...very close and dear friends due to conflict over politics. I may be self-serving here, but I really don't think it was my fault. I can say that with some confidence because I have several old conservative friends I still get along with fine, and have made several new ones over the years. Political disagreement never threatened our other shared interests.

But the two I have lost do share something in common, that burning messianic zeal, that righteous certainty, that inability to compromise, or even just let it rest. I miss them, or what they used to be, but they still make my flesh crawl.