It has been my experience that a person’s template personality is formed at around 20ish. After that, it’s all about the trimmings and the brush ups, but the core template is not changeable. Therefore, a person with a strong will will always remain a person with strong will, regardless of how his objectives have changed.

And a kind, compassionate, thought person will still be that, even after traumatic experiences.

The exception, as one might deduce, is what happens when the traumatic experience is before the middle to early 20s. That kind of variation produces a different foundational personality.

So, I would presume you would have just been as thoughtful, and kind, as you are now towards liberals, as you would have been towards conservatives when you were a liberal.

If the conservatives were pleasant, and logical, if not agreeable.

I am also a post 9/11 conservative. I was a “closet” conservative for some time before 9/11 but never mentioned it in social circles. After 9/11, I had to speak up. Since then I have been called a self-hating homosexual “Aunt Mary”, the gay equivalent of an Uncle Tom. Good friends of mine (so I thought) quit speaking to me. So much for tolerance.

I always go back to this post for inspiration.

I never remember meeting a group, but I remember my reaction upon meeting one: I accused him of being too short to have his opinion matter.

He never spoke to me again. I was deeply ashamed, but what else can a good liberal say? Criticize the part of his hair, maybe?

Since that list seems to encompass the operative definition of “conservative” in the eyes of the liberal establishment, I’m not surprised they are often incapable of civility in social discourse.

Being a conservative myself, I have faith in the voting mechanism to winnow the worst ideas out of what eventually becomes law, and the checks and balances still work for the most part.

I think that equality of outcome agendas and identity politics are frankly silly when viewed across history. The more base aspects of liberal thought – the tendency toward faux populism in pursuit of power and the ever present specter of authoritarian solutions for narrow agendas, right on down to the displayed eagerness to ignore lethal threats in pursuit of short term goals all just serve to keep me closely involved in the debate. It’s my job as a citizen to make the case for the things I believe in – and respect the rights of others to do the same.

Even if they do come across as screeching moonbats.

Right now in November 2005, the system still works well enough to protect my family… even if the current crop of Republicans can’t claim to be conservative. Or hardly effective, for that matter.

Good post, and thank you for your service, active, and afterward.

I discovered a project in a poor neighborhood that I had to join. It was run by the sororities. So there I was….

Conservative girls are cuter. Search for “punisher’s ball”.

I was once accused of “taunting”. It occurred to me that it was correct. You can’t taunt a person about something which isn’t true. You can’t taunt a, say, fencer about being clumsy. You can’t taunt a thin person about being fat. The taunting has to be about something which is true.
I taunt liberals. What about….? The blank is filled in with something which is unarguable and makes libs look bad, or their arguments.
So I am not often required to talk to liberals.
It all works out.