how did you first become interested in politics?!

[g5000]

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!

Nowhere near as big as Nixon's head.

 

[WillPower]

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.

Alright..who's hacked G5000's account?

 

[Claudette]

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

Yup that's about the same time I started taking an interest in politics.

My brother enlisted rather than be drafted and was headed to Vietnam.

I've been interested ever since.

 

[McRocket]

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.

That's why I said 'woman'.

 

[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.

That's why I said 'woman'.

My wife calls them "the kids", too. And she is very respectable.

 

[McRocket]

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.

That's why I said 'woman'.

My wife calls them "the kids", too. And she is very respectable.

Off topic - I will PM you.

 

[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'.

I have. Quite a lot, actually.

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

That's why I said 'woman'.

My wife calls them "the kids", too. And she is very respectable.

Off topic - I will PM you.

hmmm....care to share?

 

[Thinker101]

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.

(And if any women jump in and say 'I called my child a 'kid' all the time'? Well...enough said)


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

Hmm...perhaps you need to hang out with a different crowd.

 

[Siete]

I started paying close attention when Ronnie and Casper sat on their thumbs after 220 marines died in Lebanon

 

[sartre play]

Have gone door to door, worked phone lines when I thought someone would do a good job for us, also have been A political at different points where I could not handle what was going on. PS don't think saying kids about children is disrespectful.

 

[WillPower]

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

He had an aura about him I guess....my sister was enthralled with the cat....My heroes were Johnny Unitas and Rocky Colavito....I didn't know this guy from up...I just thought he had a GIANT head and she got furious with me and told me to shut up.

 

[Lesh]

As a preteen in the 60s I was only vaguely liberal. Hated the Beatles. Hated long hair. Thought Hippies were silly and narcissistic.

I was even on track for West Point.

I won't bore you with the family issues that made that dream fall apart but I eventually saw the disaster that the Vietnam War was (after being generally a supporter)


I never got involved or paid more than a passing interest until my kids became teen agers and asked what the difference was between Republicans and Democrats. I realized that in spite of having voted more Dem than Republican (although not exclusively) I could not really answer them. At that point I began paying attention more . This was right when the Republicans were going through their Clinton witch hunt and I was pretty appalled by their behavior. At the time I passed that off as personalities. I thought that THOSE particular hypocrites were the problem ...not the entire GOP.

I was soon disabused of that notion.

What really cemented my conversion to full on liberal was the Bush Admin. I paid VERY close attention to the lead up to the war and I remember saying very emphatically "If they don't find nukes in Iraq, Bush is going to get run out of DC on a rail". Well they didn't. And he didn't. And the GOP turned REALLY ugly...calling anyone who called them out on that farce a terrorist.

That pretty much did it for me...and as I paid attention more...I saw what hypocrites the GOP was on almost every issue. All they REALLY care about are tax cuts for the rich. It became clear that everything else was cynical politics with that as the goal

 

[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'.

I have. Quite a lot, actually.

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

That's why I said 'woman'.

so let's deduce here, shall we? by your reply to me & comments to others, that means 1, 2, or all 3 of these things are true in your opinion regarding those statements:

1) i am not 'respectable' in your opinion

2) i do not have a child in your opinion

3) i am not female in your opinion.

you can answer at any time.... but i suspect you may not.

 

[bendog]

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 wanted to be a rock star because women gave them lots of sex for no apparent reason. But it seemed to me that rock stars had to work pretty hard. So, politics became the life for me.

 

[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!

I wanted to be a rock star because women gave them lots of sex for no apparent reason. But it seemed to me that rock stars had to work pretty hard. So, politics became the life for me.

who wouldnt want to be a rock star?

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

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.

You mean to tell me you've only been paying attention to politics for around 3 years?
That explains a lot......

 

[EvilCat Breath]

1996. I went to a 4th of July celebration at the federal building. The Americans came under withering attack by Hispanics. They were throwing rocks and frozen cans of soda in protest of Independence Day. A bunch of the men broke into the federal cemetery and were pissing and shitting on the graves and ripping up the flowers and plants. The federal police kept the hispanics from crossing Wilshire. That would have been a riot if they had. No one stopped the damage to the cemetery.

The next day I joined a militia. I later learned that the federal police officers who stopped the protesters from crossing the street were all fired.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

1996. I went to a 4th of July celebration at the federal building. The Americans came under withering attack by Hispanics. They were throwing rocks and frozen cans of soda in protest of Independence Day. A bunch of the men broke into the federal cemetery and were pissing and shitting on the graves and ripping up the flowers and plants. The federal police kept the hispanics from crossing Wilshire. That would have been a riot if they had. No one stopped the damage to the cemetery.

The next day I joined a militia. I later learned that the federal police officers who stopped the protesters from crossing the street were all fired.

WOW!!!
If thats not enough to get someone interested they'd have to be dead!!!
Thank God we don't see that kinda crap here in Texas.

 

[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.

You mean to tell me you've only been paying attention to politics for around 3 years?
That explains a lot......

Glad to enlighten you.

 

[boedicca]

I don't think the question posed by the OP is the accurate one. It's not so much that I became interested in politics, it's that Politics is Very Very Interested in me (and all of you). Our government is now full of such overreaching freaking busy bodies that politics intrudes into every aspect of our civil lives.

I really hate that.