[Lexinom]

Exactly! What people want is a human connection, to be accepted. I am a conservative (fiscal and social), but have had some wonderful friends who were/are gay or lesbian. They are human beings too, subject to the same weaknesses and foibles as us all. These, and some of those in the arts, have proven to be subjects of some of my deepest platonic relationships. I don't try to change them, and they don't try to change me.

You are right that people can unite in favor of a principle - like capitalism - and needn't be joined at the hip ideologically.

If conservatives realized this, without compromising core principles, and quit with the blunt, unsophisticated, and ham-handed approaches that give rise to the unflattering stereotypes that plaster us as a group - we might just win some friends and support.

[thulldud]

...people can unite in favor of a principle - like capitalism - and needn't be joined at the hip ideologically.

I learned another useful term recently: "M&M diversity." Meaning, different colors outside, same content (ideology) inside.

I'm just itching to see that label engraved into a millstone and hung around the neck of all these corporate diversity police who don't understand real people.