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I grew up in an apolitical household. Politics just weren't discussed. In fact, I grew up convinced my parents were conservative because we were upper-middle class and it just seemed a natural tendency to be conservative.
In my personal life, my parents divorced when I was 6. My mother disappeared from my life when I was 9. The events that transpired in those 3 years have caused a lot of issues through which I am still working, but I think they paved the way for me to be somewhat liberal.
In conjunction with that was the fact that my father was an extremely strict disciplinarian, bordering on the abusive. This planted within me the seeds of anti-authoritarianism, a facet of my personality that would manifest itself to its largest degree after I joined the military.
While in the military, I found myself surrounded by many people who would describe themselves as conservative. At that point, I still hadn't decided what I was politically. I did know, however, that I had a strong aversion to the ideas and attitudes being espoused by a lot of my comrades. Couple this with my disdain for strict authority and I think it was inevitable that I would become a leftist.
I find the biggest irony being that it was while in the military that I developed my liberal leanings.
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"I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am" - Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses
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