Thinking about this today after reading about Ron DeSantis" new statewide civics curriculum in Florida. Teachers who got a preview told the Miami Herald it is infused with Christianity and downplays the role race and slavery played in our history.

I have a liberal Mom who loves history and politics. But I also had great social studies and history teachers along the way who were unafraid to tell the whole story and who encouraged inquiry. . And pastors who were not bigots.

It's hard to overstate what we'll lose if children are indoctrinated this way. Maybe the teachers and parents can sue. Oh wait.

my liberal parents are mostly responsible, but I also went to a high school run by liberals. I like to think that it's all me - that I myself have come up with my worldview on my own, but I just know that can't be right. I'm pretty sure I could be wearing a maga hat today if the right forces pushed the right buttons at the right times throughout my life.

My folks were staunch Republicans, as well as almost every other adult I knew in my Purplish (now Red) home town. I initially went along, then was kind of agnostic, but just getting out into the world and paying attention made me completely switch over. It was an awakening.

Nixon helped, of course. What a bunch of crooks.

A healthy skepticism of authority, end of story.

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- “Liberal” education, in the non-political meaning
- World travel
- Innate skepticism
- Iconoclastic tendencies

As a reaction to and refutation of Catholic indoctrination during school years. Although I was with parochial education through high school doubts crept in at about age 13 and became full blown rejection by 15. The nonreligious aspect of that system far exceeded that available through the local public system and has served me well.

High school Jesuits were a hoot.

I grew up in England in the pre-Thatcher 1970’s. In England, I was considered conservative by friends and family. Then I moved to rural PA around the time Reagan was elected, and saw just how bat-guano crazy poorly educated US conservatives can be. With the same value system I had in the UK, I somehow was liberal in the US. When the conservatives started up their propaganda machine, I saw the writing on the wall. I’m just surprised it took this many years to see these people make a coup attempt.

DeSantis: “We need to be educating people, not trying to indoctrinate them with ideology.”

[www.wtsp.com]

Quote

Some of the proposed standards shift from teaching students to compare different governing strategies to teaching that the American way is the best way.

So, instead of the current standard of learning to “compare different forms of government,” 7th graders would be taught to “analyze the advantages of the United States constitutional republic to other forms of government in safeguarding liberty, freedom and a representative government.”

Instead of learning to “compare parliamentary, federal, confederal, and unitary systems of government,” 7th graders would have to “explain the advantages of a federal system of government over other systems in balancing local sovereignty with national unity and protecting against authoritarianism.”

The new proposed standards would also add a new benchmark requiring 7th graders to “explain the advantages of capitalism and a free market system over government controlled economic systems (e.g. socialism and communism) in generating economic prosperity for all citizens.”

Oh yeah, like those standards aren't indoctrination.

I grew up in very rural Iowa where I was deeply indoctrinated in the white Christian way. Critical thinking wasn't a thing. I think I always wanted to look for the root of things and that inclination helped me slowly develop my independent thinking through high school. Thank goodness I had the opportunity to go to college where I could pursue avenues of study that really helped it blossom.

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e pluribus unum

I believe in doing what's best for the People.

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It is what it is.

My parents taught me that some people hated other people because of the color of their skin, and that that was wrong. Other stuff, too, but I think that's where it started.

The day Reagan said, “All in all, I think we hit the jackpot.”

I had empathy.

I still do.

I grew up in England in a politically middle of the road family (which in the US is the equivalent of a flaming liberal/socialist family). Coming here in my teens I soon realized that the Republican party was largely full of crooks and racists who disapproved of rights for anybody who wasn't a white heterosexual male. Going to UC Berkeley as an undergraduate during the waning days of the Vietnam war helped cement my liberal persona. Also, I'm a scientist and have always seen myself as a scientist in search of truth. As we all know, truth has a liberal bias.

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"In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion." (1987) -- Carl Sagan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/2022 12:10PM by davester.

Most Black folk skew liberal for reasons that shouldn't need to be explained especially when raised in a family that was not overly religious.

First Black student at a Catholic boarding school 7th-12th grade though the Church was changing and these particular nuns were not fanatics.

Liberal Arts college in the North east.

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If you want to fix our country, work with us in the states. statesproject.org

"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

I came from a pretty conservative family, in a pretty conservative part of the country. But I had access to Life and Newsweek and the Dallas Times-Herald as well as U.S. News and Reader's Digest I was a voracious reader, and some worldviews resonated more with me than others. Between high school and college, I happened to read Merle Miller's Plain Speaking, supposedly the recollections of former Pres. Harry Truman (questions about Miller's reporting have subsequently been raised). It resonated deeply with me, and I've characterized myself as a "Truman Democrat" ever since. College found me reading Mother Jones as well as the Tulsa World and the Chicago Tribune; grad school found me reading the Washington Monthly as well as the Austin American-Statesman.

I've always tried to be thoughtful about how problems can best be solved, but my belief that government can—and should—do much to improve the lives of people has only grown stronger in the intervening decades.

I don't think of myself as a liberal, but as a rationalist, although there is a lot of overlap.

My grandparents and parents supported whatever political movement that hewed towards more freedom, equality, liberty and solidarity. Still doing the same thing.

I campaigned for Goldwater in ‘64, argued racism in college with Dick Gregory in ‘68 and backed McGovern in ‘72. College and the Viet Nam War (I was 4-F) made a big impression. My parents were liberal but racists.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

Parents and Grandparents were old school Republicans.
Parents and Grandparents were also staunch environmental conservationists / activists. Which meant that I interacted with the very “liberal” environmental movement. Student organization, marching, getting signatures on petitions, etc.
Also educated by Benedictine monks in a private Catholic school, where philosophy and ethics was given more focus than theology.
Then went to work in the defense industry, but travelled to various spots where misery was high and I felt that desire to … help.

I’ve kept an open mind and discovered that the Republican Party had gone completely into the dark side of fascism. And like any true American, found myself against it. My grandparents fought against facism, my parents struggled with totalitarianism under the guise of communism.

I will be double dog damned if I support totalitarianism and facism in this country.

My parents were Quaker and Socialists. I'm relatively moderate compared to them.

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Politics was something that wasn't discussed around the kids. Not that it was a bad thing, just was something that never came up.

Dad was born and raised in Kentucky; Mom in Oklahoma. Keep in mind they were born back in the 1930's. Dad's family was quite settled and had a farm. He was the youngest of six boys. Times were tough, and no jobs were available except factory work in Cincinnati, which wouldn't suit him. He enlisted in the Navy (lied about his age) to get out of there. Sailed the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic, the Caribbean--and I'm sure saw things that made his previous life look good.

Mom was born into ... I don't want to say poverty, but she describes things like the family living in a garage with a dirt floor. How much is true and how much isn't can be debated, but back in the late 1930's through the 1940s times were really hard. My grandfather was disabled (he was "gassed in the war", meaning WW I) prior to meeting and marrying my grandmother. I don't know if he ever held a steady job when he got back home.

I believe they were Democrats. The assassination of one (or both?) of the Kennedy's had a profound effect. Since I was born in the very early 1960's, I have a hazy recollection of that time. I was born on a Naval base in Massachusetts, and by the time I was a year old we were in Virginia. When Dad got out of the Navy, he took a series of jobs and we went wherever there was work. We were in Virginia Beach, Ft. Sumpter, down to Marietta GA (Smyrna, to be more exact), Warner Robins GA, to Hill AFB UT, back to Oklahoma, where I graduated high school. Twelve schools in twelve years of public schooling, once three schools in one school year. Two junior colleges, three universities--just to get the bachelor's. Graduate school (thankfully) was in one place.

We were taught to care for others. My formative early years were in the South, so I (naturally, as children do) picked up on some of the attitudes there. When I was a child, we were also taught not to fight in school. I got into an argument with a girl, called her a nasty name, and the look of rage that crossed her face caused me to quickly reassess myself. I instantly knew that if she wanted and allowed herself to do it, she could put me in the hospital and there was very little I could do about it. She took a deep breath, and with the greatest contempt turned her back on me. I knew in my heart I was wrong, very very wrong. She would have been punished for my stupidity, just because her race (this was in Georgia, in the late 1960's to early 1970's). I thank god that better heads prevailed. I have since spent my life examining myself, my attitudes and thoughts, as well as the people around me. I have seen much that I just don't like, both in myself and in others.

I'm trying to get better. I think the key is to keep an open mind to what and how others ARE, not what you want them to be. A closed mind is a bigoted, selfish mind; a totally open one never gives thought to anything or anyone. I try to find a balance.

My father taught me patriotism--not the kind that you put on because it's the 4th, or because someone is looking or watching you--but the quiet kind that allows you to deeply appreciate where you live, AND know exactly why you can live like you do. He and his generation stood up and fought when asked by this country. Some of the people they knew didn't make it back. So when 45* called the military "losers" I knew it was the last straw, and I could NOT in good conscience vote for him. I may be a registered Republican but I have a mind, and part of the patriotism I was taught demanded that such disrespectful attitudes toward those that have chosen to serve this country was not to be tolerated. Blind adherence to any party leads to the things my uncles fought against and my father worked to prevent: totalitarianism, communism, and facism.

In my mind, this is the true meaning of the Second Amendment: acknowledging that freedom isn't free (to use that overripe trope), and that we may be called forth to defend the country, and that we have a duty to respond. To effect that, the founding fathers realized that an armed populace was required. A reading of history will tell you that the populace in England lived at the whim of the King for many years. It was slowly changing, but the ability to protect oneself and one's property had been taken from people and given back and taken and ... yes, it was something that weighed on their minds, and the security of knowing that such shenanigans were expressly forbidden would do much. This does not mean it shouldn't be regulated.

To know the real history of this country is to embrace thought that can oftentimes today be repugnant; you cannot eliminate that way of thinking without knowing where it is now and how it came to be, how it is ingrained into us as a people. I read the OLD history books, before they were changed to reflect what we currently know, just to get a good grasp on how the victors thought. Then I try to read the same events, but this time with a more modern view. It really helps to highlight things that you may not see or pick up on. You cannot sweep these things under the rug and ignore it or claim it never happened. We can't change the past, but we CAN change how we go forward. Included in that is also knowing that my rights and liberties end when they clash with your rights and liberties. For all of us to have the same rights and liberties, this must be so, else one person is esteemed higher than another. Are we equal? Are we free? These are often two opposing sides of the same coin. Balance in everything.

Finally, my way of looking at the world is not the same as everyone else's. That is just the way it is. It has taken me a while to realize it, and further to accept it.

I don't know if this is a liberal view of the world or not. Now you all know my story.

Addendum: To take a bit of a side note: in response to a question that was posed about why we don't see mass shootings in the past but find it to be a relatively recent phenomenon: When you are taught to respect others, when you are taught that hurting another is not acceptable, when you are taught that your actions have consequences and you get to pay them one way or another ... it goes a long way toward being civil to each other. I think the general attitudes of the American people are or have changed; people are more selfish now than they were in the past. When you can't see another as a human being, the same as you and as deserving as you, then your actions show it. Additionally, the safeguards and crisis assistance we used to rely on are eroding or have eroded, both by negligence and by malice, because some in power can't see past the end of their nose; if it doesn't apply to them, then it must not apply to anyone else.

I see myself in many of the responses above. If anyone talked politics in the house it came from a centrist/liberal perspective. Years later I learned my parents and I shared the same views pretty closely. My only sibling does too, although I suspect she ain't as rabid about it.

Then again, she's the one who attended a local Roe rally last week and summer of '20 one protesting systemic racism aka police brutality. The latter was interesting in that it occurred in a mostly White community and the marchers were joined by White officers in agreement.

My 19-yr old instantly and instinctively recognizes hypocrisy and moronic behavior. My 16-yr old is vaguely curious / mostly disengaged and less likely to take any side that does not personally affect her, so she's more standard Republican in her mindset. Just don't cross her or she'll fight you to the end on any issue. We're set to go on a trip next week, with Dobbs being a discussion topic Dad will be raising.

I'm not convinced you can "teach" ideology very much; otherwise how or why could differences among families exist, often vehemently?

Dad and my grandfather were both among the founders of the United Auto Workers. My mom grew up in an environment that while fiscally conservative was socially liberal. As she aged, she had some issues but did not judge others. Politics was not a big subject at my home, but I am quite sure I was influenced by their beliefs.

I found history and sociology to be fascinating, but I have always been one to question the commonly held beliefs. I recall annoying the hell out of my high school social studies teacher by not just accepting what he said or what the textbook echoed. I wanted to know why and whatif.. I'm sure my classmates were annoyed by me as well.

My views are to the left, but I'm also pragmatic and realistic in my approach.

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“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

The German word for contraceptive is “Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel”. By the time you finished saying that, it’s too late

TL,DR: In midlife, took Meyers-Briggs inventory and found that my type values equality and fairness. Which seems to be a baseline of liberalness, so I am built for the job.

I was born in northwest South Carolina to a WWII vet a few years after the war and the shy, lovely woman he met and married in junior college. A few years after my birth, my father "felt the calling" to become a minister, so the three of us moved to Louisville KY so he could go to the preacher university. As I graduated from third grade, my father graduated from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and was ordained as a Southern Baptist minister.

At this point, when I explain to someone that I'm the son of a preacher man, they ask what kind? "Southern Baptist," I declare earnestly, "the worst kind!" Followed by peals of laughter. My parents did live their religion and taught me well: be kind, respect everyone, help others when you can, and so on. They were awfully strict with me, I survived.

My father's first assignment was the Baptist Mission in Lanai City, on the island of Lanai in the Hawaiian chain. I was one of the few white kids on the island but remember getting along with everyone. We got plate lunch with the familiar scoop of rice, I was so big that I could eat the scoop in one bite. The other kids were fascinated and gave me their scoops just to watch my prowess. "Haole" were subject prejudice in the islands, but the only person to hassle me for being a white kid was the son of the Dole Pineapple plantation manager on the island who was quarter Hawaiian and three quarters white. I enjoyed fourth and fifth grades on Lanai, got my first pair of glasses there. And started my connection with the Pacific Ocean.

7th through 12th grades in the Coachella valley, I politely scoff behind my hand at your tales of hot weather. I watched the news with my parents. Cold war, Vietnam loomed, I could not understand white hate and the racial strife tore me up, assassinations of political figures broke my heart, 1968 election left me wide eyed. Some good legislation did pass, I maintained some optimism.

Too me, it seemed angry haters were having no fun. Peaceniks and hippies seemed to be having fun. I'd rather have fun.

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=wr=

As a kid, I began to recognize suffering and discrimination.

It has not gone away in my lifetime and I think we all have a duty to help.

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“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in."