and I realized I had nothing in common with the GOP and what it represented. Those two factors really shaped my identity as it is today in terms of the American political landscape

[mvd]

14. Thanks for your great response!

I'm continuing to have you in my thoughts.. hope you are doing well. :hi:

[Drunken Irishman]

8. Well our family has a saying...

"You're born a Democrat and baptized a Catholic..."

So, I guess at birth.

[greatauntoftriplets]

9. During the 1956 Democratic convention.

I was only six at the time.

:shrug:

[JohnnyLib2]

10. Hey, youngster--

I was madly for Adlai in '52. Guess he appealed to my nerdiness.

[greatauntoftriplets]

11. I loved Stevenson....

He would have made a great president. He went on to be a terrific UN Ambassador and his son was a great Senator from Illinois. I voted for Adlai III for governor as well, though he never won.

[inna]

12. was born into it.

like another poster in this thread, i was pretty non-political until 9-11 though.

[Brigid]

15. When Reagan started showing signs of Alzheimer's.

And that was back during his first term, if you ask me.

[ghostsofgiants]

16. When Clinton bombed the Al-Shifa plant in Sudan in 1998.

I was 13 at the time and thought it was appalling.

[Joey Liberal]

17. During the Clinton years nt

[MilesColtrane]

18. The campaign leading up to the '72 Presidential election.

For me, at nine years old, the issue of the war was very cut and dried. I had friends who's fathers and brothers had gone to Vietnam and had been killed or were missing.

McGovern wanted to end the war. Nixon had escalated it.

[susanr516]

19. Maybe 1966?

I lived in one-party Texas, but I realized about the age of 12 that the Dixiecrats were hypocrites. They went to church and claimed that "God is love" and "We are all brothers and sisters in Christ" on Sunday, but hated everyone who was less than lily-white the other 6 days of the week. By 1968, I was a big Bobby Kennedy supporter--I was broken-hearted when he was assassinated. I was one of the 18-year-old voters in 1972. The first vote I ever cast was for Sissy Farenthold for Governor in the Texas Democratic Primary. I'll never forget how excited I was to vote for her.

[baldguy]

20. 16. I saw Reagan and thought "Oh, my God! He's a fucking idiot!"

[ccharles000]

21. When I knew I was gay and that repugs did not like that.

[Roon]

55. I'm with charles on this one

when I came out of the closet and started paying attention.

[supernova]

22. Listening to Jesse Helms rant and rave on WRAL

when I was six!

[Haole Girl]

23. I was always a Democrat...

but I was 100% certain the day I heard Barbara Jordan's 1976 Keynote Address:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6mh3i_barbara-jordans-1976-keynote-addres_news

I was 15.

[Ohio Joe]

24. Before I was really politically aware, I assumed I would be republican

My parents never, ever, talked politics. My mom went to various protests when I was little but it was never something talked about around the kids. I had the idea in my head, and never really verified it's truth, that republicans were for personal rights and freedoms, small government, staying out of your life, equal rights... Boy was I wrong :D I did completely buy it though and voted for ronnie raygun's first term my first time voting. I guess (to actually answer your question, heh), I figured out the truth sometime during that first term and promptly corrected where I put my vote :D sooo, early 80's sometime, after botching my first time voting.

[billyoc]

25. Nixon/McGovern.

[av8rdave]

26. During the Bush senior Presidency

I was new to the private sector (from the military) and it dawned on my how counter his philosophy ran to the welfare of the majority. It was around then that I also realized that I really hadn't changed all that much.* But the Republican party had - in a big way.

*Philosophically speaking. I did change a lot as far as taking a new look at those different than me (economically, socially, orientation, etc.) and realizing that nearly all of my assumptions and beliefs about them were wrong.

In short, it took me until my early 30s to grow up.

[no_hypocrisy]

27. When I was seven in 1963. Our second grade teacher and music teacher

taught us Peter, Paul, and Mary, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger songs and I loved them all, especially "Blowin' in the Wind".

[mix]

28. Carter/Reagan transition...

but it was punk that politicized me, as it did many young people at the time...my first taste of activism was against the US wars in Central America...

[Silver Swan]

29. I admit

I was rather conservative when I was young.

But at some point in the 1970's I realized that since I had to pay taxes, I would rather they went to feed poor children than to fund wars.

When I said this to my Republican mother-in-law, she responded, "You liberals are all alike."

That was when I realized I had become a Democrat.

[Blasphemer]

30. In the 4th grade

I wrote an anti-Reagan composition for homework. I can't remember exactly what I wrote but something along the lines of his popularity being based on looking and sounding good on TV but that he didn't care about the average working American. I can't say how much of this I absorbed from family members and how much from other sources but I recall my teacher got a big kick out of it and showed it to other teachers on our floor.

[PaddyBlueEyes]

31. 1980..I was ten years old

walking a Teamster Picket Line with my grandfather...

[Forkboy]

32. Dukakis was my first presidential vote, but I had been into politics for awhile.

I had voted locally in '86, but '88 was the first time I could vote for President (I was born in '67). But as early as '82-'83 I was into politics. I went to a No-Nukes rally with a friend and his older brother, and that got me hooked. The energy was awesome, the issue was just, and I was totally ready to learn. :)

[csziggy]

33. In 1964 when my fundalmentalist preacher uncle told a really horrible racist joke

I realized that I could never agree with anyone who was that hating while claiming to believe in what I had been taught of Christianity. Then he went on to complain about JFK and Johnson and a lot of the things being done that I thought were good. I was twelve.

And then there was Noxin. (No that is not a typo. My hubby had a bumper sticker that he put on his stereo upside down so it read "Noxin" as in rhymes with "TOXIN" and we both got a laugh out of it.) But Noxin crystallized my political feelings and I have been liberal leaning progressive ever since.

[Lorax7844]

34. When I was about 9

DC Follies made me hate Reagan

[AllenVanAllen]

35. The first time I old enough to vote,

I would have voted for Dukakis. Some youthful distraction kept me from voting that year unfortunately. My true understanding of American politics didn't really come until a few years later.

[sakabatou]

36. 2004 election cycle

I was 16/17

[hfojvt]

37. that's not really a when for you

Were you 13 at the time or 57 at the time? I was 26 during Dukakis/Bush, but I had registered earlier to vote for Jackson in the Wisconsin primary. I moved to Wisconsin in Januray of 1987, but I am not sure when I registered. I didn't get a Wisconsin driver's license until 1994. I voted for Mondale in 1984, but that was by flip of the coin since I didn't really like either candidate. I think I considered myself a socialist though before I graduated from college in 1985. So it was somewhere in my second senior year when I started to really look at the job market.

[travelingtypist]

38. I think about 10 in 1974.

We lived in Oklahoma City and were going to church. The preacher used to come and visit my McGovern volunteer mother on Saturdays. Whatever liberal opinion she expressed to him, he would preach against the at service the next day.

It was about a year later when I refused to go anymore.

[armyowalgreens]

39. When I realized that my religion considered homosexuality a sin...

and I knew that homosexuals were good people. It caused me to question the logical nature of "sins" that do no harm. Which caused me to question my entire religion.

Then I left my religion and began to question my own conservative views that were largely based on my now defunct religious beliefs. Which caused me to question my entire perspective on the world.

By the time I started college last year, I was a full blown progressive. And college has only pushed me farther left.

[LostInAnomie]

40. When I was 4.

I remember how pissed my mother was when Reagen beat Mondale. I knew any group that pissed my mom off that badly had to be opposed.

[old mark]

41. Back about 1957, when I was 10.

I had watched the McCarthy hearings, and seen Nixon on TV when he was VP, and I felt that whatever those guys were, I wasn't. Not an intellectual process - I just hated Republicans at a very early age, and I still do, but they keep giving me reasons all the time.....

markO8)

[applegrove]

42. I was always a liberal as a kid. I liked and admired Pierre Elliot Trudeau.

For some reason (because I was fooled by the campaign) I voted for Brian Mulrooney in 1984 (or whenever the election was). Then I went back to the left and started voting NDP or Liberal. As I do today.

[madinmaryland]

43. mid 1973-74. I was 12 and learning about Republicans and their mode of operation

through the actions of Richard Nixon. Never thought a being a repuke since then.

[Forkboy]

45. You old fart!

No wonder you hate all the athletes and their new fangled steroids!!!

:hide:

[tabbycat31]

44. when I was 8 and Dukakis was running and had a school debate

I cared about politics too at 12 when Clinton first ran, then I became a teenager. I did register to vote at 18, voted for Gore at 20 for the world's dumbest reason, and became very awake at 24 (Kerry) after watching the destruction of this country by the GOP.

My mom tells me that I "voted" at 7 months, but I sure as hell don't remember that.

[Forkboy]

46. What your mom didn't tell you about that vote at 7 months...

...was that it was really over "right breast" or "left breast" for dinner.

:yoiks:

[tabbycat31]

53. as a kid she just pointed to the lever she wanted me to pull

so technically I voted against Reagan as a baby.

[Rabrrrrrr]

47. When Reagan was president, and he sucked Falwell's cock. "No Christian acts like that", I said,

"so therefore the Republican is clearly as far away from Jesus as is possible."

As a Christian, I could not support the Republicans any more. I was in high school, by the way, and so just becoming aware of the greater world and, thank God, was part of a church that's actually Christian and pays a lot of attention to what Jesus said, so I was reading the Gospels a lot.

I saw the hypocrisy of Reagan and Falwell and those other criminals; and then saw the evil, deplorable unconstitutional paranoid life-despising programs and secret criminal government bullshit traitorous acts that he did as president, and that just nailed it all home for me.

[blue_onyx]

48. Around the time of the Iraq War

I didn't really follow politics when I was in high school. The Iraq war began during my first year in college and that's when I started getting interested in politics. I remember I was writing a paper about how "war should be our last solution" and I had to change it to "war should have been our last solution."

[bookworm65t]

50. Walter Cronkite helped me there

I was a kid during the 70s, and it wasn't hard to contrast the stories he ran on CBS to the rah-rah America crap around me. It wasn't any big event that helped me, just the images of the unfortunate that he wasn't afraid to show.

RIP Walter. I will miss you.

[Xipe Totec]

51. When Reagan got elected.

And I knew that the fate of civilization lay in the balance...

[santamargarita]

52. I was 12 years old before I knew 'Damn Republicans' were 2 different words

~

[vixengrl]

54. Reading The Daily News in Philadelphia at 10-11 yrs old.

Syndicated columnist Molly Ivins always made sense. Syndicated columnist Cal Thomas never did. I started reading stories, too. By Iran-Contra I was liberal. Every issue started sliding into place in my teens.

[TheKentuckian]

56. Sometime in the Carter Administration

By the time Raygun was running and I had reached the ripe old age of six or seven, the internal argument was all over.