I Change My Mind (Horror of Horrors)

I change my mind, from time to time. For example, my favorites in music vary over the months and years, and sometimes pretty dramatically. My political notions undergo some revisions as well as I follow the issues, how they are presented by their advocates, and how I conclude how much those advocates are motivated by the public welfare and how much by ulterior motives such as power or secret ideological agendas. I change my own personal self-improvement goals as well quite a bit. Earlier in this blog, I used to express them much more often (and my progress or lack thereof), using the reasoning that expressing my goals publicly would sharpen my focus in striving for them. I'm thinking of reviving that, as a matter of fact.

I have not always been center-left in my political leanings. When I was growing up, I was more centrist-right, reflecting the views of my parents. They opposed anyone whom they perceived as being too extreme in one direction or the other. Hence they were against both Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Democrat George McGovern in 1972. By 1976, though, I had come of voting age and had early on jumped on board with upstart Georgian Jimmy Carter's candidacy. In 1980, I missed out on that election although I felt then, as did many others, that the country was quickly going to hell in a hand basket and that Carter needed to turn the reins of power over to someone else. I think that the turning point that made me reject Carter was his cynical ploy of "staying in the White House" in the early months of the Iran Hostage Crisis to avoid campaigning head-on against challenger Ted Kennedy. Not that I supported Kennedy: he should have supported Carter instead of dividing his party.

By 1984, I was back with the Democrats and gamely supported them in the next three presidential elections, finally winning with Clinton in '92. Then, from 1994-2001, I shifted over to a more center-right orientation. After watching C-Span and C-Span2 in the spring of 2001, though, I discovered that the Democrats had better ideas and a better grasp of the issues, while the Republicans, albeit with some good arguments from time to time, tended to be hollow in their intentions. So I switched back to being a Democrat and have supported them ever since. But, hey, my leanings aren't set in stone and they could change in the future. But not if folks like Sarah Palin, Jim DeMint, Mitch McConnell, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck continue to determine the GOP's direction.