Family and Politics

[Jacob]

I've got a bunch of left-wingers, even in a European context, on the European side of the family. The Canadian side is maybe medium-right in Canadian context.

Of course, as mentioned previously, I also have one of the leading public intellectuals (and retired political leaders) of the populist anti-immigrant party in Denmark in my family.

So it sort of ranges across the board.

[Viking]

I moved my entire family from being social democrats in 1989 to being classical liberals by 1999.

[Admiral Yi]

Did you sit on them?

[PDH]

On my Mom's side the family is mostly conservative.  My Grandfather was a registered Democrat who always voted (from 1948 on) as a Republican.

On my Dad's side they were Northeastern Republicans, most of whom would be labeled as far-leftists by the Cruzites today.

Now there is a nice mix of far right, center, and lefties.  It is fun at a family reunion.

[Ed Anger]

I loathe my brother talking politics. Because he sounds like newsmax.com. And he won't shut up about it. I do love it when he falls for a reposted Sorcha Faal story.

Other brother just trolls and switches his arguments for the laughs.

[Neil]

My father and mother are fairly centrist, but my sister is a member of the teacher's union.  My brother is apolitical.  I'm also fairly centrist, but with certain eccentricities.

[Capetan Mihali]

My father is just pretty much a contrarian, and definitely enjoys trolling.  Claims to have last voted for the Libertarian candidate in 1972, then not voted again until 2004 when the Iraq War riled him up enough to hold his nose and vote Kerry; sat out 2008 cause he hated Palin too much; voted for Romney in 2012 against the "socialist" Obama.  I would say he's pretty much a centrist, of the "they're all morons" school.

He's completely repelled by Bible-thumping or really social conservatives generally.  In favor of gay marriage; not a homophobe, not really an "ally" either -- maybe a little smirky about gay stuff -- but I did watch him take an admirable public stand (in the lounge of a gun club) telling off one of his semi-drunk buddies who was going on about how it was disgusting, he'd never let a son of his be gay, etc.  Pro-choice.  Gun enthusiast, but resigned from the NRA in disgust after their response to Sandy Hook.  Has a lot of anti-Chinese sentiment; "fuckin' Chinese, they're coming for us" was his standard analysis of the past decade.  Very isolationist in foreign policy; thinks the Israelis are a bunch of "fucking nutjobs" and should be given some land in Idaho or Montana "with all the other psychos" to solve the Israel-Palestine problem.

Actually, now that I describe it, he sounds like a good candidate for Languish.    I'm to his left and we troll each other; I take the bait a lot easier than he does.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and he really enjoys watching Pat Buchanan; since Pat's the only major US politician I know of with "an opinion" about the Holocaust, I guess that's kind of unconventional.

[CountDeMoney]

Mom was a Goldwater Girl, and Dad was a double Nixonian with cheese.  Both voted Reagan and Dad voted for Poppy Bush twice (Mom didn't, she's hated Bush since '80), but over time, disillusionment set in with the GOP;  Mom, who is vehemently pro-choice to the point of making Molotovs, and Dad doesn't really dig on the rich and has hated the influence of the megachurches that started in the '80s. 

I don't think either one's voted GOP since 1992.  Dad would've voted McCain in '08, but he lost him by choosing Palin.

[Neil]

I like CdM's dad.  Nixon.

[Barrister]

Both mom and dad were PC back in the day (as was extended family on both sides).  PC being Progressive Conservative.

In my teens I was massively political (Reform!!!) and I think I swayed many of them that way (not that it was that tough - look at where politics have gone).  The exception has been my mom - she was a teacher before us kids were born (in the 70s you didn't need much), went back to school and got her degree when I was a kid (which I admire the hell out of her for), but then sadly fell in for the Teachers Union line and is a pretty reliable Liberal for the most part.

I wish I had some amusing stories about political differences, but nothing really.  My mom will get upset at my uncle (dad's sister's husband) who will spout vaguely racist lines at family events, but I don't know how much of that is true vs, well, "trolling" (not that the term existed for when he started doing it).

Mrs B is interesting.  I think her instincts are largely the same as mine.  But she was also the local union president of the government employee union in the Yukon.  Not because she was a huge ideologue about unions, but she was asked to do it, and she did believe in standing up for her fellow workers.  But she's not very political.  I do insist that she come vote with me, but I'd never presume to tell her who to vote for.  So sometimes it is the same as me (last Federal election), sometimes we go out and cancel each other's votes (last provincial election).

[Neil]

What did you think of the last provincial election, Beeb?

[katmai]

To right of my Mother.
My dad never really talks politics except to yell at everyone in Washington.

[Josquius]

My family support labour, for obvious reasons, though my dad sometimes sounds more BNP, though I know he doesn't mean it, he's thoroughly apolitical and just grunts what the Sun tells him to grunt. My mother has some conservative in her, but given her age and her job she's as left wing as you could expect, has always been pro-equality.
I think I'm somewhat to the left of my parents, though given they're already pretty much live and let live people that's pretty tough to guage.
My sister doesn't have a clue what politics is.

[derspiess]

My wife is very apolitical, carrying over her cynicism/ambivalence from her native land.  If you force her to state an opinion, she's pretty hardcore libertarian on just about everything.  And obviously she votes strictly derspiessian

[Beenherebefore]

Ten years ago, this thread would have read differently, I am sure.

Either we're all getting more centrist with age, or the fringes have turned even more idiotic than before.