It’s interesting to read about those here who never talked politics with their parents.
I grew up with lively discussion in our entire family regarding politics, and my brother and I talk politics all the time!
My parents were both born during the Depression and lived through it–it influenced every aspect of their lives until their deaths.
My dad also lived through Prohibition in Northern Illinois–to him, the Capone and O’Banion gangs were real people who sent their people to small cities around the state to “cool off”!
My mother grew up in the rural South, very poor/pickin’ cotton, and had 10 siblings, and during WWII, three of her beloved brothers were in the war in the Pacific theater. All three came back safely and one became a career Navy medic.
And of course, my parents lived through the McCarthy years and the fears of communism, and the fears of atomic war, and many other events which gave them a very well-rounded view of politics.
My dad not only farmed but worked in a factory and was active in the AFL-CIO. He fought in the Korean War.
They voted Democrat all their lives until the 1990s, mainly out of loyalty and love for Pres. Franklin Roosevelt, who they (correctly in my opinion) regarded as the savior of the United States. I’ve read books stating that the country was within a few weeks of becoming Communist (because of the Depression) and Pres. Roosevelt put an end to this with his humanitarian federal aide programs.
But as they got older, they started recognizing that the Democratic Party was headed in a very harmful direction. Abortion was just one issue. My dad’s factory shut down after the union demands grew so unreasonable that they owners simply gave up and moved the plant to the South–thousands of workers were out of work–this happened during the Reagan years, BTW–my parents’ city was tied with Flint, Michigan for the nation’s highest unemployment–25% of the people were out of work.
My mother was a voracious reader, not trash or romances, but ponderous books about history and world events. My dad didn’t read well, but he read the newspaper every day, and he and my mother talked all the time.
My parents came to realize that government handouts in modern times (not Depression times) were not helping poverty, racism, urban crime, etc. They also distrusted the Clintons, especially Hillary Clinton.
My dad lived until 2013, and he loved going to his favorite diners (including a McDonald’s in the small farming town where he lived!) and talking all this over with his many pals and with strangers, too. He was very personable–loved a good conversation. He understand economics, and argued that it was the wealthy who took the risks to start companies that gave regular folks like him and our family jobs.
He also understood the incredible opportunity of free public education, and said that anyone could succeed if they worked hard in school.
Anyway, in the last decade of his life, he was very Republican, but in a kindly way, and had almost 9 decades of American life under his belt with which to make his arguments in favor of the G.O.P.
I’m glad I grew up in a family that talked politics!
Very complicated situation.