As a yewt, I fancied myself as a liberal before I understood what a classic liberal was and I thought the show was fixed, because whenever WFB debated some duffus on TV who represented the left, I figured that he chose the worst representative to debate just to make himself look good. Little did I know he was actually winning me over and converting me to conservatism.
As a product of a Parochial school education, my *mush* brain was filled with do-good social causes to promote and support. In undergrad school, we attended lectures by Ceasar Chavez, and I was so moved by the plight of the migrant worker. But none of it seemed right in my head. Then along can Barry Goldwater and WFB, and I was swayed by their speeches and writings. On my meager savings, as most broke college students, I scrapped enough together to subscribe to the National Review. Then a light went on, I recall attending a series of debates between the incredible Rev Billy Graham and radical Mario Savio [Berkeley Free Speech Movement] at MIT....Rev. Graham chewing Savio up and spit him out. That was the end of liberalism for me. And I'll bet I was the only *Goldwater Girl* handing out campaign literature on the liberal streets of Boston.
I am grateful for the strong classical education of the Sisters of Notre Dame and Jesuits. Fortunately, they and my parents, taught us to *think*. ;)