Approaching American Politics for beginners

[Microcosm]

I'm making this post in hopes that I can get some advice on how to approach being involved in our government the "right way." I've heard the terms "left-handed and right-handed ideas,""conservative,""democratic,""liberals," and many more thrown around, and I'm not quite sure what to think of it all, or even how I should go about forming my own opinions. I'm 14 years old, so it might seem pointless that I know about these things, but it seems like no matter how you approach it, there's always someone on the other side to prove to you that you're wrong.

So, if anyone can help, how should I start forming my political and governmental opinions? What does all of it mean?

[Vlerchan]

I would suggest you gain a broad understanding of the philosophies that underlie political viewpoints before setting yourself down in one camp. What you'll realise quite quick is how limited a range of views establishment liberals and conservatives possess. Start with something resembling an intro-level style textbook to politics and then move on to more substantial accounts of political philosophies which resonated with you after. However the most important part is to attempt contact with as large a number of individual philosophies as possible. That means you should read neo-fascists like Alain de Benoist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_de_Benoist) and anarcho-capitalists like Murry Rothbard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Rothbard) even if it seems like both will disgust you heading in.

I can suggest books as required. Though I'd get as wide a range of recommendation as possible since what I or someone else might suggest is bound to reflect their own biases.

Once you feel like you have a basic understanding of politics then debating here and elsewhere is the best manner in which to mature it.

[Karkat]

I abhor most things political as imo politicians are almost always just shifty bastards and activists are full of BS


BUT there are two pieces of advice that I'd give:

-Keep an open mind. Try to see things from all sides before jumping to conclusions.
-Do what feels right. If you don't agree with something, don't force yourself to. Also, it's fine to have opinions independent from a "party", imo they're all bullshit anyways

Have fun I guess

[ImCoolBeans]

I would suggest you gain a broad understanding of the philosophies that underlie political viewpoints before setting yourself down in one camp. What you'll realise quite quick is how limited a range of views establishment liberals and conservatives possess. Start with something resembling an intro-level style textbook to politics and then move on to more substantial accounts of political philosophies which resonated with you after. However the most important part is to attempt contact with as large a number of individual philosophies as possible. That means you should read neo-fascists like Alain de Benoist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_de_Benoist) and anarcho-capitalists like Murry Rothbard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Rothbard) even if it seems like both will disgust you heading in.

I can suggest books as required. Though I'd get as wide a range of recommendation as possible since what I or someone else might suggest is bound to reflect their own biases.

Once you feel like you have a basic understanding of politics then debating here and elsewhere is the best manner in which to mature it.

^ This is good advice.

I would start off learning the fundamental philosophies behind different political ideologies, and start reading the news regularly if you don't. I don't watch the news on TV much at all because most of the TV networks news are shit IMO, but I do read the paper pretty often, and receive most of my news online. The important thing about reading the news is to not get it all from one source, because independent news companies generally have political biases, and if you obtain it from different sources you'll be reading pieces influenced by different beliefs.

Like Vlerchan said, even if you think reading about, or learning about, a political philosophy or theory will totally disinterest you, the more you know, the more well versed you will be overall.

[JamesSuperBoy]

I'm making this post in hopes that I can get some advice on how to approach being involved in our government the "right way." I've heard the terms "left-handed and right-handed ideas,""conservative,""democratic,""liberals," and many more thrown around, and I'm not quite sure what to think of it all, or even how I should go about forming my own opinions. I'm 14 years old, so it might seem pointless that I know about these things, but it seems like no matter how you approach it, there's always someone on the other side to prove to you that you're wrong.

So, if anyone can help, how should I start forming my political and governmental opinions? What does all of it mean?

"other side to prove to you that you're wrong". I think it is the business of politics to make the other side appear wrong - not prove.

I think the advice already given is good but I think maybe you can say select one topic you see reported - and then see how far you get investigating that for yourself. Another good idea is to know what press and TV stations back which party and how news and press and can be manipulated.

[RickMason]

Politics are tied to philosophy and religion. The predestination from protestant doctrine or pragmatism with basic functionality (Machiavelli's Prince). It might do you some good to read capitalist' bible Wealth of nations, their opponents works... many to pick, I'd start with socialists and go further with marxists and technocrats. Depends of what you think of the "human nature" phenomenon or which one shell you identify with. Along with this comes the view on the low class masses and their role, past and future... Have fun. :)

[Danny_boi 16]

I'm making this post in hopes that I can get some advice on how to approach being involved in our government the "right way." I've heard the terms "left-handed and right-handed ideas,""conservative,""democratic,""liberals," and many more thrown around, and I'm not quite sure what to think of it all, or even how I should go about forming my own opinions. I'm 14 years old, so it might seem pointless that I know about these things, but it seems like no matter how you approach it, there's always someone on the other side to prove to you that you're wrong.

So, if anyone can help, how should I start forming my political and governmental opinions? What does all of it mean?

Being a young person and being involved in government is the best thing ever :D. You can never be to young to care. I'd recommend going to a city/town hall meeting, watching and reading the news. Get as much info on all sides of a debate, before making up your mind on anything. But that does involve a little research on a topic. If your school has a Speech and Debate, JSA, YMCA youth in government program, sit in on one of their meetings. Those people are really cool and nice. Even the folks on this forum have loads of opinions and are all cool and friendly, and some of them won't mind preaching from a soap box about their opinions to you. It's never pointless to shape political minds, because politics is something everyone will encounter at some point in their lives, why let the adults have all the fun.

[Vlerchan]

Here's that booklist I mentioned above:

Libertarianism & Classical Liberalism
J. S. Mills, On Liberty.
Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia.
Murry Rothbard, The Ethics of Liberty.

Liberalism
John Rawls, A Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism.

Conservatism
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France.
Amitai Etzioni, The Spirit of Community: Rights, Responsibilities and the Communitarian Agenda.

Marxism and Socialism
Terry Eagleton, Why Marx was Right.
David Harvey, The Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism.
Rosa Luxenbourg, Reform or Revolution

Anarchism
Alexander Berkman, Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism.
Pjotr Kropotkin, Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution.

Fascism
Alain de Benoist, Critique of Liberal Ideology.
Alain de Benoist & Tomislav Sunic, The Problem of Democracy.
Alain de Benoist & Charles Champtier, Manifesto for a European Renaissance.

---

These are all texts dealing with the workings of ideologies. There's texts that I would suggest be read otherwise but getting to grips with the various ideologies for hire is better to do first. I'm also sure there's better lists that can be offered than the above but I'm not well-read enough to produce something of the likes. I would also still recommend that intro textbook first. This is for after.

[Hyper]

You should learn the fundamentals so to speak and then realize it's awful bullshit.

I think anybody who agrees 100% with one ''camp'' has to be either indoctrinated as hell or stupid as hell.

A lot of it has to do with your own views on how the world should be and what is fair in society and what a government should do in said society. The rest of it or the details on how to deal with specific problems is down to either you being interested & intelligent enough to research them or just going with ''whatever that guy I'd vote for is saying''

[mrmee]

I was going to reply, but I read it back to myself and realized it would just get me mad haters so nevermind.