By the way; "Amen" to jimmyt's sentiments; Despite occasonal ruffled feathers here and there in the past, I am blessed to count as dear Friends many folks who subscribe to a distinctly alternative political perspective than I. It just so happens that not a few are fellow "Catters.
By and large, we get along just fine, and eventually learn where each others idealogical "buttons" are and have the decency not to go out of our way to push them.

(Ya wanna push buttons? Buy a Concertina!)

My Mother was a card-carrying Socialist at one time, and an avid Liberal Democrat for as long as I can remember. When my brother was serving in the Army over in Vietnam and I in Korea, she was getting busted in Washington DC for participating in a "Mother's March" anti-war demonstration!

Now that she has passed beyond the vail, the mantle of "my favorite Socialist" has passed to a dear friend and probably the most interesting man I know, who is well known to most Mudcatters in the Southern Maine area.

And the more I get to know some of these folks, the more apparent it usually becomes that our essential core values, hopes, dreams and aspirations are not all as far removed from one another as perhaps we once might once have assumed. Music really helps in that process of discovery, I opine - perhaps one reason I love it so.