Aww Kendall, it probably WASN't Sandy who said you're a pussycat....all I know (now) is that it probably wasn't your first wife either!

I also found Doug's question interesting (why less liberal as you get older?)

Naturally there are lots of famous quotes on the subject (Churchill etc.) but personally, I've given it a bit of thought over the last couple of days.

As I've gotten older, my obsession for information has increased. Many folks seem to have reached "info overload" to the extent where they don't WANT to read the news, explore different points of view, etc. Generally the reason is that "it's just too negative, or unpleasant...and it brings them down". I fully understand that point of view, but it simply doesn't work for me. Perhaps it's a kind of paranoia, but I feel that if there's something new happening and I don't keep up with it, it's going to leave me really vulnerable, or worse..naieve. Being "out of the loop" (info-wise) would trouble me indeed. Now this is rich, coming from someone as "modern technology challenged" as I am, but we all have our interests.

I doubt if I've become "more conservative", but I've certainly become "more suspicious" (is that a part of conservatism?). To put this in "American" political terms ('cause if I put it in Canadian terms, nobody would know what I was talkin' about...including most Canadians) I support many of the AIMS of The Democrats, and am uncomfortable with many of the ACTIONS of The Republicans, but do I see them as more than 2% apart when it comes to being in power? Absolutely not. They are both comprised of very wealthy influential people, and my life experience has shown me unequivically that important rich folks are each others' best friends. If I see someone like...say Rush Limbaugh, my experience tells me that he's an entertaining informed dangerous pompous ass....but now, I see Jesse Jackson (despite what his original motivation might have been) as an equally entertaining, informed, dangerous pompous ass.....but (sadly) also a hypocrite. One (Rush) makes me laugh at how easily he manipulates disaffected white guys, the other makes me sad because he had so much potential to really HELP in a crucial way, but he allowed himself the same recklessness and public stupidity that Clinton did. Shame. I DID (and DO) expect more from "my side". I rarely get it.

To bring this back to the original thread point. I simply could not have this kind of discussion among my "peer circle" without many of them thinking that I was a "traitor to the cause". I'm not. If there are "traitors" then it's within the leadership, and I'm sorry that to hold them accountable is often seen as "desertion".

Rick