My first knowledge of politics came in the 1988 Presidential election, when I didn't know much about either candidate, but Bush sounded more normal than Dukakis, so I picked him. Naturally, my father said "Why Bush?" I said "He has a cool name." My father told me that you should only support a candidate if you know their views about issues. I was 7 at the time and I didn't have issues, so I didn't really know what he meant. Well, Bush won (duh) and I went back into political ignorance, kind of like most Americans. The key difference being - I was 7, they are adults (groan).
My second dose of politics came in April, 1991 when my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Pascal, informed the class that Senator Heinz's plane had crashed into a nearby elementary school, killing 2 children as well as all those aboard the plane and helicopter it collided with. The school was Merion Elementary School in Lower Merion Township, PA. I went to Caley Road Elementary School in Upper Merion Township, PA, just a few miles away. A lot of people mourned the Senator's passing at the time. A little research shows that Heinz was one of a dying breed, a liberal to moderate Republican.
I became more politically aware as I moved out to Utah in 1993, and found the people to be small-minded and extremely conservative. I didn't know the difference between Democrats and Republicans, but I knew the Vice President Al Gore was pro-environment and the Republicans wanted to destroy the environment. So, it seems, not much has changed on that front in 15 years. I also knew that the local dominant religion in Utah was staunchly pro-Republican, so I was naturally a Democrat as a dissenter and anti-redneck. I had a good Mormon friend from Utah tell me "Why would you vote anything other than Republican?" At the time I told him "It is stupid to always vote for a party. You should select the best candidate." I felt that way for another few years until the end of Bush's disastrous first term. Now I am him - "Why would you vote anything other than Democratic?" For the foreseeable future I am a solid Democrat because 95% of elected Republicans are scum and there are very few that I would support.
As I joined the military, I didn't really know about the overwhelming conservative majority in our nation's armed forces. As it turns out, the military is only slightly right of America as a whole due to the recruitment of uneducated, conservative, rural folk balanced against the recruitment of poor, liberal, inner-city minorities. The conservatives just speak out more than we liberals do because it is unlawful to question orders and our orders are coming from the conservative-in-chief, Bush. As liberals, it is hard to dissent within the military. However, a survey from 2007 showed that only 45% of military people identify themselves as "conservative," 40% "liberal," and 15% "independent." Not nearly the bastion of conservative thought I feared it was. Within the military it is pretty easy to tell who is whom, and we segregate ourselves. Almost all of my military friends now are liberals, so either we segregate ourselves or there are way more liberals that I thought. Back at Camp Pendleton in 2000 I got a lot of shit for supporting Gore. I wonder how those guys have liked 8 years of Bush? That is of course assuming that they survived 2-3 deployments to Iraq courtesy of the guy they voted for....
My true political awakening came once I was single again in 2004. My ex had departed for California with all of her mental crap, and I was free to pursue intellectual exploration on my own. It was an election year and I knew that we had to get Bush out of office. He had destroyed the country I used to love, and he had to go. Naturally my absentee ballot to California was useless, as we went for Kerry by a lot, and Ohio doomed us to another 4 years of this idiot. I learned more about politics through school, independent research, and talking with Icelanders. The period of 2004-2005 in Iceland is when I became a true liberal. Despite Iceland's current financial problems, their country is so far to the left of the United States that their right wing party resembles our Democrats, and they continually rank in the top 5 countries to live in. My analysis of Icelandic politics is another blog for another time. I looked at every major issue, and found that I slant slightly liberal to very liberal on all of them: Where I Stand on the Issues
Well, that is how I became the liberal that I am.