How did you become interested in politics? (Reagan, Clinton, Obama)

[StrawberrySoup]

I'm not particularly, especially the details of an election.

It's worth watching though just to get a bit of a handle on long term social changes and (hopefully) some knowledge on cultural cycles. I think of politics as a symptom, not a cause.

[everwinter]

It's hard not getting into politics living in the U.S. Basically, I was curious why everyone hated W. Bush back in the day, so I did my own reading & thought a lot of it was uncalled for. I voted for him & other Republicans. Now I'm more liberal.

I've also done some reading of Noam Chomsky & watched some of his documentaries about how the corporations & the rich control the country. Also, how corrupt the U.S. is, & how basically everyone but the 1% is screwed. It's a pretty sad state the more you read about U.S. history & also our history of systemic racism, sexism etc. Now I'm on board for Bernie or Warren or basically any politician that's actually for the people.

[RMESMH]

Like the OP, through family....and friends of the family.

My grandparents on one side counted one POTUS, three California Governors, a number of U.S. Cabinet members (serving first under FDR, and others as late as the 1980s), a SCOTUS justice, and a number of ambassadors among their friends. My grandfather was a Republican, but he was appointed to a voluntary chairmanship by a member of FDR's Cabinet (and FDR wasn't the POTUS who was a friend). One of my uncles served as Mayor of a major U.S. city. An internationally known media person whose focus is politics has been a family friend for nearly half a century. One of my relatives ran for DA of a major county, and another one managed a large political campaign. My dad dated a woman who later became the Press Secretary for a FLOTUS. I was an Independent, but in college I dated a girl who was the president of the Young Republicans for a large county. One of my childhood friends who grew up across the street from me ended up becoming an advisor to a U.S. Senator, and later a Governor of California. There are a couple of prominent 'political families' in the SF Bay Area besides the Pelosi family. A good friend of mine for over 20 years is a member of one of those other families, and has known Nancy Pelosi her entire life (my friend's entire life, not Nancy's entire life).

[Avondalist]

Originally Posted by everwinter

It's hard not getting into politics living in the U.S. Basically, I was curious why everyone hated W. Bush back in the day, so I did my own reading & thought a lot of it was uncalled for. I voted for him & other Republicans. Now I'm more liberal.

I've also done some reading of Noam Chomsky & watched some of his documentaries about how the corporations & the rich control the country. Also, how corrupt the U.S. is, & how basically everyone but the 1% is screwed. It's a pretty sad state the more you read about U.S. history & also our history of systemic racism, sexism etc. Now I'm on board for Bernie or Warren or basically any politician that's actually for the people.

I question some of your conclusions, but I admire your ability to do an almost complete 180 as new information came to light.

[CanalsLB]

I became interested in politics when I was a boy in the Bronx. It was about 1960 and my parents were very enthused about JFK. I was aware about the controversy re: his Catholicism.
As a Catholic I didn’t understand. My father worked his store 6 days a week. During the summer he closed on Monday in addition to his normal day off which was Sunday. He took one week vacation each year at the same time. It was always the July 4th week. There was public housing recently built a few blocks away from where we lived. My parents didn’t own a car. We didn’t go away for vacations. My parents always told me we were middle class but I knew differently. I would ask them why the Projects had parking lots. After all, the Projects were for poor people and how could they afford a car when we couldn’t. I started noticing a lot of other things then. We went to the local police precinct and joined the Police Athletic League (PAL). It went nowhere. I would read in the newspaper how the PAL had an outing and parties.I went to the precinct and joined again, and again, and again. Things like that made me curious about politics.

[ET14]

Its just something I have always been interested in. Not sure why or if an event caused it but I have always been attracted to the far right and its ideas etc...revolutions,foreign politics,popular movements etc have interested me and continue to do so.

[Nattering Heights]

I had other reasons when I was younger. Now I'm disabled with hours of daily pain, so there's not much else I can do besides read and watch internet videos. I was never an athlete, so most sports bore me. Politics is a sport that's not boring, with some practical effects of which team wins, but most of the entertainment is in the audience. Politicians are just schmucks in suits.

[katharsis]

I was, believe it or not, just seven years old when I became interested. It was 1960, and I heard people talking about Nixon and Kennedy, and then one of my schoolmates or cousins made the remark that Kennedy was in favor of having school in session six days a week all year round. Of course, I did not like the idea one little bit, and so I asked my mom and dad about it, and after they stopped laughing, they told me that I shouldn't believe everything I heard or read -- and especially not in an election year! After that, I started watching the news on TV, and . . . well, the rest is history, LOL!

[t206]

Always had a general passing interest. Ron Paul actually made me pay attention for real though.

[aileesic]

A consequence of being born as myself, more of less forced to learn that my existence will always be used as political in some way, so I have to deal with it.