Do you vote radically differently from your parents? Have you changed from a liberal to a conservative at some point in your life?(I don’t think there is much change the other way, but maybe). I’m not keeping count, we just want to see the general trend.No party needs to be mentioned and, we don’t need mud slinging, just the facts.
Me: Yes, I do vote for a different party than my dad. I have no idea what my mom voted.
Yeah, I vote different from my folks. When I was little, I thought whatever my parents said had to be right. But in high school I began reading the editorial section of the paper and became more disillusioned with our leader (circa 1987). As the ‘88 election rolled around, the editorials and Bloom County made both parties look like buffoons and I became ambivalent toward the whole thing. Then the 1992 primaries arrived and I was 18, so I registered “independent.” But that was the year the conservative organization OCA (Oregon Citizens’ Alliance) raised its ugly head and began trying to pass anti-homosexual legislation. That was also the year Bill Clinton was supposed to usher in a new era of prosperity and good will. Filled with Hope (remember, that was his campaign? The man from Hope, Ark.?) and wanting to make this world better than my parents’ Republicans had made it, I changed my party affiliation and became a D in time for the November election. Nowadays, I’m married to an R and feeling very ambivalent to the whole thing again. The two party system is tearing this country apart, man!
Anyway, yeah, I vote different from my folks.
“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy
I was raised a staunch liberal in a poor, single-parent household in the big city. Not a Democrat or Independent or Green Party or whatever. Just a plain old liberal. I’m now 28, married, two kids, and have a very sucessful career. And I still vote liberal on almost all issues. So does my mother.
My younger sister, however, found god and became a corporate attorney. She is as conservative and Republican as you can get. I’ve never been able to understand her lack of compassion for the common folks. When my mom finally kicked my dad out, oh those many years ago, we went on welfare for about a year. My mom got back on her feet, got a job, and raised the two of us by herself. That year was not something my mom is proud of, but it kept us off the street. Talk to my sister now about welfare, of any kind, and she acts like it’s the driving force behind all this country’s ills. Yet if it wasn’t there for us, who knows what would have happened.
I don’t vote along party lines, so I can’t really say I vote with or against my parents. In fact, I despise people who vote strictly on party lines. But that’s probably a Great Debate. 
Right now, I’m registered as a Republican (because Illinois requires that you register as something in order to vote in the primary) who hates the religious right (in fact, I voted in the Repub primary specifically to vote for moderates in the Repub party). The time before that, I registered Libertarian just because I wanted to show a little support. This time, I’ll probably register Democrat to round things out.
But no matter how I’m registered, I vote for each individual. Most recently, I voted for the Republican candidate for governor (mostly because the Dem was actually further to the right, but also because the Dem was a hypocrite – another Great Debate, I suspect < g >). At the same time, I voted for Dem representatives and some other Dem officials – again depending on their particular stances.
Do I vote radically different from my parents? No. They are pro-choice; I am pro-choice. They are anti-religious-right; I am anti-religious-right. The only area in which we differ is gun control, and unlike some people in that area, I do not allow it to be my major issue in voting (though they might).
Always I have to be the different-drummer type…OK, I really liked Reagan’s rap in 1979: fiscal responsibility, reduce taxes, make it easier to get jobs. I sort of figured the abortion stuff and other social issues were just pandering to the nuts until after the election. And although he was before my (voting-age) time, Jimmy Carter had pissed me off on social issues because he was as willing as any Republican to disembowel bills that I liked, and I was sick & tired of the Democrats’ theme song “We are the party of the disenfranchised and left outs” when in reality they were the party of incumbents seeking reelection.
But old Ronnie Reagan stuck with the social agenda issues, while turning his back on the balanced budget and enlarging deficit spending. I could not stomach Walter Mondale so I voted for Sonia Johnson (Citizen’s Party) but since then have mainly voted Democratic. I consider myself a beyond-liberal radical on social issues but a conservative on spending and money management issues.
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My mother is the political parent in the family. She came from a blue-collar, factory-working, unionized family and is very liberal. My dad’s family was staunchly conservative, but I don’t know what my dad political views are. He votes but he never talks about politics, religion, or anything like that. He talks about computers, food, and model airplanes ;). Anyway, my sister and I, being very influenced by my mother, are liberals. I will cross over and vote for the Republican if I feel it’s necessary. Once in a blue moon, it is. Generally, though, the Democrats support what I want supported and the Republicans don’t.
I vote like my parents do. We aren’t liberal, we aren’t conservative, we aren’t Democrat or Republican.
Put simply, we don’t vote FOR, we vote AGAINST.
– Sylence
“The problem with reality is the lack of background music.” – Anon
AHunter3: Your issues deal with the problem of the two party system. In many European countries there are parties that simply deal with fiscally conservative ideas and leave the moral stuff to the Christian Democrats, or some such smaller group.
But back to the question at hand…
My parents are both Republicans. My mom comes from a long line of them, but my stepfather’s parents are both quite liberal. I’m a social liberal, but a fiscal conservative. I tend to lean more toward the Democrats, though, because I like the interest groups that pay them more than I like the interest groups that pay the Republicans.
I come from a long line of conservatives and will very rarely vote for a liberal democrat unless they address some specific, local issue in a manner that may benefit me directly.
I guess I’m too conservative to change.
Drain Bead –
This isn’t a criticism, but I keep hearing the term “social liberal/fiscal conservative” and just don’t understand it. How can you promote a social agenda without spending money and given the inherent inefficiency in goverment, money is wasted. How does this fit any conservative agenda?
I read Colin Powell’s autobiography and this is also the way he describes himself. He says he wants to spend money to promote federal social policy and also spend money to upgrade the armed forces. Military expansion is typically part of the republican/conservative agenda. To me it seems that people who describe themselves as “social liberals/fiscal conservatives” want to have the best of all worlds, without any sacrifices, and are willing to spend cash on any program if it helps garner followers.
Abstainer: a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure.
- Ambrose Bierce
My parents are hard-core Democrats (my dad’s even thinking of running for Congress, woo hoo!) I’m an ex-Democrat and ex-Socialist currently registered as an Independent; can you tell I’m completely disillusioned with party politics? On the other hand, I’ve never actually voted for a Republican and probably never will. So I essentially vote the same way my parents do, although my reasoning is a little different …
My mom is a casual republican who registers as independant. My dad is a ferverent lower-middle class republican (no, the republican party is NOT just for the rich). I am a registered Libertarian, and vote straight-ticket Libertarian. So yes, I am different, politically speaking, than my parents. There are still lots of things where I and the Libertarian Party don’t see eye-to-eye, but they are the closest to my own political standing.
Jason R Remy
“No amount of legislation can solve America’s problems.”
– Jimmy Carter (1980)
Fair enough. First off, it doesn’t require funding to pass laws that protect the rights of citizens rather than regulating their private lives or imposing religious/moral standards. Second, you can support social change economically without funding a Great Society bottomless moneypit program–give companies an economic incentive to do things like reduce pollution or promote equality in job recruitment, for example. It doesn’t cost anything extra to deploy tax cuts strategically, and the “social liberal” part has to do with the underlying strategies.
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Well in my younger days I was a true blue reagan republican. but recently, i have become quite alienated with the republicans attitude toward the people. Nobody wanted the impeachment inquiry to continue but they championed that cause for the people cause they couldn’t understand. And now most recently with the huge tax cut they just passed. I don’t mind paying taxes right now as long as the money is used wisely. ie to save social security and medicare.
sheesh!
I grew up in Orange County, California. The land of Nixon. I went to school with HR Haldeman’s kids. My mother’s family was %100 Republican. My father’s family was %100 apathetic non-voters(“It’s just a plot to rope you into jury duty!”)
As an idealistic adolecent, I was quick to clue into the hypocracy around me. I remember the outcry in OC when the Veitnamese refugees started showing up after “they let their country go commie”. I remember the familiar refrain, “The only difference between Nixon and other presidents is that he got caught!” My father saw it, too, and made sure I wasn’t buying any of it. Although, I’m sure he’d be ashamed, my Dad is the one who molded me into the good Democrat I am today.
When I voted in the 1984 California primaries, the poll worker at my Orange County precinct asked my name. When I told her she looked at her list of registered voters and exclaimed, “Oh, you’re the one!” before handing me the Democratic primary ballot.
Although I’m not nearly as idealistic or rebelious as I once was and am now a home owner in a fairly high tax-bracket, I still pretty much vote the Dem. ticket, mostly because I’ve never agreed with any Republican’s platform and I’ve gotten used to our (the Demorcats’) much roomier tent.
“I don’t belong to any organized political party. I’m a Democrat!” - Will Rodgers (I think)
I’m a social liberal in the sense that people can do what they want to do with themselves, as long as they’re not hurting anyone else. However, the only aid I believe in giving is Workfare (2 years and you’re off) and federally-funded financial aid for needy students. Any more is too much, any less is inhumane. I also don’t believe in the death penalty…but I don’t believe in gun control that goes any more strict than what we have now (my only really “conservative” belief–it goes with my idea that adults can do whatever the hell they want–but if they’re not careful or hurt someone with their guns, prosucute the hell out of them). So I fall on the “liberal” side of the spectrum when it comes to social issues, for the most part.
My father’s a Democrat who hasn’t voted for a Democrat for President since 1960. My mother used to be a Democrat, but later changed to Republican. Both are what I would define as conservatives.
I’m a registered Republican, but I have big problems with a lot of their agenda–especially that which is driven by religion. (If I wanted to live in a theocracy, I’d move to Iran.) At the same time, I have equally big problems with the Democrats–just on different issues. (And the antics of the travelling felony known as the Clinton Administration have guaranteed I’ll vote Republican for president next year, provided the candidate is someone I can stand.)
Overall, I think I’d best be described as a libertarian (small L). I might well vote Libertarian if they had any chance of winning. As it is, I generally hold my nose and vote Republican–I find them marginally less odious than the Democrats.
Rich Barr
massivemaple@hotmail.com
AOL Instant Messenger: Hrttannl
Thanks all for behaving, so we can keep this in MPSIMS.Any trends here? Somebody want to summarize. I’m just an instigator, not a leader.
PapaBear: Your statement:
Sounds like my suburban polling place. Occasionally, for state rep., there is only the republican and the libertarian looney to vote for. This one actually is a nut.
I make sure I wear bluejeans to vote, although I normally wear slacks to work. I really stand out from the doctors and lawyers and businessmen going to their office. So it’s no surprise who I vote for. For president, I don’t vote for any of the usual reasons. It’s just for a guy that will make judge nominations. The rest of the campaign promises will usually turn into a fiasco.
So at the poll, I and a few women voted for the minority party last time. According to local polls.
I’ve turned out to be more conservative than my parents (they think they’re conservative, but they’re a little pink around the edges). Isn’t there a rule somewhere that the younger generation should always move to the left?
No such rule. Suppose your parents were New Age leftist hippies?In your teenage years, to rebel, you’d have to become a republican church goer.