Thanks to the Contentions Centrist who tagged me with this! Here is my response:
It is very difficult for me to specifically identify anyone who influenced my thinking. My current views are a reflection of a personal political evolution. I started off, when I was young, as an obersvant Jew, became a "secular humanist" (like I had any idea what that really meant) as a teen, and then moved back towards Judaism once I hit my twenties. My politics followed a similar drift, I guess. I started off being a the stereotypical "Liberal Jew", which is essentially what my parents were. Starting around the time I got to law school, I started to move to the right politically, and that move has continued inexorably to this very day. There were (and still are) a number of people who have influenced this transformation, including a former professor who remains one of my closest friends to this very day, and some other friends who have undergone similar political evolutions. However, I don't know that there was any specific public individual whose writings or thoughts influenced this transformation on my part.
As far as who influences me now, I would list the following individuals:
1) Charles Krauthammer: An absolutely brilliant man.
2) David Horowitz: He runs the Center for the Study of Political Culture and the Frontpage Magazine website. I have had the distinct honour of meeting him, and he posseses a truly impressive intellect.
3) Alan Dershowitz, Esq.: I don't agree with him on everything, but his mind functions in a way and at a speed that leaves slower individuals such as myself in the dust.
4) Senator John McCain: Another great person who fate has blessed me by allowing me to meet him. A man of integrity and tremendous personal courage, regardless of whether I agree with him or not (and I don't agree with him on illegal immigration, just to cite one example).
5) Former President Theodore Roosevelt: I don't know if I can count him, but it's my list, so he's here! :-)
Now, I tag............................The Bookworm, Oleh Michael, Angel at "Woman Honor Thyself", George Roper and Eric at the Black Tygrrrrrrr!
3 comments:
That's an impressive list, and testament to an impressive life!
Hmmm.... I'm going to have to think about this one. I'll get back to you when I've come up with a solid answer. Your answers sound so intelligent, I don't want to sound foolish by comparison.
I think I'd also have to be more narrow than a writer generally, and think about specific works that affected how I think. One of my favorite writers is Paul Fussell, and his book "The Great War and Modern Memory" is a masterpiece, but it's his essay, "Thank God for the Atom Bomb" that changed my thinking a great deal.
woohoo...great list!!..I must think about this one !
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