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Ah, yes; In answer to your question...

Ironically, one of my better Friends (and I might be opening myself up to a little razzing here by admitting it) was, or at least claims to be, a Veteran of the Army Special Forces in VN, where he worked with the ROKs and other UN troops in various clandestine operations.
After he got back Stateside, he was "volunteered" to be an MP, and then assigned to the 3rd Infantry "Old Guard" as an Honor Guard. His war stories sure sound authentic, as near as I can tell, and he still has the scars left by a VC grenade in his leg.

After his ETS in the late '60's, he joined up with Kerry (Knows him well) and started some of the charter groups of the "Veterans for Peace" down South, as well as being a Union Activist. While politicking around Baltimore MD (Where I guess one goes to get a Master's degree in hardcore politicking) he became fast friends with "Al" Sharpton, and worked with him on a few projects of mutual interest.

The last I knew, this chap was running (as a Democrat, of course) in a local State election, and his Son, who is also a very bright and interesting person, is cruising with "Greenpeace". They feel every bit as passionately about their cause and ideaology as I feel about ours, but amazingly enough we are able to work around our differences sufficiently to have a positive relationship which has certainly been enriching to me.

The funny thing is, my "Favorite Socialist" as I call him (since my Mother passed on - she was a hardcore leftist, God rest her soul) is without a doubt the most interesting man I know; his grasp of History is phenominal, and he is perhaps the most facinating story-teller I have ever hung out with... And I've known a few dillies in my day!

He was a Merchant Mariner for years, and held a licence to sail full-rigged sailing ships in international waters. He's litterally sailed the seven seas, and up a few rivers here and there in between. If he is a "BS Artist", then he's the best I've ever known, as in subjects I do have some knowledge about, he's dead bang on every time and usually surpasses my expertise in most of them.

Although I don't think he completed his college degree, he is without a doubt one of the most brilliant individuals I've ever met. Any sterotype of the "Usefull Idiot" we tend to associate with Democrats, certainly does not fit this gentleman.

Now you may think less of me for associating with folks like my Friend here, but I'm really glad I've got 'em.
Oh; by the way, as a sometimes "Folk Musician" I get to hang out with some really interesting people with whom I have to be careful about mentioning "politics"!

As a "Conservative Folkie" I'm kind of an oxymoron; about as good a fit as a pork chop at a Bar Mitzvah... but most of 'em have a pretty good sense of humor about it and put up with me.

It's been helpful to me to realize that not all "lefties" are morons, elitists, or even neccecarily "Anti-American", as tempted as I am to drift into that sort of stereotypical thinking. There are some pretty decent, intelligent human beings out there who just don't happen to see things the way I do, for whatever reason. Part of it may be that we feed our minds and attitudes out of different troughs, as it were; if I really believed all of the college professors and the mainstream press and media, and that was essentially the only source of my information about the World and what goes on in it, Heck; I might be a liberal too! (*Shudder*...)

It just so happens that the combination of my life experience and rational alalysis of things in general, as well as the way I observe certian "patterns" evolve, has led me to accept and espouse a life-view and ideaology which is generally compatable with the "Conservative" definition.

I don't think that implies that I am neccessarily more or less intelligent than those who embrace an alternative perspective. Somewhere along the line we have to decide what we are going to accept as Truth, and what we are going to reject as spurious. What to us is "good", vs. "bad", "right", "wrong", and all that stuff. There are an infinite number of factors involved in the self-identification process, and no doubt a lot of folks take the easy way out and just believe what they are told to by someone they accept as an authority figure - be it a parent, a Teacher (thank you, NEA!) a Priest, Rabbi, Mullah, or a radio talk show host. I think that we have intellectually honest individuals on both sides of the issues, as well as flocks of "Sheeple" who are intellectually coasting along behind their particular "Leader/s".

Now I tend to believe that us "Conservatives" are more likely to encourage and stimulate individual, independant and critical rational analysis of the situations we find ourselves in than are the "progressives", who seem to be more than happy to encourage dependance and emotional impulse or blind obediance among their flock.
But it has been quite an education to me to be able to hobknob with some people who are quite capable of thinking for themselves, and yet still somehow come up on the side which makes little sense to me.

So as much fun as I have here in FReepland and such throwing my toys at the "other guys" from time to time and mocking their pet causes, many of which irk most of us to no end, I really feel blessed in being able to take a break from all of that adversarial stuff once in a while and actually getting to dialouge with these folks.

Not all of them are capable of it, of course - but I've found much to my amazement and delight that at least a few of them are.

And if you'll permit me to speculate, I think that our society and National interests might well be served were we to spend a little less time throwing our toys at each other and perhaps a little more time in sharing a keg, singing some songs, and having some intelligent, open, mature conversation with one another.

Perhaps if we were willing to honestly share what's on our hearts and minds from time to time, we might discover, as I think I may have, that we might not always be quite so bad as we make each other out to be.

Is that too much to ask?

Is it too much to dream?

Se'lah.