Do you inherit your political affiliation from your parents?

[earllogjam]

If your parents were Republicans or Democrats is it fair to say you probably share that affiliation too? Are your political leanings influenced by your family's take on how the country should be run? Is it a matter of being born into a certain socioeconomic class? A certain race or religion? A certain area of the country, Utah or California?

I wonder how one comes to view themselves as belonging to one party or another, liberal or conservative and how much of that was influence on your parents take on politics.

 

[Axcess]

I think that most voters inherit their political affiliation from their family . Is like religion . Politics and religion shared many things in common.

 

[Smooth88]

My parents are Democrats but I inherit my political views from common sense and partially the way i view the world and America as part of it.

 

[No_Strings]

No. That's ridiculous.

 

[Principessa]

No. That's ridiculous.

No, it's not actually. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that most of America inherited their political affiliation.

 

[No_Strings]

No, it's not actually. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that most of America inherited their political affiliation.

Then I'd amend to say that people who are ignorant enough not to ask questions and simply follow the personal beliefs and morals of their parents are being ridiculously stupid.

 

[goodwood]

Good question Earl -
I think one's upbringing and the political views of their families CAN and frequently does influence a person's political views.
My parents were severely Republican and I I am registered as such and have always thought of myself as politically/financially conservative, but in my old age I simply do not automatically go Republican.
I find it very important to investigate issues and how politicians have voted on things and what their records are. I don't care if they are Republican, Democrat or Libertarian or whatever. I will vote for the candidate that will represent interests that are important to me.
I had been my obersvation that most Republicans (the ones I was exposed to growing up and other I have met in my life) tend to be of generally higher socioeconomic background and prefer the asset protection that Republicans seem to favor.
Most, but not all by any means, are generally of the conservative christian/catholic/episcopalian backgrounds.
These are my humble thoughts and obervations on the question at hand.

 

[B_Nick4444]

if your parents were subjected to good upbringing, a solid education and set of ideals and values, including religion, and if they were well-adjusted, and able to provide for their and their family material needs, then those values are passed, then they rear Republicans

if, on the other hand, they were abused, sent to public schools, or dropped out, or did drugs, or other maladjusted behavior, then turned around, fathered out of wedlock, neglected child-rearing duties, or practiced abortion, then they turned out Dems

if you do the research, I'm sure this is what you'll find, based on what I've seen

 

[jeff black]

You are born and raised with your parents values to some extent. It's quite easy to follow their beliefs and feel similarly towards their political party. However, one should always be dilligent and ask questions.

 

[Phil Ayesho]

My Father is a die hard Clinton hating conservative.
My mother, always been liberal and free thinking.


Myself... Philosophy, historical study, social conscience and compassion dictate that I be liberal as regards my community and the rights of my fellow citizens.

Prudence dictates that I favor fiscal conservatism, but reason demands that I not mistake CLAIMS of fiscal conservatism for actions that are not.

And intelligence demands that I not entertain position nor policy on the basis of belief, fear, or predjudice... but that I evaluate ideas and agendas on the basis of evidence and merit.

I am for Obama, because the republicans have proven beyond doubt that their policies and actions are NOT fiscally conservative; and because they have pursued hateful rhetoric and done their utmost to divide the people of this nation thru lies and misinformation.

 

[Principessa]

Then I'd amend to say that people who are ignorant enough not to ask questions and simply follow the personal beliefs and morals of their parents are being ridiculously stupid.

While I am a registered Democrat; I'm sure my father would be horrified to find out that I have no qualms about voting for a Republican candidate in small local elections, if I like what they have to say.

 

[mindseye]

Not directly: I got my dad's intellectual curiosity, steel-trap memory, and short temper (not to mention his hair and facial structure). I got my mom's work ethic, compassion, and coping skills. But I probably got my political affiliation from John Anderson...

In junior high, I got the job of representing Anderson in our mock presidential debate. I was "volunteered" to represent him because my teacher thought he'd be the most challenging candidate to represent, having received the least coverage, and had confidence in my ability to do the job -- an honor I took seriously. Anderson was a pro-choice Republican running as an independent against Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

Needless to say, John Anderson lost the election -- but having had the opportunity to study some of the issues and bits and pieces of Reagan's record, I watched attentively as minor skirmishes in Lebanon, Grenada, and the Falkland Islands unfolded. Too young to remember much about Vietnam, these military interventions represented a real destabilization of the world to me (if only I had known how much worse Republican warmongering god!) I saw Reagan as being a part of this destabilization, and was convinced none of it would have happened if "my guy" had won.

My opposition to Reagan's militarization led me first to following the Mondale/Bentsen campaign (then I was still too young to vote that year), and then to apply to a pacifist Quaker college, where I got more involved in politics, and helped gain ballot access in the 1988 election North Carolina for Lenora Fulani -- a real socialist (so I know how full of crap the attacks on Obama are).

I've mellowed just a bit since then.

 

[marleyisalegend]

Fuck no, my mother voted for Bush twice.:cry:

 

[Calboner]

My father, as far as I know, always voted Republican, but I think exclusively on grounds of economic policy and foreign policy, not social policy. My mother never had much to say about politics but, as I understood, voted Democratic, until some time after my father's death, when I think that she shifted her allegiance partly as a way of getting closer to the husband she had lost. One of my two brothers has, I think, always shared my father's political allegiances. The other was, thirty to forty years ago, a radical leftist, and then underwent some sort of conversion and became -- well, not a radical rightist, but what I think would be called a neo-conservative. (The original neo-cons, as I understand, were all converted ex-lefties.) I think that my sister and I have always been generally left-leaning but basically unpolitical people. I regarded American political affairs as mostly uninteresting and undignified until I learned some time after September 2001 that I no longer lived, as I had always assumed I lived, in a country where the government could not arrest people, hold them prisoner, ship them abroad, and even torture them in complete secrecy, without any legal process, and without allowing the victims any legal recourse. The more I learned about the administration of George W. Bush, the more horrified and alarmed I became, and the more I saw of the agreement of Republican legislators with him, the more convinced I became that not just President Bush but the Republican party itself was working to destroy the principles on which this country was founded. When a primary election came around in which one had to be a registered member of a party in order to vote for a candidate of that party, I registered as a Democrat.

Then I'd amend to say that people who are ignorant enough not to ask questions and simply follow the personal beliefs and morals of their parents are being ridiculously stupid.

Perhaps; but from the fact that someone shares their parents' political views or (what was actually in question) party affiliation it does not follow that they have them merely from thoughtless imitation. Nor does it follow from the fact that someone's political views are at odds with those of their parents that they reached those views by a rational process.

 

[Notaguru2]

I'm not sure why I'm a Democrat. I do know why I am not a Republican though. For what its worth, I'm dropping my party affiliation after this election although I expect to continue to vote primarily with the DNC until such a time that the GOP has completely reformed itself. Then, and only then, would I consider a GOPer.

My family are "Old South" conservative Democrats who flipped to Reagan after Carter failed us. Some of the family remained GOP voters, while others like myself came into our own when Bill Clinton ran in '92. Clinton really galvanized my DNC support and polarized me against the GOP.

Bush put a taste in my mouth that will take years to dissipate. You can't imagine (or maybe you can) the disdain I hold for Bush 43. To me, Bush turned this country against itself and divided us when he could have united us all for decades. I hold him personally responsible for that. Bush's impact on my voting patterns cause me to rarely give a GOP candidate the benefit of the doubt. Recall in his first term, how the GOP elite thought it was a compliment to be a "Bushie". In retrospect, the GOP got it wrong and they are paying through the nose for it now. The GOP is in the midst of a party Civil War and there is going to be a real blood-letting and cleansing of that party. However, the cleansing process will be a good thing and will strengthen them for 2012 as they set sights on gaining back some controls in congress.

 

[Principessa]

Fuck no, my mother voted for Bush twice.:cry:

What? :yikes: I didn't know your mother was an old, rich, white woman.

 

[ledroit]

Neither of my parents run political parties. Not really sure if my own "affiliations" are something I can actually passively inherit, like red hair. I think they preferred to see whether they could teach me to think. Partially successful on that count, I suppose.

 

[marleyisalegend]

What? :yikes: I didn't know your mother was an old, rich, white woman.

Even worse, she's a upper-middle class black woman. You should hear her go on about how necessary the bailout is. That the support has to trickle from the top and go down, that it doesn't work from the bottom up because poor people will hold on to their money and not spend it, they'd be hesitant to spend money during such times.

In a funny twist of slight irony, CNN was talking today about how the banks have been given their money but they're being slow to loan it out. They're being hesitant to loan money during such times.

 

[gymfresh]

To the extent that you look up to your parents, maybe your early political views are shaped in favor of their views. I idolized my father and he was a solid conservative. Called himself an independent and never registered with a party affiliation, but he always -- always -- voted Republican. In high school I followed in his footsteps and campaigned my oversexed and overeducated ass off on behalf of all the local Republican candidates.

Not much changed through college. I didn't even realize I was gay until after college. My first national election, senior year, I voted for Ronald Reagan.

Four years later I was a different man. I was assimilated into mainstream DC gay culture, I was protesting the already Alzheimer's-ridden, cardboard old actor who was playing president for disastrous economic thinking and not even acknowledging we had an AIDS crisis unfolding in America. By the time I finished law school and MBA school and had a vastly deeper understanding of economics and law, I was an unrepentant liberal. I find that as I grow older and wiser, including nearly 20 years on Wall St, I grow more practical and compassionate and my political views are reinforced ever more strongly in the progressive direction.

My dad and I nearly had a falling out over Oliver North running for the Senate. He made clear his intent to vote for that perjorious sack of shit, and I couldn't talk him out of it (Dad's reasoning: sure, North lied to Congress. But he never lied to his wife, so he was still an honorable man.) When I bemoaned Dad's blockheadedness to Mom, she made the first and last political comment I have heard her make: "Drop it dear. Your father and I have been canceling out each other's votes for 38 years."

Since then, at least a dozen friends have told me their parents have said basically the same thing.

Dad died 6 years ago. My sister, who can't even spell Republican, started voting exclusively that party in "memory" of Dad. Sheesh.

 

[Calboner]

My dad and I nearly had a falling out over Oliver North running for the Senate. He made clear his intent to vote for that perjorious sack of shit

You are wrong there, Gymfresh: Oliver North was a perjurious sack of shit.

Dad died 6 years ago. My sister, who can't even spell Republican, started voting exclusively that party in "memory" of Dad. Sheesh.

Did she actually say that? I have read that it is a common occurrence for people who have suffered the death of someone close to adopt the habits and opinions of that person, and in my previous post in this thread I noted my mother as an instance of this. But I had not heard of someone adopting a deceased person's political affiliation as a gesture of tribute to that person rather than out of change of belief.