Who/What influenced your political ideology?

[Mr.Yankees]

I have always been puzzled to say the least about how people develop their political ideologies. This was one of the many reason I became a political scientist/politician (that and the lust for power, greed, natural drive for everything related to money, and the other perks such free "business" traveling, etc.). There are many theories out there and most of them are probably real within the realm of science.

Well, I'll like to hear (read) what or influenced/is influencing your political ideology? Feel free to open your hearts to us.

I guess it would only be appropriate for me to start. My political ideology was influence mostly (and I truly mean mostly) by none other than my mother. She has always been involved in politics and is a very persuasive person. My father has had some influence in me as well. That's where I got some of my moderate ideology from. I cannot say any particular experience in my life has made me change my ideology at all because there hasn't been one and at this point, i don;t think there will be one.

[AdJeCtIv3]

Initially my parents. My Mother was a nurse for all of her life and has boundless humanity, my father was was union activist/official, so socialism runs in the family. I can remember my father singing the praises of Mao. My Uncle was quite dazzled by Castro.

My grandfather was also an ardent socialist who hid his Commie books under the floorboards when Australia went through our McCarthy inspired 'Reds Under the Bed' period.

My politics are more a working class result rather than a scientific study. Growing up in the 80's while the cold war was still in progress gave me a healthy skepticism of the media that I continue to hone to this day.

Later influences are Senator Bob Brown, Australian Greens and Peter Garret in the late 80's/early 90's (Nuclear Disarmament Party) and Gorbachev (only because I lived through Glasnost and Perestroika, and visited the Soviet Union).

[Chazza]

Not sure, my parents both met at a Labour party meeting and were very involved in it until the rise of Blair so I often used to get sent off to leaflet doors when I was young. Also my dad has been involved in numerous Trotskyist parties throughout his life and my mum used to hippy it up getting sprayed by hoses and preaching about free love an all that jazz so there's my parental upbringing. I got quite involved in left wing politics around the time of the invasion of Iraq marching around London and almost joining the SWP (thank god I didn't, if any of you have ever had the misfortune of getting into a 'but the party line is...' argument with any swappers you will understand my hatred of them). Since then through my study of history and of politics and through getting involved with anarchist circles (I wouldn't call myself an anarchist though) I've become increasingly skeptial of the of the role of the state and of dominating institutions and would distance myself from authoritarian socialists now as much as I would from authoritarian conservatives or any other authoritarians. I wouldn't say I have an ideology though, my experience is that once people conform themselves to an ideology they become increasingly constrained by it and become slaves to the 'ideology line' much the same way as the SWP can't disagree with the 'party line', then again this might still be me getting pissed off with SWP Marxism, god I fucking hate the SWP...

[Amazeroth]

None of my parents were politically active (apart from when they were students), but I've surely been influenced by my father's view on politics and economy. Apart from my parents, Christianity surely is an influence, though it mostly endorses the importancy I see in individual freedom. Also important were several lectures by Austrian organisations affiliated with the American Acton Society (a neo-liberal thinktank), and of course studying law, especially the historical and philosophical part

[JuliaAJA]

Common Sense and computer games.

I used to play a game called Red Alert 2 and I enjoyed commanding the Soviets. I also rather liked their accents.

Communism made sense to me as it still does, the equal sharing of everything and just overall fairness. Also, eviromentalism makes sense to me because even if it's wrong, it's still good to be on the safe side.

Also, religiously, I heard of how many times the Jews were oppressed and learned about the actual faith and converted at Age 10 or 11.

[Khaler]

Finnish President Risto Ryti. He was one of our great men who were capitalist's, but also understood the good of the people. Responsible Capitalism, like I say. It is not socialism if you support a system to help those who were not as fortunate as you, it is caring and empathy. The party he represented (National Progress Party - Edistyspuolue) has always been the closest to my views, too bad it hasn't existed since 1951, when it joined Finnish National Coalition (which I'm a member of). Ryti was a lawyer and a banker, and before his presidency, he was the head of Bank of Finland. He did not participate in the Civil War, but the Russian Blosheviks tried to murder him and his wife in 1917, after they had killed his employer, Kordelin.

He, like me, was a follower of Anders Chydenius' liberal views, whose main points were Free Trade, Free Information, Worker's Rights and Natural Equality. You could say Chydenius has influenced my ideology more than Ryti, as Ryti was influenced by him, but Ryti's stance against socialism, patriotism and heroic acts is what rises him as the most important one.

Ryti also sacrificed himself, signing personal agreement with the Nazis in 1944, where he promised that Finland would not negotiate for peace on it's own, and in return, would get more weapons to fight the soviets. After the Soviet attack had been stopped (with the nice, new German weapons like Panzershrecks and Panzerfausts, and assistance from the Luftwaffe), he stepped down from the presidency and the new president started the peace negotiations. Yeah, he stabbed the Nazis in the back, but what wouldn't you do for your country and your people's freedom? Then, after the war, the Soviets ordered us to sentence him (and many others) to jail as "Guilty for starting the war" (which was ridiculous, because both of our wars against the soviets were started by them). And the prisontime slowly killed him. He never got any credit for what he did, because the political atmosphere after the war was so pro-soviet. He was also overshadowed by Mannerheim ofcourse, but lately he has been getting the respect he deserves (he was voted as the 2nd greatest Finn of all time - behind Mannerheim).

I think Ryti embodied everything that I believe in; Free business, freedom of press, freedom of the people, caring for others, equality, placing your people's needs above you when needed, sacrifacing yourself for your country in need and the respect for democracy, even in those occations when the majority disagrees with you.

[Xanathos]

My largest influence came from the economists of the Austrian School whose writings I have read, Henry Hazlitt in particular. Thomas Jefferson is perhaps my most important historical influence.

[Molotov]

Not sure, my parents both met at a Labour party meeting and were very involved in it until the rise of Blair so I often used to get sent off to leaflet doors when I was young. Also my dad has been involved in numerous Trotskyist parties throughout his life and my mum used to hippy it up getting sprayed by hoses and preaching about free love an all that jazz so there's my parental upbringing.

Hah, no surprises here.

I got quite involved in left wing politics around the time of the invasion of Iraq marching around London and almost joining the SWP (thank god I didn't, if any of you have ever had the misfortune of getting into a 'but the party line is...' argument with any swappers you will understand my hatred of them). Since then through my study of history and of politics and through getting involved with anarchist circles (I wouldn't call myself an anarchist though) I've become increasingly skeptial of the of the role of the state and of dominating institutions

Or here.

I wouldn't say I have an ideology though, my experience is that once people conform themselves to an ideology they become increasingly constrained by it and become slaves to the 'ideology line' much the same way as the SWP can't disagree with the 'party line', then again this might still be me getting pissed off with SWP Marxism, god I fucking hate the SWP...

Some sense! Bit of a surprise there.

My grandmother on one side came from a landed family and married into the police. One half of my family is exclusively and unashamedly old right, they would be happy if Lord Salisbury's Conservative and Unionist Party were in government. My grandmother on the other side was the wife of a businessman, she divorced him after he had an affair (I have an uncle I've never met, the same age as my mother) and married a steelworker. He was, as you might expect, unashamedly old left. My grandmother was rather a fan of Mr Blair, and my mother, she is a university educated housewife, rather a fan of marrying wealthy men (most recently she bagged a consultant psychiatrist) so I don't know what that makes her, I think generally she votes whatever her lord and husband votes.

I think I may have what Oakeshott calls a 'conservative disposition', I prefer present laughter to utopian bliss (I've had this all my life, Oakeshott gave me a name for it.) My political philosophy has been informed by Plato, Hobbes, Locke, Mills, Hume, Smith, Burke, Oakeshott and Scruton, amongst others. I tend to think I am sensible. I have a brain, and I use it.

I guess it would only be appropriate for me to start. My political ideology was influence mostly (and I truly mean mostly) by none other than my mother. She has always been involved in politics and is a very persuasive person. My father has had some influence in me as well. That's where I got some of my moderate ideology from. I cannot say any particular experience in my life has made me change my ideology at all because there hasn't been one and at this point, i don;t think there will be one.

So what is your political ideology, if you don't mind my asking?

[Mr.Yankees]

Not sure, my parents both met at a Labour party meeting and were very involved in it until the rise of Blair so I often used to get sent off to leaflet doors when I was young. Also my dad has been involved in numerous Trotskyist parties throughout his life and my mum used to hippy it up getting sprayed by hoses and preaching about free love an all that jazz so there's my parental upbringing.

Hah, no surprises here.

I got quite involved in left wing politics around the time of the invasion of Iraq marching around London and almost joining the SWP (thank god I didn't, if any of you have ever had the misfortune of getting into a 'but the party line is...' argument with any swappers you will understand my hatred of them). Since then through my study of history and of politics and through getting involved with anarchist circles (I wouldn't call myself an anarchist though) I've become increasingly skeptial of the of the role of the state and of dominating institutions

Or here.

I wouldn't say I have an ideology though, my experience is that once people conform themselves to an ideology they become increasingly constrained by it and become slaves to the 'ideology line' much the same way as the SWP can't disagree with the 'party line', then again this might still be me getting pissed off with SWP Marxism, god I fucking hate the SWP...

Some sense! Bit of a surprise there.

My grandmother on one side came from a landed family and married into the police. One half of my family is exclusively and unashamedly old right, they would be happy if Lord Salisbury's Conservative and Unionist Party were in government. My grandmother on the other side was the wife of a businessman, she divorced him after he had an affair (I have an uncle I've never met, the same age as my mother) and married a steelworker. He was, as you might expect, unashamedly old left. My grandmother was rather a fan of Mr Blair, and my mother, she is a university educated housewife, rather a fan of marrying wealthy men (most recently she bagged a consultant psychiatrist) so I don't know what that makes her, I think generally she votes whatever her lord and husband votes.

I think I may have what Oakeshott calls a 'conservative disposition', I prefer present laughter to utopian bliss (I've had this all my life, Oakeshott gave me a name for it.) My political philosophy has been informed by Plato, Hobbes, Locke, Mills, Hume, Smith, Burke, Oakeshott and Scruton, amongst others. I tend to think I am sensible. I have a brain, and I use it.

I guess it would only be appropriate for me to start. My political ideology was influence mostly (and I truly mean mostly) by none other than my mother. She has always been involved in politics and is a very persuasive person. My father has had some influence in me as well. That's where I got some of my moderate ideology from. I cannot say any particular experience in my life has made me change my ideology at all because there hasn't been one and at this point, i don;t think there will be one.

So what is your political ideology, if you don't mind my asking?

I am a moderate. For those who know what it is, I am a Reagan Democrat (aka Conservative Democrat). As I just said, I am a moderate and my opinion on an issue depends on the issue itself.

[Khaler]

Thomas Jefferson

That guy who owned 200+ slaves? Great influence.

(Yeah I know, he was against slavery... atleast that is what they are trying to convince us to believe nowdays when slavery is not cool anymore.)