Obama discusses significant events that helped shape his political viewpoint. What were yours? Would you say that your political views are similar to your parents’?
This is an interesting question since my views have really been changing recently. I never cared much for politics for a long time. I was raised with a "republican = good/democrat = bad" mentality. But having lived in Germany and then moving to Cambridge, MA (one of the most liberal places on earth) has certainly changed my thinking a great deal. I'm starting to feel that issues like taxation (narrowing the gap between rich and poor, not the other way around), war, the way we take care of our poor and elderly, and the environment are more important politics issues than say marriage and abortion issues...I hope I don't sound like I'm oversimplifying too much.
I don't think I can necessarily point to specific events that have shaped my political views--I think they develop gradually, and recently, I have noticed, they continue to develop. In the last few years I think I have been able to look at my own views more objectively than before, and I think in some ways I am more conservative than I used to think. I am still definitely left of center, don't worry, but am certainly very moderate. And while I am probably still a raging liberal in the Utah Mormon community, I think once I leave Utah I may discover that I am more conservative than a lot of the people around me.
I agree with what you said, Marci, about important issues. Those are the ones, in my mind, that make the most difference (especially if you throw education into the mix), but so often in a religious culture marriage and abortion shape the discussion and people seem willing to sacrifice anything else that might seem important.
I really shouldn't be joining in the discussion, as I am still reading the book, but I can't resist. My political views have been strongly influenced by my STRONGLY political family. For having grown up a member of the LDS church, I have a really liberal family. Most of you know my parents, but for those who don't my mom was a hippie when she was my age and has two lesbian sisters; my dad is a self-proclaimed socialist who owns every book ever published about how George W Bush has ruined the world. In my family, politics was a daily discussion. I grew up with the mindset that the Republican agenda was truly evil and in some ways I am still trying to overcome that. My father is so vehement in his politics that you literally cannot enter into a conversation with him without it turning towards him trying to convince you how to vote. My incredibly healthy father's blood pressure has risen to unsafe levels since GW has been president (I am not lying). Both my father's liberalism and his insanity towards politics have shaped my current views a lot. I remember crying myself to sleep when GW was first elected (looking back, that wasn't totally un-warranted) and I used to have a visceral reaction to hearing his voice. I have since mellowed a bit because I look at how crazily unhealthy my dad's view towards politics is and I don't want to be like that. I still, however, am liberal by most standards, and completely don’t understand how most LDS people subscribe to Republican ideals when they don’t really jive with the Gospel as I know it. That is obviously a vestige of my upbringing.
My family was pretty much the opposite of Blair's growing up... we hardly talked politics at all in my house. The most political conversations I remember having as a kid were at Blair's house or on road trips with her dad in the car...honestly. I love the Kellers! :)
Recently I heard my mom, who I think was more Republican growing up, say: I don't know how you can be Mormon and NOT be a democrat (though I don't think she would necessarily describe herself as a hard-core Dem). She came to a realization several years ago that Democrats = mercy and Republicans = justice. So for her, The Book of Mormon way would be Democratic.
My views evolve as well... living in Washington, DC all last year opened my eyes to lots of politics--I was living in it. I now find myself more curious about certain issues and where I stand. But politics do NOT run in my blood--and I consider myself still in the elementary school level. Hence, this book was a good read for me--I need to myself to read more books/articles like this... though, at the same time, the honest truth is that I'm perfectly content not. Is that a bad thing? And now I feel like the one rambling...
4 comments:
This is an interesting question since my views have really been changing recently. I never cared much for politics for a long time. I was raised with a "republican = good/democrat = bad" mentality. But having lived in Germany and then moving to Cambridge, MA (one of the most liberal places on earth) has certainly changed my thinking a great deal. I'm starting to feel that issues like taxation (narrowing the gap between rich and poor, not the other way around), war, the way we take care of our poor and elderly, and the environment are more important politics issues than say marriage and abortion issues...I hope I don't sound like I'm oversimplifying too much.
I don't think I can necessarily point to specific events that have shaped my political views--I think they develop gradually, and recently, I have noticed, they continue to develop. In the last few years I think I have been able to look at my own views more objectively than before, and I think in some ways I am more conservative than I used to think. I am still definitely left of center, don't worry, but am certainly very moderate. And while I am probably still a raging liberal in the Utah Mormon community, I think once I leave Utah I may discover that I am more conservative than a lot of the people around me.
I agree with what you said, Marci, about important issues. Those are the ones, in my mind, that make the most difference (especially if you throw education into the mix), but so often in a religious culture marriage and abortion shape the discussion and people seem willing to sacrifice anything else that might seem important.
I really shouldn't be joining in the discussion, as I am still reading the book, but I can't resist.
My political views have been strongly influenced by my STRONGLY political family. For having grown up a member of the LDS church, I have a really liberal family. Most of you know my parents, but for those who don't my mom was a hippie when she was my age and has two lesbian sisters; my dad is a self-proclaimed socialist who owns every book ever published about how George W Bush has ruined the world. In my family, politics was a daily discussion. I grew up with the mindset that the Republican agenda was truly evil and in some ways I am still trying to overcome that. My father is so vehement in his politics that you literally cannot enter into a conversation with him without it turning towards him trying to convince you how to vote. My incredibly healthy father's blood pressure has risen to unsafe levels since GW has been president (I am not lying).
Both my father's liberalism and his insanity towards politics have shaped my current views a lot. I remember crying myself to sleep when GW was first elected (looking back, that wasn't totally un-warranted) and I used to have a visceral reaction to hearing his voice. I have since mellowed a bit because I look at how crazily unhealthy my dad's view towards politics is and I don't want to be like that. I still, however, am liberal by most standards, and completely don’t understand how most LDS people subscribe to Republican ideals when they don’t really jive with the Gospel as I know it. That is obviously a vestige of my upbringing.
My family was pretty much the opposite of Blair's growing up... we hardly talked politics at all in my house. The most political conversations I remember having as a kid were at Blair's house or on road trips with her dad in the car...honestly. I love the Kellers! :)
Recently I heard my mom, who I think was more Republican growing up, say: I don't know how you can be Mormon and NOT be a democrat (though I don't think she would necessarily describe herself as a hard-core Dem). She came to a realization several years ago that Democrats = mercy and Republicans = justice. So for her, The Book of Mormon way would be Democratic.
My views evolve as well... living in Washington, DC all last year opened my eyes to lots of politics--I was living in it. I now find myself more curious about certain issues and where I stand. But politics do NOT run in my blood--and I consider myself still in the elementary school level. Hence, this book was a good read for me--I need to myself to read more books/articles like this... though, at the same time, the honest truth is that I'm perfectly content not. Is that a bad thing? And now I feel like the one rambling...
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