What Made you who you are...

[Claudius Gothicus]

... politically of course.

The question is, what situations, which people, why did they turn you into what you are right now politically? This is meant in a negative and a positive way some people might make you conservative because they are liberals and s ideologically speaking etc.

What I want to know is what were the process behind you posters becoming what you are now(and what you might be if you dare too).


I'll start saying that on economics most of what I know and hold as ''truth'' was an inheritance from my dad, he's an economics degree and has always pushed me into the ''economical'' side of politics. He's a Keynesian and right know I'm becoming one too.

I used to be much more ''marginalist'' and while I still recognize their tremendous effort and the great instruments created by them to the economical analysis but when it comes to solutions I'm starting to think that Keynes is much more ''realistic'' than the marginalists and their kin.

On social issues I've always been much more ''liberal'' than most people, this comes in my opinion from my need to separate myself from the ''mainstream'' view of political correctness thats prevalent among my circles and at the same time not being a total douche against liberties, so instead of going all ''socialist'' on liberties I instead choose the much more harder road, that's the road of the socially liberal and somewhat conservative(just a little bit compared to some of my friends) on economics. This might also be related to me studying sociology and being surrounded of Marxist who (in most cases) don't really have a clue.

So tell me, what made you what you are now?

[Ardruire Iacób]

I'll start saying that on economics most of what I know and hold as ''truth'' was an inheritance from my dad, he's an economics degree and has always pushed me into the ''economical'' side of politics. He's a Keynesian and right know I'm becoming one too.

...

On social issues I've always been much more ''liberal'' than most people, this comes in my opinion from my need to separate myself from the ''mainstream'' view of political correctness thats prevalent among my circles and at the same time not being a total douche against liberties, so instead of going all ''socialist'' on liberties I instead choose the much more harder road, that's the road of the socially liberal and somewhat conservative(just a little bit compared to some of my friends) on economics. This might also be related to me studying sociology and being surrounded of Marxist who (in most cases) don't really have a clue.

Hold on, you don't like the "socialism" of liberties (whatever the hell you mean by that), but do like government regulation of the economy; much as in the Labour-run UK of the 50s and 60s?

[Claudius Gothicus]

Hold on, you don't like the "socialism" of liberties (whatever the hell you mean by that), but do like government regulation of the economy; much as in the Labour-run UK of the 50s and 60s?

By ''socialist'' I mean the justification of rights by dialectical struggle. I don't really but dialectical struggle at that much. This means that I defend the individual from the Classical Liberalism side not the Marxist/Critical side.

Can't really say so, I'm aware that the Labors were quite Keynesian on their approach back in the 60's but they also generated a huge ass deficit. So maybe I'm kinda like them but a little bit more restrained when it comes to pouring government money into the aggregate demand equation.

Let's say that I'm a Social Liberal in most cases.

[43rdFoot]

Lots of reading on the Enlightenment, the Revolution, and the early republic.

[Exarch]

reading up on european and asian modern history, seeing democratic governments in action
seeing non democratic governments in action
comparing and contrasting approaches and results like a scientific experiment

[Col. Tartleton]

Aristotle made me the card carrying Fascist I am today.


In seriousness I think we're absolutely screwed no matter what we do. Politics is a means to a failure. But if we do nothing we guarantee failure.

We're screwed no matter what. We can't make simple order when it doesn't exist. The world is incredibly complicated. All we can do is push for our own objectives in life. I can't make the whole world totally better. I can make my life better by living it how I want to live it. At the end of the day I'm the person who matters. Foremost. Then comes people I love. Then comes people I don't know. I don't hate anyone so I'm not even going to put that on the list. The closest I can honestly come to hate is frustration and pity.

I want to be happy. I'm happy when people I love are happy. They're happy when people they love are happy. So let's try to get happy shall we?

[Dr. Oza]

education

[Vizsla]

My personality as defined partly by inherent genetic programming and partly by experiences in life.
Compassion Vs Realism
Hatred of hypocrisy
Economic realities – personally and nationally
Opposition to certain political ideas, and the kinds of people who espouse them, that I do not like.

[Jingles]

Great grandfather was a marxist, grandfather was a marxist, dad's a social democrat. My own political views were the logical conclusion really. I was always taught that patriotism was a lie (in my dad's view, it's what almost got his dad and grandfather killed in the first and second world wars), that the queen deserves nothing less than a guillotine, and that you should never believe a word that comes out of Rupert Murdoch's mouth.

Though ironically what got me into left wing politics was reading a book by the artist Banksy, who's an anarchist.

Come age 15, down came the Reagan poster and Union jack, and up went Lenin, a french tricoleur, and that Banksy stencil of the policeman snorting crack.

[The Dude]

Let me start by saying that Col. Tartleton is in essence right.

As to what shaped my political views: disappointment, and lots of it.

Maybe I should, at 24 years old, be more idealistic than I am. I don't know. It's why the majority of people my age are left wing thinkers, at least in my country. I can't get myself to carry the torch of idealism because every time I try it gets shot down by practical reality.

I could will for a world in which everyone is equal and where fairness was a common ideal, but such a world doesn't exist and cannot exist because practical reality constructs everything as a battle between opposites.

I could will for a world in which intelligent and inspired people were at the lead, but such a world doesn't exist because people are inherently incapable of acting based on pure reason. We live in a world where our sense of systematical reason is constantly challenged by our utterly chaotical emotional experience.

I could will for a world in which ambitions for the future were the only aspect governing our political thought, but the truth is that we are grounded in history and will therefore by definition view everything we do through a coloured lens.

The only thing that remains for me is a rather negative worldview which as far as I see is the best means of taking on the flaws of human nature and trying to tackle them practically. There was a time where I was appreciative of Islam and stood in its defense, there was a time where I had respect for all cultures and all peoples. But that's not how reality works. There is a difference in quality and some people live closer to the universal truth than others.

The best thing to do as far as I am concerned is admit, no matter how reluctantly, that the basis for capitalism and democracy have proven to be the best out of all conceived systems. And we have to work from there. We have to create a practical system from those foundations in order to better ourselves. But we're throwing those roots away in a haze of optimism and unfounded respect and tolerance for the incapable and undesired. Either that, or the system is being perverted from the inside by precisely those people who have taken capitalism to mean corporatism, and have taken democracy to mean populism.

There's flaws that threaten our stability from outside and inside, and where the idealists are refusing to acknowledge them, the corrupt are all too willing to exploit them. And I'm stuck somewhere in the middle trying to figure it all out.

[Askthepizzaguy]

I have a whole thread on this.

But, briefly, my main sticking point is universal healthcare.

We have Congress voting themselves raises with taxpayer dollars, living off of the fat of a single-payer socialized healthcare system, the best in the world for them, but their attitude is: If you're unemployed, then you can go to the emergency room when you're dying and they will zap you back to life.

Anything else you need: that's just going to be too bad because paying for that would be immoral.

Also, let me give several billion dollars to a contractor who I happen to know, so they can build a bunch of military equipment that will never get used and will later be sold to countries around the world, increasing the instability of those regions.

And another raise for myself.

[Enemy of the State]

I was told to do unto others as I would have them do to me. I simply took the golden rule to its conclusion.

[Yosemite]

sarkozy loves america too much

[Taxandrius]

1. Being born in a politically catholic family
2. Reading about the national history, understanding belgian politics and discovering the history of my family
3. Discussing with others

[Dr. Croccer]

-Being born into a Catholic family with humble origins on both sides, with Socialist histories.
-Reading history books and political treatisses
-This forum

[♔Goodguy1066♔]

Shimon Peres

[Treize]

Rome kb8

[handsome pete]

It doesn't matter.

[Claudius Gothicus]

It doesn't matter.

Well, it does... especially when taking into account where does every poster come from when he argues.

Plus if it doesn't why are you posting here anyways?

[Fight!]

Interesting story actually.

When I was a wee lad, I was force fed Christianity, you see. The point Christians, of which I am yet one today, stress most often is the great amount of authority God has and deserves for his benevolence. This authoritarian God played, and still does play, an enormous part in determining my ideological determination.

Continuing on, I lived in poverty when I was a lad, was in a broken family, my father has always been a drunkard, I was the weakest kid in my grade or any grade one or two under, received occasional migraines, and I had the choice between bulky dizzying glasses, freakishly crossed eyes, or near blindness until I decided to cross my eyes. These things contributed to other like things as well throughout my life, but you get the picture.

Through my own logical reasoning I was convinced that fate existed, an institution I believe in to this day, if only in a way that is different than the commonly conceived fate. Combine fate, Christianity, and a terrible childhood, and you get an incredibly Malevolent God. Because of this, I was lead to believe that God deserved to rule because he had power. MIGHT IS RIGHT. Further, I was lead to believe that some must be sacrificed to better the lives of others. Which brings us to how this effected my ideology for the first thirteen years of my life. Shaped by these beliefs, I was more or less a Capitalist/Fascist mix, very authoritarian, very rightist, very nationalistic, very militant.

Coincidentally, this lead to my interest in war, my purchase of M2TW, and my sign-up in TWCenter.

I was probably an incredibly annoying as newbie, I was convinced my logic was right. However, it was not too long before I stumbled upon the right-left debates. I initially resisted here as well, but I came around. One day, I came upon a thread in which Slurricane was debating (Now Bandiera Rossa), after reading his post, I was immediately transformed into a leftist. More centrist than leftist really, but a leftist nonetheless. I also became more libertarian, a lot more libertarian.

The rest was pretty dull, but I did an incredible amount of research and eventually became one of TWC's most prominent leftists as I am today. So anyways: thank you, friend and comrade, for making me who I am today

In the political profile link in my sig is a graph the shows my political inclination and how it changed over the years, with the exception of my views prior to the right-most point.