Maggie's Farm

I think I started consciously thinking of myself as conservative sometime in the late '90s, and though I was not a Bush fan I think it was the Florida vote dispute that pushed me over the edge, as it were.

That said, though there are a number of areas where I have arrived at bedrock Conservative conclusions - for instance, not just skepticism of activist government, but an active desire to diminish and limit government power - a whole lot of my present conservatism consists of me standing in place and Liberals rushing to my left. People I knew in my D.C. days who thought like I did are now standing way the heck left of me - and most of them can't tell me how they got there.

I've stopped asking. It's too depressing. I'll ask them what made them change their mind, and they'll tell me they've always believed that.

For whatever reason I've got a very good memory for conversation, and especially statements of foundation belief. I know that they didn't always believe that, and I've learned a lot of them don't like being reminded, especially if they actually remember after I bring it up.