how did you first become interested in politics?!

[basquebromance]

i never had an interest in politics at a young age. when i got to college, i started listening to the teachers who were supposed to be our role models and the main thing i couldnt help but think was: are these people nuts? they were saying the most off-the-wall zaniest things you could think of. and they were all agreeing with each other, an echo chamber!

 

[playtime]

when i had my kid, cause then it wasn't just about 'me' & 'my' future.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

At 25 during the first Gulf war.
Listening about the ass whipping we were dishing out you invariably heard some politics.
It was then that I began to learn what the loony left was all about.

 

[WillPower]

My sister demanded my Mom and I go with her to Tri-City airport near Bay City, Michigan (where Madonna was born) to see JFK during the 1960 campaign. 2am standing there in the rain waiting for Jack to deplane and speak for about ten seconds. He had a HUGE head, reminded me of Alfred E. Neuman. 7 years later I was fighting in the war he started.

 

[aaronleland]

I was always interested in reading about ancient Rome, and the political intrigue. Then growing up watching the Clinton/Lewinsky saga I noticed that modern day politics weren't much different. I've never had strict or partisan views, because it was never about that. No matter the outcome I find it fun to study. I joke around on this forum more often than I debate, because in the end I don't care that much.

 

[g5000]

i never had an interest in politics at a young age. when i got to college, i started listening to the teachers who were supposed to be our role models and the main thing i couldnt help but think was: are these people nuts? they were saying the most off-the-wall zaniest things you could think of. and they were all agreeing with each other, an echo chamber!

My parents were deeply involved in politics. They took turns as presidents of the American Conservative Union in my home state in New England. Hell, my whole family is political. Aunts, cousins, you name it.

So it was only natural I got involved in politics at the ripe old age of 14. I gave my first speech at the state capitol building in opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment.

This was around 1976. I made the prediction at the time that if the ERA was ratified, we would be seeing women in combat and being drafted. The feminazis accused me of being a hyperbolic fearmongering chauvenist pig and that women in combat would never happen.

I also gave a speech in favor of a right to work bill to the state senate, and had mobsters come after me with a vengeance. They followed me, made harassing phone calls to my home, and put pressure on my boss to cut my work hours. My mother was terrified. Being just a dumb kid, I took it all as a lark.

I joined the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), gave lots of speeches to various conferences, went to a lot of meetings and to a national convention where I met the future president of the United States, Ronald Reagan. I also met Bill Buckley, who was a huge hero of mine. I was a subscriber to National Review, and when I would read it, it felt like I was breathing pure oxygen.

Chairman Bill's wit and logic shredded the liberals. Good stuff.

But then the chairman of my local chapter of YAF, who also happened to be named Bill, starting ranting and raving about "n*ggers and kikes" on a regular basis. This guy was a political genius, but a fucking racist of the first water.

I was extremely disappointed the other members of the chapter never challenged Bill on this racism. I started speaking out in meetings, and got no backup. And this caused Bill to begin to deliberately antagonize me.

I saw that same shit later in the Deep South. Once a racist realizes you don't like his racism, he prides himself on spewing his bullshit every chance he gets.

So I quit YAF. It did not surprise me years later to discover some board members at the national level had donated to openly Nazi groups.

I helped a local businessman run for Congress for two campaigns in a row, but he was defeated by the incumbent who was a Democrat hardwired into the mafia. The mob had that district sewn up. They even ransacked through our campaign car at one point.


After I joined the military, my political activities had to be curtailed, obviously.

 

[McRocket]

when i had my kid, cause then it wasn't just about 'me' & 'my' future.

My interest in politics began when...I have no idea.

 

[petro]

As a teenager, when I found out how much of my check I actually recieved after the government confiscation of my wages.

 

[Billy_Kinetta]

1964. I was 12, in 7th grade. Johnson/Goldwater campaign. British music invasion fueled the growing counter-culture. Media had not yet turned on the Vietnam War.

Then things started to pop.

 

[playtime]

when i had my kid, cause then it wasn't just about 'me' & 'my' future.

I have never heard a respectable woman call her child 'a kid'.

Interesting.


My interest in politics began when...I have no idea.

& now you have...

 

[irosie91]

when i had my kid, cause then it wasn't just about 'me' & 'my' future.

I have never heard a respectable woman call her child 'a kid'.

Interesting.


My interest in politics began when...I have no idea.

"kid" is a term of affection for a child------little lamb

 

[playtime]

when i had my kid, cause then it wasn't just about 'me' & 'my' future.

I have never heard a respectable woman call her child 'a kid'.

Interesting.


My interest in politics began when...I have no idea.

"kid" is a term of affection for a child------little lamb

my kid, my child, my son.... they are all the same to me.

 

[g5000]

As a teenager, when I found out how much of my check I actually recieved after the government confiscation of my wages.

When I was 16, and saw how much the AFL-CIO took out of my part time paycheck, that's when I got mad enough to go to the state senate and make a stand for the Right To Work bill.

I was hugely pissed and made as much noise as I could. I even made the news.

 

[OldLady]

Here. I fell down this rabbit hole in late 2015 over gun control, read here for a time and finally got so pissed off one day that I joined in order to post. Of course, it was election season and as horrified as I was with some of the language and the horsehockey of the campaigns, Trump fascinated me like an ugly bug unearthed from beneath a rock.
I've learned a lot here, believe it or not. I never had the slightest interest in politics at all before. I still don't really, but at least I now have a clue what people are talking about when politics comes up.

 

[irosie91]

when i had my kid, cause then it wasn't just about 'me' & 'my' future.

I have never heard a respectable woman call her child 'a kid'.

Interesting.


My interest in politics began when...I have no idea.

"kid" is a term of affection for a child------little lamb

my kid, my child, my son.... they are all the same to me.

and to other respectable moms

 

[Desperado]

Easy for me it was the Draft and Vietnam that got my attention to politics.
Even then I noticed that the government did not always have American interest as their highest priority

 

[Meathead]

i never had an interest in politics at a young age. when i got to college, i started listening to the teachers who were supposed to be our role models and the main thing i couldnt help but think was: are these people nuts? they were saying the most off-the-wall zaniest things you could think of. and they were all agreeing with each other, an echo chamber!

I grew up in Greece in a very charged political atmosphere. On the morning of April 21, 1967 I was told I was not going to school. The Greek government was overthrown by a coup-de-tat by a group of colonels and tanks were rolling down the very boulevard where I lived in the center of Athens.

 

[Billy_Kinetta]

My sister demanded my Mom and I go with her to Tri-City airport near Bay City, Michigan (where Madonna was born) to see JFK during the 1960 campaign. 2am standing there in the rain waiting for Jack to deplane and speak for about ten seconds. He had a HUGE head, reminded me of Alfred E. Neuman.

He did! My parents took me to his inauguration, and at one point I was about twenty feet from him. Giant head!

 

[g5000]

when i had my kid, cause then it wasn't just about 'me' & 'my' future.

I have never heard a respectable woman call her child 'a kid'.

I have. Quite a lot, actually.

I'm a guy, but I call my offspring "my kids" more often than anything else.

 

[BuckToothMoron]

Carter V Reagan 1980. I was at an engineering college and wanted a job when I got out.