The Origins Of Your Political Affiliation
Jutty1224
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: 20 Sep 2022
Age: 49
Gender: Male
Posts: 71
Location: Topsham, ME
Seems that you only have two parties in the USA to vote for.
It is different here in the UK as we have lots more choice and the main four parties are now fairly closely related when it comes to the number of votes. Example from the recent elections is that Liberal Democrats had around 3.5million votes, Reform party had 4 million, Conservatives were on 6 million and Labour was on 9 million, and we had many lesser parties or independents standing that had hundreds or thousands of votes.
It is common in the UK for voters to decide on the day after evaluating what each party proposes. The current winning party won by less votes than we have ever recorded for a winning party in the UK, as the votes were far more spread out. (Don't listen to the UK news which is old fasion in its ways and claims the scrap was between the Conservatives and Labour as this time both parties had some serious competition which the politically biassed press tended to make one believe that other parties didn't count! In my lifetime I have never seen such a spread of votes, and I believe the next election there will be a lot more change again!
In the past we were a bit like you were in America with just the two main parties, but we have progressed way beyond that stage now, and even before we had three main parties which depended where one lives as to which three main parties were having a scrap for the votes. (E.g. Wales had Plaid Cymru, Labour and the Conservatives while England in the past had Labour, Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, and Scotalnd had SNP, Labour and Conservatives and I am ONLY mentioning the strongest ones in each area where seats in some localities would pass between one party or another from one election time to the next).
We do see it a bit short sighted these days in the UK to ask if one is voting for one party or the next, as that would be oversimplifying our political system.
My personal voting trends have switched once or twice each time I vote, but this year there was a clear voting decision for me due to the dangerous situations (For differing reasons) that Labour and Conservatives, and Plaid Cymru may be for the country if those parties became too powerful, and though it looks on the surface that Labour have won most of the countries seats by far, they did not actually win them by much as this election we just had, it was in many areas down to the last few votes! This means that Labour have to be very careful how they go about their political business as if they mess up this time, it is more than possible that come election they could end up being political history, as this time the Conservatives who were just voted out had a hammering. The two other strong parties (One is fairly new) could easily become the new future dominant parties if Labour mess it up between now and next election, so it is way more important for them this time to get to work. (In the past if they were elected out, they knew they would get back in the next election or the one after that, but with the MUCH wider choice of other parties now gaining massive number of votes, the switching back and fore between Labour and the Conservatives (So either party did not mind if the other got in as they knew they would be in again in a few years) like it has been in the past is now no longer the case, and it can easily be the case that there will be a totally new situation in future years. UK politics has never been so exciting!
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PM only.
I’m not entirely sure how or why I ended up liberal, but I have some ideas. My family is very conservative because they are very religious. I seem to be an innately skeptical person. I started questioning the existence of God when I was a young child and that questioning, skeptical stance kind of spread to the other beliefs that I was raised with. I was taught that being gay/gay marriage was wrong, but I could never understand why it would be a bad thing or why any reasonable deity would care about two consenting adults loving each other. It was a weird thing to focus on when there are legitimately bad things going on in the world.
As a kid, it really bothered me when my brother was allowed to do something and I wasn’t because I was a girl. I’d say: “That’s not fair!” My mom would respond: “Life’s not fair.” While true, there’s no reason why some things can’t be fair or why we shouldn’t strive to make things more fair. I think this along with extensive reading and philosophy as I got older got me into social issues. When I went to college, I finally met people who had similar opinions and beliefs about things as I did. Being homeschooled and only being allowed to hang out with religious people made me feel like an outcast. I always had to keep my perspective about things to myself. For a long time, I thought I was wrong for thinking and feeling as I did. I used to pray for a more submissive heart. Thankfully, eventually I got better.
I wonder if being autistic can make people more likely to break the mold. I didn’t really experience the same social benefits from sticking with a particular belief system or political ideology that most would.
When I was young I voted Tory once. I thought Labour were just going to drag everybody down to a low level. I didn't have much detail in my politics in those days. After a few years' experience I began to hate the Tories and became more interested in socialism and anarchism. Part of my reason was my negative experiences as an employee. After being diagnosed with ASD I realised that some of those negative experiences were likely more down to ASD than any particular evil qualities my employers had, but I still think that bosses are essentially there to exploit their staff, and that the Tories are the party of the wealthy.
I wouldn't say I have any strong political affiliations these days, just a suspicion about leaders and political parties. The hippies were pretty much the most positive thing I'd seen when it comes to ideology, but I don't think hippieism works very well either. I'm more interested in removing right-wingers from power than I am in putting anybody in power. I don't trust any of them. I haven't voted for decades.
funeralxempire
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Joined: 27 Oct 2014
Age: 40
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 33,520
Location: Right over your left shoulder
I live in the only riding east of Manitoba to elect a Reform candidate. I've always found a lot of the 'accepted wisdom' spouted in my region to be either entirely rooted in ignorance or morally repulsive.
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The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.
If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing. —Malcolm X
Just a reminder: under international law, an occupying power has no right of self-defense, and those who are occupied have the right and duty to liberate themselves by any means possible.
King Kat 1
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Posts: 1,416
Location: In an underground undisclosed location
My Dad's side of the family was pretty a-political, my mother's side were mostly lifelong Republicans.
I started off as sort of a center-left Democrat, In 2004, I supported Howard Dean for president. Around 2007 or so, my beliefs started to shift rightward. I've always put a high value on being independent and not depending on others for things. In summer of 2007, I saw the government wanting to grant amnesty to many illegal aliens and that made me change parties to Republican. I supported Former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo for president, but he never made it to the primary.
It angered me, how the government bailed out the auto industry and the banks, to an extent. If there is one thing, I hate is s--ty behavior not being called out or rewarded.
I got involved with The Tea Party in 2009-2010. Over Obamacare and other issues going on at the time. Supported Romney for president.
After 2012, I kinda floated along for awhile. Then came Trump, at first I was intrigued then I saw him for what he was. Voted for Cruz in the primary to stop him. Didn't work. Did not vote in 2016.
2018 Voted Democrat for governor and GOP for senate(both lost). Voted but wasn't jazzed about it.
2020 voted for Biden, I was over Trump and his antics. Wasn't a big fan of Biden but despised Trump. Voted in general but not primaries.
2022, did vote but by this time was disillusioned with the whole thing and my heart wasn't in it. Voted in the general, not primaries.
2024, for me it's F--- em! all of them. Done.
These days I'd say I'm a half assed libertarian. I am totally not a socialist, as I don't believe in sharing money. On social issues, the government should stay out of the bedroom and personal choices. Also, out of my back pocket. There are other issues I don't agree with Libertarians but it's the closest to my way of thinking.
I recall reading once about Gary Numan, how he was a strong supporter of Thatcher and the conservatives but then distanced himself from it and politics in general. Calling it " A noose around my neck".
I have to say, my feelings are just that these days, I've distanced myself from my right-wing activism of my 20s and 30s. Now, I still slip up now and then but on politics I've been doing my best to keep my yap shut. I have stopped talking politics with people and avoid bringing it up. It just depletes my energy and I'm sick of the bickering. Even reasonable or so I thought, turn into blabbing morons around election time.
So, in short I believe in being self-sufficient and looking out for yourself.
Ok, I wrote the book. Out.
My political affiliations are based around hatred against the rich and the status quo.
I was in high school when the financial crisis hit. I started not liking them at first, but every administration kept cutting their taxes again and again and again while workers wages stagnated against a rising cost of living. Then, Jeff Bezos went into space and the flames flared up.
Since I live on Social Security, I have to side with the party that supports it rather than the party that wants to privatize it or get rid of it entirely. They'll force me to get a job after that and refuse to understand why I can't.
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I am sick, and in so being I am the healthy one.
If my darkness or eccentricity offends you, I don't really care.
I will not apologize for being me.
There is no such thing as perfect. We are beautiful as we are. With all our imperfections, we can do anything.
Now it can be told, the thrilling origin story of my lack of political affiliation!
My mom was not interested in politics when I was growing up and so neither am I. I have no problem with this, but some political people seem to get upset about it.
I remember reading someone's story about going into the voting booth with her mom and seeing "the power" of pulling the lever. I think to some degree it requires that emotional foundation in childhood, like rooting for the local sports team, which I also don't do. Conversely, I once went to Disneyland with someone who didn't go until she was an adult. To me, it was this magical place from my childhood and to her it was the amusement park. It's like that with me and politics.
Also, politics, like sports, pre-empted my cartoons as a child and I think there's still some lingering resentment there!
Then I think other people develop their political affiliations during college. They tried to recruit me during that time, much as religious evangalists did and I think I came to associate both with manipulation and conformist thinking.
And then came social media and its ceaseless onslaught of political messaging. My tolerance for it is virtually zero at this point. This is the only place I discuss politics as it seems more reasonable than most. Nonetheless, I still don't connect to partisan ideas most of the time.
Last edited by vividgroovy on 06 Jul 2024, 10:45 pm, edited 4 times in total.
old_comedywriter
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Gender: Male
Posts: 765
Location: Somewhere west of where you are
Although I couldn't vote back then, as soon as I was old enough to have an opinion, I was against Nixon. And of course he turned out to be the crook I always suspected he was. I was a Republican though until Bush Senior, because he was formerly head of the CIA. No Republican since then has been worth voting for.
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It ain't easy being me, but someone's gotta do it.
My father described himself as a progressive conservative. My mother I think voted for the old Liberal party in the UK. She became more and more right wing as she got older.
My political affiliation was shaped by my experiences with semi elite types at what was at the time a middle ranking public school. It's grown in stature since then. There was a thuggish mentality about many of the other boys I didn't like. My left of centre political affiliation was further honed by the social drift that occurred through having a serious mental illness.
I have thought about it, yes.
One factor, I'm sure is that my parents are liberal/Democrat and have been since I was little. However, I'm not, by any means, a carbon copy of their beliefs or motivations.
From a young age, I grew a deep passion for human rights and a disgust to my core toward any violations and the people who support these violations. I would say that this is at the very core of why I am on the left. My entire life I have seen the right oppose every single human rights movement. History tells the same story. In fact, the fact that the religious right coalesced around defending segregation and being against interracial dating/marriage has made me hate that movement so much more.
Of course, I already deeply hated it. I hated so much in my teens listening to their nonsensical reasoning to oppose the legalization of same-sex marriage. Their position held no water at all. It never did, and it never will.
Denying human rights to groups of people for no substantive reason is a grave violation of the strong, deep moral framework I have always had. It is on par with murder, war, sexual assault.
So, pretty much, conservativism was never going to happen in me. My moral compass rejects it at its very core.
Of course, that's farrr from the only reason I rejected conservativism. Not only is it morally repugnant to me, it's also just flat out against facts in reality in so many ways. Like in terms of science, or in terms of history. But it is hard for me to disentangle from how morally repugnant I find the ideology. Even when it comes to their rejection of the science of climate change, I find that morally repugnant, because it is harming humanity. And I could say for sure that the whole goal of turning the USA into a theocracy, the whole notion that the US was supposedly founded to have Christianity in government is both blatantly against the facts and also, again, can lead to nothing but harming humanity.
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Diagnosed with ADHD, Strongly Suspecting I'm also Autistic
The political system in China differs significantly from that of the United Kingdom and the United States. Despite the Chinese Communist Party being the perennial ruling party, there can be significant political differences among its leaders. This unique political environment provides a backdrop for generational differences in political viewpoints.
My grandfather is a typical example; he holds anti-establishment views and embraces radical leftist ideologies. He often reminisces about his experiences as a technical officer, sharing hardships with workers when he was young, and expresses dissatisfaction with current corruption issues and media whitewashing. These experiences and viewpoints deeply influenced me, shaping similar political leanings.
However, since I have not yet engaged in actual social labor, my political views have not undergone significant changes. The formation and evolution of political viewpoints are complex processes influenced by factors such as family environment, educational background, and personal experiences. With age and accumulated social experience, personal political stances may further develop and mature.
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For I so loved the world, that I gave My theory and method, that whosoever believeth in Me should not be oppressed, but have a liberated life. /sarc
I was working but ended up on my @ss as a single mother. There were programs I could reach out to to basically survive in a tough spot. I am forever appreciative and grateful to that support and believe some people don't understand how important and instrumental that support is. Sometimes I feel like it's reality vs a taught nostalgia.