re: Top 3 people who have shaped the way you see the world

1) My Dad. My greatest influence in most things. I'm certainly an individual, but many of my opinions were shaped by what I have learned from my dad.

2) My Grandfather. My Grandfather started off his working life sweeping floors as a clerk in a small southern town for Kokums. Who at the time was one of the largest companies in its field in the world. They were part of the second largest conglomerate worldwide in the late 70s. When he retired he was one of 6 vice presidents. Then started his own business with my uncle with $15k and without ever borrowing a dime built it into a multi million $$ company. I say all that to say this. I learned so much about hard work and making good of oppurtunities from him. He is a source of wisdom that knows no bounds, or did...he has dementia and is failing rapidly. Men like him are dying out, and we are all poorer for it. Economically I've learned more from him than anyone else. With good reason.

3) This, might sound arrogant, but myself. Education from without can only take you so far. There comes a time you have to read, ingest, and comprehend concepts without another individual placing those thoughts with preconceived notions. Without the experience and knowledge of men and women who come before us there is no foundation. Nothing to prevent us from making the same mistakes over and over. However we must figure out new thoughts and ideas to either fail at or it succeed. The collection we have that is current human knowledge never stops growing. It is a gravemind, always acquiring, processing, and assimilating.

Can't name three, but, dozens, if not hundreds of patients at the old Charity Hospital who were given free care and thousands in free meds and took none of it, changed nothing about themselves and actually attended follow up appointments rarely.

That sort of experience blows away anything one can read in a book or hear in a lecture by some knave who insulates their silly theories with the praise and facile agreement of those from the fantasy world of academia.

(no message)

1) Lee Kuan Yew - Rise of Singapore from 3rd world country to prosperity despite the lack of natural resources.

2) Milton Friedman - Most eloquent defense of free markets.

3) Augusto Pinochet - Not that I support his autocratic rule. It's just that Chile went from one of the poorest to the most prosperous country in South America (by GDP per capita) under his rule in which he made many pro market reforms. Compare that to leftist autocrats (i.e. Kim Dynasty and Khmer Rouge) and the difference is night and day.

Jesus
Dad
Hitler

I can't pick three, but this odd selection somehow captures three different key aspects of influence. none of the three in and of himself is that influential on my life though.

Eric Voegelin
Timothy Keller
Barrack Obama

I will explain each later.

eta: left of family members since this is the PT

1) Dr. James Dobson - Grew up in a Southern Baptist household where Focus on the Family was second only to Christianity itself. Now, I've since abandoned many of FOTF's positions and have advocated against some of them, but it is the baseline where I started. FWIW, my parents have been influenced by my move away from this as well, although I still have respect for FOTF.

2) Neal Boortz - I used to listen to him every morning in the summers while I played video games or ate breakfast. First real exposure to libertarian elements of conservatism, and one of the first confrontational conservatives I was exposed to.

3) The Clinton Administration - I grew up in the Clinton era. My parents didn't like Clinton, so neither did I. I watched how his pragmatism and affability contrasted with his irresponsibility, and how he pleased a lot of the country while disappointing those on the far right and left. When All Too Human by George Stephanopoulos came out when I was 15/16, it really resonated with me as George described how ideological purity was abandoned in high office, and how true believers get disappointed in human beings who fail to achieve the objectives of a movement.