You must've had one heck of a recent political epiphany to have waited so long.
OTOH, you may actually be an FR veteran. Here for twenty years, left, then returned with a new screen name so no one would recognize you.
So not only would you be a "very new oldie", you'd also be a "very old newbie".
(Eight sets of forty, huh?)
Actually, I’ve been reading Free Republic for many years.
I’ve been a small government conservative all my life, but I only decided to begin contributing on the forum fairly recently, as you noted.
No epiphanies for me, much to the chagrin of some of my former girlfriends. ;)