For context, in case you may not know, Ron Reagan is the vocally liberal atheist son of former US President Ronald Reagan, who I'm pretty sure we all know, is basically viewed as a conservative Republican icon in American politics. And Claudia Conway is the teenage daughter of Kellyanne Conway, who worked for Donald Trump when he was president and George Conway, an anti-Trump Republican lawyer. If you weren't on political TikTok in 2020, she basically posted stuff on TikTok talking about how she hates Trump and had like a difficult relationship with her mom due to their opposing politics. So my character Reilly's personal/family background is... interesting, to say the least. His dad is Indian American (born in India but became a US citizen as an adult) and was a lawyer before running for Congress as a Democrat, Mom is Irish/Italian American, comes from poorer working class background, activist and was a waitress before running for Congress as a Republican, they meet while working in House of Representatives, end up falling in love (enemies to lovers, am I right lol), and the rest is history. If they were real people, I would say they walked so James Carville and Mary Matalin could run (fun fact: they were actually some of the inspiration for these characters lol). Dad goes on to work for Democrats and Mom ends up working for President Bush and the Republicans (plot takes place in early-mid 2000s). A sub plot line I have is where the parents together write a book dedicated to their children, and in one of the letters, they tell their children that when they're able to vote, don't feel like they have to choose side Dad is on or Mom or be influenced by anybody but to do their research and think for themselves. Anyways, Reilly is not registered with any political party but is pretty liberal (I'm talking like Bernie Sanders liberal). He's not an atheist, but he's certainly not the most religious person you'd ever meet and supports separation of church and state. He supports gay marriage, abortion, gun control, universal healthcare, etc. He's against the Iraq War, against death penalty, and is big into social justice causes. Obviously, he and his mom love each other so very much, but they sometimes get into disagreements over politics (usually Thanksgiving lol).
Interesting background. Some quick notes though: Gun control wasn't really a big issue in America until after the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007; before then, mass shootings were more of an anomaly than an everyday thing. I think you mentioned 2007 in another thread, so if you want that to be an issue your character cares about, maybe mention his emotional reaction to the Virginia Tech shooting. The word you're looking for in regards to being "like Bernie Sanders" is progressive - progressives are generally considered to the left of liberals, or at least they include the more left-leaning liberals. Definitely good to mention the Iraq War given the time period you're working with; if he's active in the anti-war movement, you must know the basics of the war, and that's basically: Bush lied to the nation, said Iraq had chemical and biological weapons made in mobile labs, we invaded and found only one such lab and lots of older stuff abandoned since the 90s - no evidence of an active widespread WMD program as claimed. This would probably piss Reilly off greatly, knowing that American men and women are dying for a lie.
Columbine was seen as an anomaly at the time; it was seen as a tragedy of two hurt and misguided kids doing something terrible. For context with gun laws, we had the National Assault Weapons Ban from 1994 to 2004; Columbine happened during this time, and that's part of what made it an anomaly. Virginia Tech happened after the ban expired, and it's what brought back the idea of mass shootings. They haven't really stopped since. With Virginia Tech, it was seen as a matter of somebody who had raised numerous red flags over the years, and all those red flags went ignored. Reilly would likely want to advocate for both better mental healthcare as well as stronger gun background checks, because back then it wasn't seen as "one or the other" like it is now.
It was an issue in the 90s, though, even if it had less reference to mass shootings. And there had been mass shootings prior to Columbine even. This stuff was in the papers at the time and contributed to the gun control movement. I don't think it would be strange for someone to care about this, especially if they're quite politically conscious. I will say that there might be a danger for the OP of casting early 2000s progressivism in the mold of 2023 progressivism. The Overton window has shifted so much every year since then. The left's focus in terms of social justice issues today is very different from positions that would have been taken then. Obama didn't come out in full support of gay marriage until 2012, the transgender stuff that consumes everybody now wasn't even in sight, the ways that people talk about race now...it's all changed a lot. And the opponents were different; neoconservatism and things like that with which you are doubtless familiar. It might be a good idea (if you haven't done so already) to go and read editorials from places like NYT and early Huffington Post and try and find some debates and maybe some stuff from CNN, just to get a feel for how people were talking about politics and social questions. There's a very collective way that people talk about and frame political issues. It would be a good idea to try and enter into the zeitgeist.
Friedrich makes good points. I would suggest seeking documentaries which cover the histories of the movements your character is a part of; progressivism in general, the gay rights movement, the anti-war stuff with Iraq, et cetera. When you watch them, take notes when they get to the part of history you're writing in. That should give you a better idea how people at the time felt, and how much progress those movements had experienced at the time. YouTube has many great resources.
