Is your political view due to nature or nurture?

[Jon]

Why do you believe in the politics that you do? Is it because of reality, or due to your upbringing? Or, is it because of personality traits you have inherited that lean you towards a particular type of view?

For the nurture side of the argument, location is a big one. If you are born in a certain area, you are more likely to vote one way rather than the other.

 

[pbaldy]

Interesting question, that I'm not sure I can answer. I don't recall my parents having strong opinions, or at least they didn't push them. My dad built a very profitable business from the ground up and had me helping out from a young age. He later lost it all and I had to rebuild my life. I guess I learned the "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" philosophy the hard way. I lean towards the Libertarian philosophy that we shouldn't rely on government to do everything. It frankly doesn't do much all that well anyway, and it just doesn't feel "right" that we aren't in control of what we do with what we earn.

 

[Isaac]

I was brought up strictly Republican - but based fairly on the fact that my parents believed almost every Republican position of the platform (not just obsessing over one issue). Since then I've moved a lot towards the center. I would say the #1 thing in my life that brought me more perspective than most people I talk to (in person) seem to have is .. I married a foreign born person, started fluently speaking another language and becoming familiar with (and adopting many of) their ways of thinking, travelling to their country, and all of this gave me a much broader perspective on the world rather than an American-dominated perspective. Taking a totally random issue: healthcare. I was brought up typically American, believing that our healthcare was the best in the world. I now laugh HARD at that perspective. After 40 years of going to doctors in the US who would spend about 13 seconds getting to know me, my life, my medical background, things tried/not tried, goals and solutions....(demanding more than the 13 seconds would get me a "complicated diagnoses" ICD code for billing purposes!).... and then I remember one day I was in Mexico and I paid a doctor $5-$10 to see me for a garden variety issue. We sat down and discussed everything that might possibly be relevant for about 45 minutes, including some testing and not overly focused on medication, but ultimately providing some as well. I walked out of there thinking a heck of a lot differently about American healthcare, I can tell you that. I told my wife what an extraordinary doctor. She for a moment didn't get my comment - They're all like that here, she said.

And that's just one thing - I haven't even gotten started on the social/family/human/connectedness vs. "American depression" aspect of things.

It may seem like I am talking about non-political things, but I believe all of these experiences have had a big impact on my political views, too. It's all connected. I am glad I was forced to get out of my american bubble by way of my marriage, it is the best thing that ever happened to me.

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

May have posted this in the other thread - incorrectly! - but it might do for both...
I didn't know this until very recently, your political persuasion is largely influenced by the construction of your brain. If you are the sort of person that uses the left hemisphere of your brain, then you are likely to be methodical, business like, scientific, organised... If you are the sort of person that uses your right hemisphere more then you are more likely to be artistic, creative, instinctive, having a good gut instinct. People with tendency to use their right Hemisphere I more likely to be liberal in their outlook.

Now I'm more of a right hemisphere person, but I was brought up in a left hemisphere household, so I'm a bit conflicted! I'm the sort of person that sits on the fence, and for a long time I thought it was a weakness, although I do get much enjoyment playing Devil's Advocate with people and also switching position.

My biggest gripe with politics used to be that one party gets in and undo's everything the previous party did at great expense! Then they switch over and the same thing happens again and again and again... But I now realise that this flip-flopping, causes something useful to happen there's an average, the political spectrum moves to the left and then back to the right and then to the left and then back to the right and down through the middle you have a Centre Line where things are about right.

I tend to have friends on both sides of the fence, and I see the merits and problems with both approaches to politics.

 

[Steve R.]

For the nurture side of the argument, location is a big one. If you are born in a certain area, you are more likely to vote one way rather than the other.

Urbanization. Urban areas that are densely populated, unfortunately, require "BIG" government. The citizens of these areas "require" laws related to sanitation, pollution controls, building codes, noise control, transportation systems, how power is delivered to homes and businesses, health services, etc.

Unfortunately, the people in urban areas tend to vote Democratic. Overtime, increased urbanization and subsequent dependence on government services will mean that the Democrats will eventually control the US political system.

Why do you believe in the politics that you do? Is it because of reality, or due to your upbringing? Or, is it because of personality traits you have inherited that lean you towards a particular type of view?

We were, at least we were before 1965, taught civics in a positive pro-US manner. So my upbringing would continue to support these US traditions. However, as many have noticed many on the progressive left denigrate US culture and many have been influenced by that rhetoric.

A glaring example of this change in attitude are quotes from Kennedy, King, and Bill Clinton. Kennedy's quote paraphrased: ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. King looked forward to when people would be evaluated on their character not not the color of their skin. Bill Clinton proclaimed that the era of big government was over. Today, those on the progressive left believe that the government owes them. That people should be considered for "x', "y", or "z" base on the color of their skin and not the content of their character. Big government continues to grow unabated in the face of incremental crises, such as 9/11 and the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

[pbaldy]

what an extraordinary doctor

Maybe I should go to Mexico. I've been fighting a chronic cough for years, nobody can figure out what causes it. I'll admit to having had a stereotype of healthcare in some countries being somehow less than desirable. I've matured to realize I was wrong. Some friends from this area winter in an RV down in southern AZ or NM, talked about how they waited until then to get dental work done across the border. Great care at much cheaper costs according to them, which lines up with your experience.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I've seen several doctors over the years due to insurance changes as I changed employers. The guy I'm with isn't the best I've ever had but he IS pretty good about talking with me if I have questions. My orthopedic guy is the best, though. Thanks to him, my knees remain viable for my daily walks without the need for surgery.

 

[Jon]

Doc, I discovered earlier this year, that if you have a mashed knee, it kinda restricts you to do nothing at all. You don't realise until you have one. Good that you have a guy taking care of them for you.

 

[Pat Hartman]

I don't recall any political discussions from childhood when the family gathered so I'm guessing that they were all of like mind since they didn't argue about any positions. I was born and educated in Connecticut so my family was mostly left leaning but not far from the center although i did realize once I grew up that they were bigots. As a young adult, I was also liberal leaning because as one pundit once said, if you are not a liberal when you are young, you have no heart and if you are not a conservative once you grow up, you have no brain. The light came on for me once I was out in the world earning a living and reading Atlas Shrugged made me realize that it was MY MONEY not other people's money and taking money from me in the form of taxes so that bureaucrats could give it to people they deemed more worthy was not charity, it was outright theft. That didn't change my opinion of the Republicans though. BT (Before Trump), I thought they were just as bad if not worse than the Democrats and AT, I know for a fact that they are worse which is saying something because people who used to be normal Democrats have completely lost their minds as they drank the cool aid and followed the Trump-haters off the cliff. If there were any rational Democrats left, Joe Biden would not be the presumptive nominee. My current position is more Libertarian than anything but I do believe that government is necessary at some level as did our founding fathers. But our current level of government is way too intrusive and government bureaucrats don't know better than locals do regarding what each community needs. If I were Queen, I would start by getting rid of the Department of Education since they have not improved the education in this country, they've simply lowered the bar by catering to the lowest common denominator. They are also rewriting the history books to obscure what was good in our past.

Even though my husband and I were independent thinkers (at least I am. My husband was always a Republican) we were registered Democrats. In Connecticut, you MUST be registered with one of the two major parties in order to vote in any primaries so the theory was, we live in a very blue state so our only hope was to vote for the Democrat we preferred in the primary and then in the general election choose between the the folks who ended up on the ballot. I'm pretty sure my husband voted for the Democrat he thought was least likely to beat a Republican so our votes probably canceled each other out. In 2015 I had to change my registration from Democrat to Republican so I could vote against Trump in the primary. I was actually in favor of him for president but I just knew he would cause chaos because he didn't know the difference between Political Correctness and rudeness and I wasn't wrong. Of course he won the primary so there was no question of who would get my vote in the general. The philandering big mouth or the criminal who also allowed Americans to die in Benghazi because she chose to tell the marines to stand down rather than attempt a rescue. Since pretty much all of our presidents except for Obama and Bush the younger have been philanders, I only had to get past the big mouth part.

The Kennedy/Clinton Democrats don't exist any more. The Socialists have taken over the party. Free stuff for everyone. Just vote for us. We'll take care of you and lots of people still fall for it because the new mantra is "Ask not what you can do for your country, Ask what your country can do for you". And then there's the point that the Republicans are so feckless that it is actually painful to vote for them.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Pat, as I have stated many times before, I'm glad that Louisiana has electronic push-button voting machines. It allows me to vote for the candidate of my choice with one hand while I hold my nose with the other hand.

 

[mdnuts]

I'm one of the ones that believes that for the most part - there aren't a lot of differences between the two parties. Or rather as years go on, more evidence supports they're the same, just arguing for different dollars.

I think as a kid I was liberal, in my early 20's I went fiscal conservative when I had to deal with business taxes and seeing taxes nearly crumble a struggling business. More time went by and I probably venture a little bit on the Libertarian side.

 

[Isaac]

I'm one of the ones that believes that for the most part - there aren't a lot of differences between the two parties

More true than most people believe, I think.

 

[Pat Hartman]

Both parties are wrong about a lot of stuff. But which party is more inclined to impoverish you because you are not worthy and other people need your money more than you do and then muzzle you so you can't speak your mind. Personally, I can no longer get past the hypocrisy of the left. Save all the prisoners on death row but allow abortion in the delivery room is the worst contradiction! Who really thinks that is right? I'm pretty sure that even average people who think abortion should be legal (but rare) don't condone partial birth abortions. And much as they dislike the death penalty, they would be appalled by what happens in abortion clinics. Why does someone like Facebook or Twitter get to decide what is "hate" speech? Did I ever mention that I am permanently banned from Facebook after a single post? Can you imagine what I said that was so universally offensive that now makes me persona non grata? Maybe I should start a poll