Are your political views similar to those of your parents?

I was just thinking about how I am the only one in my immediate family who voted for Kerry. My father is a pretty staunch republican. The rest of us aren't very political, but my mom is a registered democrat, and my sister is a registered republican. They ALL voted for Bush (I blame them for Staten Island being the only borough where Bush was the winner).

I feel like I grew up hating my father's 'I'm always right' way of approaching discussions and therefore developed the opposite point of view. On the other hand, people that I know who grew up in more liberal families seem to follow in their parents liberal viewpoints.

I was wondering if other people tended to take similar or opposite political views to their parents and whether it varies based on whether their parents were more conservative or more liberal.

Re: Are your political views similar to those of your parents?

my whole family voted for Kerry, and i voted for Bush. my dad is a union man and voted for KErry b/c of the way Bush feels about unions.

this election was the only time that we talked politics. i think i agree with him on a lot of things, but i know that we also disagree. and he's fine with that. he won't try to get me to see things his way, he'll explain why he is voting for Kerry, but knows that he is not in the position to make me vote for who he is voting for.

Re: Are your political views similar to those of your parents?

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Posted by smm2675

my whole family voted for Kerry, and i voted for Bush. my dad is a union man and voted for KErry b/c of the way Bush feels about unions.

this election was the only time that we talked politics. i think i agree with him on a lot of things, but i know that we also disagree. and he's fine with that. he won't try to get me to see things his way, he'll explain why he is voting for Kerry, but knows that he is not in the position to make me vote for who he is voting for.

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That's a nice way of having a discussion. Unfortunately, my dad doesn't know how to have a political discussion without it becoming an arguement, and doesn't make room to accept the opinions of others, so I usually try to avoid political conversations with him.

Re: Are your political views similar to those of your parents?

My father and I share a lot of our political views, but we share a very similar view of the world in many different aspects.

My mother is a lot less political than both my father and I, although we both voted for Kerry this year.

And Jax, don't feel bad about your family voting Bush - almost every friend I have that lives in Staten Island voted the same way, despite my ranting and raving. I think it's something in the water.

Re: Are your political views similar to those of your parents?

my dad is very easy to talk to, and very open minded. my mom, however, not that she is the complete opposite, but she has her thoughts and that is that. once she has her mind made up, she won't change it. but i really don't talk politics with either parent, only this year w/the election.

Re: Are your political views similar to those of your parents?

Luckily, my dad and I are on the same side politically (though I'm a little more adament) so when I get annoyed, I can complain to him. I guess my mom was the opposite and they used to joke when they went to vote that they just cancelled each other out. FIL is a different story. DH and I are going to his parents for dinner tonight and I swear, if politics is brought up again, I'm gonna flip!!!

Re: Are your political views similar to those of your parents?

fil's are a completly different story all together. my fmil has no interest in politics and couldn't wait for'this stupid ****' to be over (the election.) i think she voted for bush b/c her husband did. my ffil is a very nice sweet man, normally. but this past election, he said that anyone who voted for KErry was a moron. how can you say that?? pissed me off to no end. let me just reiterate - these are my fil's and i do not condone what ffil said, but i'm just repeating it for the sake of this post.

Re: Are your political views similar to those of your parents?

My sister and I both share our basic political views with our parents. There are things we disagree about and my sister and I team up on my dad, who has no problem being heard over the two of us if he wants to. But for the most part, we don't really discuss politics as a family.

Re: Are your political views similar to those of your parents?

we never have, before this year. and now we won't until 2008.

Re: Are your political views similar to those of your parents?

We all voted the same..
My parents, me, my sister, my DH, and his parents!

Re: Are your political views similar to those of your parents?

jax - i feel your pain!

My father starts screaming and getting so insane about his deeply conservative views - there is NO discussion, it is just him telling me 'You are wrong. End of conversation.' (Too much bill O'Reilly!) I used to get into hysterical screaming out of control fights with him because I had gay friends and he had a very clear opinion about where those 'sinners' were going to end up.

My parents are both STAUNCH conservative, born- again Christian Bush-lovers. There is a picture of the Bush's on the refrigerator at home. I visited last week and asked them to take it down. My mother was nice and agreed to.

I am the liberal in the family. I suppose it started as sheer rebellion, but I truly just have a more open minded way of seeing the world.

There are many occasions where we all, at the start of the eve, agree to not bring up politics. It's better that way...

Re: Are your political views similar to those of your parents?

My dad is very proud of the 8x10 glossy pictures he has of the past few republican presidents and their wives.

My sister, who is 11 years older than me used to get into political screaming matches with my dad (funny that she's now a republican...). I learned from that just to keep my mouth shut and keep my opinions to myself in my family. Granted, that's not the best when you grow up afraid to express your opinions about anything to anyone, but that's a topic for another post!

Now, my family is Jewish, which makes it even stranger that they are Bush supporters, as most Jews were not, although he did win with the ultra orthodox population. The only thing I agree with my father about in this case is that Bush is a stronger supporter of Israel than Kerry. However, that reasoning wasn't enough to get my friends with family in Israel to vote for Bush!

Re: Are your political views similar to those of your parents?

my sister agrees with my dad and tells me i'm stupid for because i was voting for bush. but i don't listen to her, because in my mind, that is not a good argument.

in my house, we talk about money a lot and future plans that we all have. 7th heaven we are not, but we don't have screaming matches about small little things.

Re: Are your political views similar to those of your parents?

My father is as right wing as they get. My mother is pretty independent but more right wing than left. My sisters, brother, and myself are all registered Democrats.

Re: Are your political views similar to those of your parents?

OMG NO!!! So funny that you wrote this topic. I was having a huge political blowout with my dad on the phone this morning. He is a BIG TIME republican and I am a big time democrat!!
We went on for about a half hour yelling back and forth. Mainly me thanking him for four more years of hell. And telling him is is ok that he made a mistake voting and he can fix his mistake in four years!!
Then he went on a tear about Hilary Clinton running for president!! Whew!! They get heated between me and my dad, we definitely don't see eye to eye on ANYTHING!!!
My mom and I are a little closer with our views, but still differ a lot.

Re: Are your political views similar to those of your parents?

Yea...my dad raised me to be a strict democrat...im very stubborn so if i didnt believe in what they stood for id vote republican...but im so a democrat..so it just works out! lol