GOP Nominee
Former Candidates
The question this week is: How did you become interested in politics? Feel free to address such topics as: How old were you? What was your initial ideology? What kinds of activism have you taken part in?
I’ll have my answer later. I’m just typing this up quickly before I leave for an AP test (some of us are still in high school, you know!).
May 16th, 2008 at 6:23 am
Short answer: I wanted to be the first people in the world to learn that bin Laden was DEAD.
Before that-
Early 90’s: Rush Limbaugh
Mid 90’s: The Clinton/Dole race
Late 90’s: John McCain
May 16th, 2008 at 6:37 am
To be grossly honest, I was always popular and interested in history. In grade school, because each child was only allowed to win one award, I had to choose between most likely to succeed and most popular. In high school I gravitated toward student government and was eventually elected student body president (by a landslide). It was also in high school that I began studying history and political science more attentively. During the summer I worked to register voters.
In college I was again in politics, but in a twist of fate, my career as a politician flubbed because of my own failings, but it led me to work for the school paper. I began an editor and won an award for my political writings.
I have never formally worked on a campaign although I have worked a phone bank for a candidate and frequently write letters to editors.
May 16th, 2008 at 6:48 am
I’m not sure exactly. It seems like I must have, on a subliminal level, been always interested in politics. I think it’s probably an extension of my interest in history. In 9th grade, I found myself at some sort of mock diplomatic conference; I guess a precursor to Model UN. I forget what country we were, but some we were dealing with FARC…so I guess, Columbia maybe? Anyway, it all seemed extremely fast-paced, and exciting, and weight. I guess that was a catalyst. But, I still planned to major in English for the longest time, and didn’t bother to vote in 2004 (my senior year in high school). But, then I took a summer program at the college I was going to, and I wound up in a class on international relations; actually, it was on the topic of “Soft Power” in particular. It was terrific. I was enthralled. And then I sort of thought back to high school and I realized that I’d taken all three AP histories and both AP Gov’s, and I’d self-studied for two of them, and that maybe this interest in world affairs was an enduring one. And here I am.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:21 am
That isn’t something I can answer in one sentence. My interest has ebbed and flowed over the years, but it has always been there, and I’m proud to say I have voted in every election since I turned 18. Every once in awhile something would happen that would galvanize me. Ironically, as conservative as I come across, I have actually gotten more moderate over the years. My father was an anti-Vietnam War Catholic Democrat who hated Richard Nixon and wasn’t crazy about Ronald Reagan either. He never had anything in common with the pro-choice or pro-gay wing of the party though. He tends to vote Republican in most races now. My mother hates politics, but when she does vote, she generally leans Republican. Her views are fairly typical of New England Protestants, fiscally conservative but socially liberal. She really liked George Bush’s father when he was running in 1988 though; she thought he was gentlemanly. I followed suit I guess and cheered for him over Dukakis. I have stayed Republican ever since. I found the Republicans more appealing because they didn’t want to tell people what to do. I never liked busybodies. Bill Clinton rubbed me the wrong way when he ran in 1992, and I was sad when he beat my guy. I didn’t pay much attention to politics after that until a few years later in 1995 when I started listening to Rush. I have grown to learn that he plays loose with the facts a lot, but at the time I found myself agreeing with him on most things. I was always pro-life, but I became more focused on the issue later on when my cousin got a girl pregnant. She went to get an abortion, but the doctor told her she couldn’t because she was too far along. But the day she went for the abortion was on my birthday, so I felt the baby was saved on my birthday. He is 4 years old now. I grew angry about many other aspects of liberalism while in college as well. Liberals tended to want to restrict speech to what was politically correct and regulate all kinds of other things that were “uncool” while ignoring true injustices like abortion. After 9/11, the liberal worldview that Obama shares of trying to negotiate with dictators made little sense to be intuitively. “You can’t make a deal with the devil.” I also have always preferred Republicans on fiscal issues because of my laissez faire view of things. I find politics addicting though and have trouble keeping away from it now, even when I try for the sake of my sanity.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:55 am
I am the only child of politically aware and interested parents who listened intently to breakfast and dinner table conversations as a small child in 1950’s Texas on such topics as international affairs and domestic politics. Not surprisingly, my parents were politically Conservative who almost always voted
Republican. My “first president” was Ike. As a teenager I became very interested and active in the Goldwater for President campaign. The single most memorable, impressionable, and shaping event of my political thought process was the televised Reagan speech “A Time for Choosing” on Oct. 27, 1964. Although I went on to major in physics and mathematics in college, I knew from that point that politics and national affairs was my real interest. Reading the great works by Hayek and other limited-government thinkers, along with Goldwater’s books (Conscience of a Conservative and Why Not Victory?) and Buckley’s and Stan Evans’ writings served to deepen and polish my thinking. In the early 1970’s, I quit a brief stent in aerospace engineering to work on Capitol Hill as a legislative assistant. To this day, however, the most meaningful experience was working in the 1976 Reagan for President campaign. This was followed by 1980 and service as an appointee at the Defense and State Depts. for almost the entire Reagan Administration. Having become rather sickened by the direction of the GOP from say ‘96 onward, I have taken to reading and commenting on a very select few website such as this one. I will conclude by saying I am slightly more optimistic re the future direction of the GOP–hey almost anything is better than what we’ve experienced these last 10 years.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:04 am
Third grade: All of my classmates were for Bush and only myself and another kid were for Dukakis on Election Day. That night I spoke to my parents and was told that Bush had more experience. I realize now only naïve 3rd graders vote for criminal-loving Democrats.
Fifth and Sixth grade: Our teachers explained the Persian Gulf War and who Saddam Hussein was by showing us maps and Bush’s speeches in the second-most shameless propaganda campaign I have ever been subjected to. The most shameless propaganda campaign came from those same teachers where we watched a TV special that’s not on imdb, but is here.
http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Day-Special-Bette-Midler/dp/6301757955
Now when a 10 year-old watches that they literally think the world is going to end tomorrow if we don’t recycle. This thing scared the hell out of me. More on this in a second because it’s important.
Sixth and Seventh Grade: H. ROSS PEROT!! All day baby! I loved this crazy midget. The voodoo pointer for the blocks of TV time he bought. The worst debate performance in the history of the Vice Presidency by a guy who has balls of steel and outlived the (w)ussy Phil Hartman that mocked him the next weekend. This was juxtaposed by spectacular debate performances that showed us a different kind of President that was “all ears†to effective ideas.
He honed me in on just how big and bloated the bureaucracy of the government was and gave me a critical eye for the study of American History in 7th, 8th, and 11th grades when teachers lofted FDR and LBJ’s horrendous nanny-state policies that have us trillions in debt, yet the atrocious American History textbooks read those two like the Acts of the Apostles.
Of course I look back now and hate him because he cost Bush an election where he was probably unbeatable and unleashed the Clinton drama that would be with us for two decades and counting…
The Rodney King riots also woke me up to the necessity of strict law and order to rein in what I now know is the “propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities.â€
9th Grade: I read Limbaugh’s hilarious first book that completely diced up environmentalist wackos that had scared me just a few years prior. Nearly everything that was said in that Earth day movie linked above was completely overblown and a lot of it had been said going back 25 years or more – none of it has come to fruition. He also had a great secular argument against abortion and deepened my cynicism about what the news media reported. This made me an anti-liberal. I didn’t understand conservatism as a philosophy like I do now and continue to learn, but I knew what ideas I did NOT want running our country.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:07 am
I was in 2nd grade when it was Clinton vs Dole. I was the minority of students who voted for Dole, and in 6th grade when my history class discussed the 2000 election I actually got thrown out of the classroom for being too passionate in favor of Bush.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Jonathan,
Jeez, 6th grade in the 2000 election? I feel old. I was in the 8th grade and I was fairly interested in the election; I remember staying up all night to see who won. I leaned Republican even then, and desperately wanted Gore to lose because he was “dull”. I don’t think issues came into the equation much.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:21 am
I first became interested in politics during the 1992 election. I was 14 and had long listened to my grandparents argue politics, but had never taken interest until then. My initial gut impressions of the candidates were as follows: Bush 41 was clueless, Clinton rightly wanted change but didn’t have the right ideas. Interestingly, Ross Perot brought me into politics. His technocratic, non-ideological, do-what-works approach to politics turned me on. He talked straight and seemed to be saying what most Americans were thinking, which also turned me on. When Perot blew up, I reluctantly supported Clinton, but then 1993-94 happened, and I realized that whatever Clinton and the Dems were, I wasn’t. So I started looking at the Republican Party, and I became enamored with conservatism. I realized that my union Democrat family hadn’t accurately characterized the GOP, and I became a Republican prior to the 1994 Gingrich Revolution. I was a True Believer in my teens, naturally, and was mugged by reality over time.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:22 am
30 m here, I got interested in politics through Romney. Need I say more? Too bad he isn’t in the race, now I just read headlines.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:29 am
It’s amazing how new many people are to conservatism. Some of you were supporting Clinton or Perot in the 90s. Others didn’t even vote as recently as 2004. I supported Bush, Bush, Dole, Bush, Bush. I guess I’m part of that base that you guys “have little concern about”.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:31 am
DaveG,
I don’t want to picture Ross Perot “turning you on”.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Matthew:
This is a G-rated blog
May 16th, 2008 at 10:34 am
I don’t really get why you would think George H.W. Bush was “clueless” either. He was very smart and had vast foreign policy experience. He was a little tone deaf during the recession, but he accomplished a lot in his life for a guy who was “clueless” I think.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Clarence, we “have little concern” because we figure you are set in your ways!
On topic:
I went to military school for high school and my part time job was working at the state Republican party. That helped. I strayed for a while but when I realized that the fundamental base of liberal economic thought is that wealth creates itself and belongs to everyone, I knew it was time to come home.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Don’t say I’m set in my ways! That hurts my feelings and makes me feel old. I like to think I’m a kid at heart.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Clarence don’t feel bad. I’m not 20 yet and I’m already set in my ways
May 16th, 2008 at 11:19 am
My experience is of the same timeframe as that of DaveG. One difference is that after 2000, I began to despise politics and politicians in general. To some extent, I still do despise the arena, but every once in a while, something or someone motivates me to drag myself out of political exile to get involved again.
I grew up in a mixed family, economically. My parents are middle class. My mother came from a very working class background, while my father’s family were well off and politically active. One side was staunch republican, and the other hardcore democrat. Funnily, I am much closer with my mom’s family (the democrats) than with my fathers.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Reagan’s 1984 “Good Morning in America” campaign. I was in the 10th grade, in Mondale’s home state. My friend lived 3 doors from Mondale. All my teachers were liberals. I had Reagan/Bush stickers all over my bookbag and binders. Fun times.
Not terribly related, but I ended up managing two school board campaigns in a large suburban district while still a teenager, changing the makeup of the board and forcing the district in a new direction. At graduation, the superindendent said that made me the most influential person in the school district.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:40 am
I was a social conservative beginning with the Bush race in 2000. I fell in love with politics during the recount debacle.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:42 am
I have always been interested in politics. I guess for me it was the first Gulf War with Bush I. My father and I actually collected all of the Gulf War trading cards and I still have my collection to this day.
My parents weren’t really politically vocal but they always voted and because my step-dad was in business for himself we were always less government taking what he made.
I’ve been a loyal GOP’er for as long as I can remember. Like Tommy, I am beginning to find the whole political atmospher exhausting and my wife and I were talking last night and I admitted how fed up I am getting with the GOP, Iraq, Bush, bigger government, and Republican hypocrites. Scandals are killing our party and while I know the Dem’s are no saints, it seems that more and more Repub’s are being caught with their hands down some “other women’s” panties.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I became interested in Presidential races only starting around ‘84. My parents were pretty big for Pres Reagan, and it just filtered down. I was involved in a debate in the 3rd grade taking Pres Reagan’s side on tax cuts (I didn’t understand the issues of the day then, but was enthusiastic about it). I didn’t start becoming interested in the Congressional races until I started listening to Rush in the early ’90’s, and didn’t get fully on board until after Spkr Gingrich’s Contract With America was proposed. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t get my voter registration taken care of in time to vote in ‘94, but I’ve been following it ever since.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
When I was little, my mom had trouble getting me to go to bed for the night. The only was I would stay tucked in for the night is if she let me stay up and watch Nightline.
My parent’s are obsessive news junkies. Watching the nightly news as a family was a daily ritual. My parents read the paper and several news magazines every day. We talked about politics a lot, from a very early age.
Ronald Reagan made me a conservative. I connected with him as a five-year old in 1980 on an almost spiritual level. Besides for Jesus Christ and my mom and dad, no one has influenced me more than him-and not just in my political views either.
I also have to give Rush kudos for keeping me in the conservative fold during my high school years and college years when every thing else in the world was pulling me a different direction.
Let me admit my one Republican heresy: I cast my first vote for president for Harry Browne (Libertarian) over Bob Dole in 1996, which I now regret.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
I suppose it wasn’t until college and economics courses (I think I was second-closest to getting a minor in it by graduation) that I started thinking more systematically about politics. Rural high school had been an unthinking walk in the park. By college I was fully invested in leftist thinking, but without much critical thought about it on my own.
By the time I escaped college with a BA in ‘90, ideas from economics were conflicting heavily with the leftist thinking. By ‘92 I was somehow against GHW Bush and Reagan, but didn’t know why I should be for Clinton. I wound up writing in Tsongas in that year’s general election — the one who was talking about fiscal responsibility.
Fiscal responsibility was a big issue used against the reigning party that year, in case anyone has forgotten.
Some years in Germany, then at grad school in Wisconsin, then some more years in Germany — I somehow became a “Bushie” by not hating him and his administration. Somehow I had taken the leap backwards past my mother’s liberal politics to the familial Republican traditions of her parents and grandparents.
In sum: Life is a quagmire, and no one gets out alive.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I always voted Republican for President and Congress. I have once in a great while voted for a Democrat for a local office. There are certain scenarios where I back Democrats. For example, let’s say that the Republican candidate is a wealthy, pro-choice woman who is a strong Republican, and she’s running against a Democrat who is a union guy but isn’t really that liberal, that would be a case where I would vote for the Democrat. That scenario does pop up sometimes in New Hampshire.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
The year was 2000 - I was a sophomore in college, and Bush/Gore was everywhere. I had no idea what my ideology was or what I believed, so I started researching and listening and reading. Lo and behold, I discovered my conservative tendencies and wanted Alan Keyes to win the nomination. I ended up voting for Bush (and again in 2004) and the rest, as they say, is history.
My folks are both liberal Democrats, but I never knew that growing up until I got interested in politics. Now we have fun discussions and debates on a fairly regular basis.
The only Democrat I’ve ever voted for (I think) was for county coroner… I nearly voted for Dave Freudenthal, our incredibly conservative Democratic Governor here in Wyoming, during his re-election campaign in 2006, but he endorsed and campaigned our very liberal Democratic House candidate. That lost him my vote. (He went on to win like 65-35 anyway.)
May 16th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Maybe I should change my name to GrandmaFromTenn
In 1976,(5th grade) I wrote a letter to President Ford, that I hoped he would win. I received in the mail a large “official ” looking envelope full of Political information.
Along with it was a personal thank you letter from President Ford. I was hooked.My first vote was for Reagan’s 2nd term, than Bush. With Clinton in office, I was inspired by the Republican Revolution , to clean up Washington..
Then, strangly, the Revolutionaries decided that their own new rules should not apply to themselves.Remember Term Limits? Ethics rules? Pork Barrel reforms? gone baby gone. The 2006 shake up should be a rude awakening for wayward conservatives. Lets hope they return to the core values of their party.
May 16th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
In 1992, at 9 years old, I was one of the only people in my little classroom who liked Ross Perot. Something about someone who was just Independent and waved around cool graphs excited me as a kid. It didn’t hurt that my parents and my best friend at the time’s parents were all into Ross Perot as well…though I didn’t realize that both my parents were until I got out of high school. But that’s neither here nor there.
By the time I got into high school, I was enamoured with history. I knew it wasn’t something I was going to do with my life (I was a huge math and science geek…and still am, which is part of why I’m an engineer), but I read everything I could to learn more about history. By the time I was a junior in high school, I was an anarchist. I believed that people were capable of surviving total anarchy if they kept their moral compass on straight. By the end of my junior year, I had gotten over that and had become fiercely liberal. In 2000, I was 6 month shy of being able to vote and watched anything on the news I could about the election. I was enthralled. When Gore lost, I was outraged…but realized immediately that it wasn’t Bush’s fault. I didn’t believe in any voter fraud and when Gore began pushing and pushing for recounts, I got incredibly annoyed.
As Bush remained in office, I watched as the jokes flowed like wine…”Bush is stupid, he’s a bad President, he stole the election, etc.” I just wanted the people who were on my side to shut up and mobilize instead of whine about it. Sadly, that didn’t happen. After September 11th, I watched as Bush showed the leadership that I knew in my heart that Gore couldn’t display. Even as a liberal, I didn’t think Gore could handle that situation the way President Bush did. I watched the media pretend to respect him for a few weeks…and then they began to ridicule him again. I saw that my President wasn’t getting any degree of respect. That’s when the media bias clicked in my head.
It took a woman to push me over to the right. Unintentionally, I might add. She used me and treated me like garbage. What did I do? I lapped it right up. I ignored my values and threw everything away for this woman who didn’t even respect me. I ignored my faith, I ignored my family, I ignored my friends. It was awful. One day, it all clicked again. It was a rush through me entirely that I like to think was God giving me a wake-up call. I realized that I had values, that it was okay to vote based on my values, that I loved my Christian faith, and that this woman was a nut-bag. I broke up with her and by 2004, I was registered Republican. During the 2004 election, I started to blog. Simple things at first, defending Bush from the vicious attacks of the left and as I began to take note…and as I began to read and learn more, the more conservative I became. I began to learn about how conservative economics worked…and I liked it. I learned the simple truths about conservatism and my eyes were opened once again.
By 2005, I was registered with the Conservative Party of New York. I realized that the Republicans in New York were a bunch of RINO’s who were wasting my taxmoney. That was also when I ran a write-in campaign for Mayor of my hometown. I got 3 votes…I would have gotten more…but that’s a story for another day. I’ve been in the CPNYS ever since. As I’ve continued along my way learning, blogging, and reading about conservative and political theory, my views have shifted more towards the libertarian with a radically fiscal conservative streak. I’ve voted for Republicans, Conservatives, and a Democrat or two for very local office.
May 16th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
P.S. I have enjoyed reading all of your posts, and the bit of insight into your background.
May 16th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
MafromTN, I’d like to point out that the ‘94 revolutionaries didn’t become of the DC establishment you dislike so (and so do I), they adhered to self-imposed term limits and mostly aren’t there anymore. Those that replaced them are to blame, and they never signed on to the CWA. THAT is the problem.
May 16th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
I’m 26 (today!), and I just became involved in politics. There is so much at stake in this presidential election, it is impossible not to care what is going on.
May 16th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Happy birthday Lauren, but keep one thing in mind. Every election, people say, “This is the most important election of our lifetime.” or “The stakes are so high.” In reality, this is probably not going to be the most important election, regardless of how it turns out.
May 16th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
BTW, I enjoy these open posts, keep them up.
I always enjoyed following politics with my dad and friends who paid attention. I’ve always leaned Republican despite the fact the a good percentage of my extended family are DFLers, my dad is a member of the plaintiffs bar and my mom is a former member of the state teacher’s union. Thus, I’ve never been a solid econ conservative. But the life issue is probably what made me pay more attention to politics. In terms of solidifying my ideology, the fact that my Green Party girlfriend in college had a conspiracy theory for everything made me realize just how nutty the left can get.
May 16th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
I always had a strong interest in history and world geography, dating to the video game “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego” (the original DOS version). I knew way more than I had any right to about the Founding and the Constitution by my Junior year in high school, and had essentially become a self-taught conservative (meaning I never had and still haven’t read any of the seminal works on conservatism). But I really didn’t pay any attention to partisan politics until 2000. I don’t think I even realized where each party stood on most of the issues (most of the time anyway) until then. I gradually became more interested but it was the recount that finally kept me tied to the TV. Well, that year I also began participating in Model United Nations (remember, due to Carmen Sandiego my interest had an international flavor to it). Doing that during my last two years of high school and first two of community college (which overlapped), plus 9/11 and the aftermath sharpened my focus and convinced me I really was a conservative and a republican (and not the libertarian I fancied myself as before then). I was the only one in my law school willing to slap Bush stickers on my laptop come the 2004 election (there were plenty of libs willing to do it, all the conservatives were more reserved than me, even if they’d willingly argue with the professors when called upon). My MUN experience also taught me the UN sucked, and my political interests rapidly refocused to national and local politics.
I did a little data-entry, letter-stuffing, phone work for a congressional candidate in 2002. Helped found the College Republican chapter at my undergrad and sat on the county party board as part of that position. Was very active in the Federalist Society in law school. Got on the county board in my own right (as part of the technical team) when I came back after graduation. Was county co-chair for the Mitt campaign, and now campaign manager for a state legislative candidate.
May 16th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Being a bit of a history buff I have always been somewhat in tune with politics growing up and the role it played in the country and my life. My parents were blue collar (my father was a steel worker) and always voted democrat, but my role in business started very early and I got hooked on Reagan’s philosophies. As you can imagine, my father and I are on opposite sides of the spectrum. For example, just as he wants the corporations paying for a lot more, I want corporations and businesses taxed less so they can keep expanding and pushing the economy forward. He thinks government should play a bigger role and I want the government involved as little as possible. And thus the debates went on. Although, for the first time ever I am seeing him doing a double take. He is not impressed at all with Obama’s lack of substance and rhetoric. He may be one of those that a McCain nomination could draw over. We’ll have to wait and see.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
In Reply to #30, Richard M
Memories fade, so thanks for your reminder.
while the CWA was written by true believers, It was signed by all but 2 of the Republican members of the House and all of the Party’s non-incumbent Republican Congressional candidates. It is a shame that keeping their word put the honorable person out of office. The right or wrong in the CWA can be argued by those who want to,(I don’t) but term limits seemed like a good idea and maybe could be revisited? Is there a downside to them?
May 17th, 2008 at 2:34 am
The argued downside is that it would deprive the congress of experienced old hands, thereby A) resulting in sloppy legislation, and B) increasing the power of lobbyists, who don’t leave, and newbie congresscritters would come to rely on to show them the ropes. I really don’t buy either argument. Congressmen don’t actually write legislation now anyways, staffers and caucus lawyers do, and they’ll still be around. The second fails because as a general rule it is not weak willed neophytes who run for congress. No, it’s either power-hungry movers-and-shakers or ideologues on a crusade. Congressmen turn to lobbyists for money, not for someone to hold their hand.
The practical concern is under certain Supreme Court precedents the most effective term limit measures would require constitutional amendment.
May 18th, 2008 at 8:45 am
That is a question that I can only answer with a question:
How could I not have become interested in politics?
I started grade school in 1958, and lived on a cross-street in Manhattan exactly half-way between the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and the United Nations.
By 1962, I had seen Eisenhower, Krushchev, Castro, and, a number of times, JFK (usually in an open car) motorcade past my front door.
In 1960, political posters and buttons were everywhere. (That is something that started to vanish in the early 1970s.) There was excitement about the Presidential election. Television itself was almost as novel as the idea of televised debates.
In 1961, there was no avoiding the news from Berlin.
And in October 1962, every school child knew there was a a real risk of war over the missiles in Cuba (and some of those children knew to be suspicious of adults who added “and Turkey”).
In 1963, we all saw ads on the buses showing a picture of a trash can and the slogan, “This is the place for prejudice.” And we heard the grown-ups argue, often with an unusual amount of emotion, about what seemed a very simple question (which, back then, it really was).
Then came November 22, 1963. Then came the worst President in American history. Then came more unusually over-heated discussion about Goldwater, which made you ask yourself: “Just what is it that Goldwater is talking about that is so different? What then, by contrast, does Johnson stand for?”
And if, all around you, there is nothing but smug assurance or irrational fear of anything different from the opponents of Goldwater, and the only answers of substance are coming from the other side, and you are rather a contrarian to begin with, there can be little doubt in which initial direction you might be nudged. Then came the Buckley campaign for Mayor of 1965, and the fun continued….
I do not regard it as such a “curse” to “live in interesting times” — but I suppose that is because I was fortunate enough to have survived those times.