Mary Anne, good to see you back. Also, a question: Do you have any cats?

Not a non sequitor. Bear with me.

We have two cats. It's happened before that a cat will jump up onto the computer from either chair or lap, or simply get up from where it's been sleeping and walk across the keyboard. Happens all the time. Usually whatever damage is done is fixable. But once in awhile, an entire post can be lost.

That just happened.

A few expletives later, and this 'lurking liberal' is ready to give it another shot. : )

Like E' and like yourself, I do not run from 'the battlefield of ideas.' I have bayonetted, blasted and battled from one side of that battlefield to the other. Truly. I began life as a conservative, since that's the tradition in which I was raised. Many years ago, a liberal could not make a political statement without me wading in with my counter-arguments. But because I took politics so seriously, I found myself analysing the arguments on both sides. Here and there, on a couple of fronts, my notions changed. One day I woke up no longer a conservative. I retained some pieces of the ideology I had grown up with, and retain them still. But I could not call myself a conserative any more.

Around that time, I discovered the Internet. That was back in the old AOL days. AOL set up a board where the Promise Keepers could be discussed. With care and persistence, I waged war against religious fundamentalism mixing with politics and democracy. The board may still be out there, but I doubt any of my posts are - that was around 4 years ago.

Many people take their politics more seriously than their religion, maybe even most people. And the political issues of the day also matter very much to me. I vote on them, and I will share my views with anyone who is interested and receptive. But I no longer put politics ahead of all else.

When I was younger, it was new territory to be explored. I examined my beliefs, and found some of them wanting. Ran up against many uncharted political and philosophical ideas and concepts. And had to figure out what I want out of life as an individual and as a member of a great civilization. I was able to change my views on some issues, to be critical of concepts I had previously adhered to simply because they were mine. And I did change.

That was then. This is now.

Most other political junkies my age are just like me, regardless of the particulars of their politics. They're no longer encountering politics for the first time, feeling their way, turning things over, adjusting their world-view. They've found what fits for them, and they're not going to budge.

Neither am I.

I try to keep my eyes open, and having been on either side of some issues at different phases of my life, still have some flexibility. But I'm not going to lie to myself or to anyone else. I've found where I'm comfortable politically, and I'm not moving too far from this spot. If you have good arguments, I'll move a little on a single item, but the overall ideology will remain intact. And this is true of most of the people who post to HZ, liberal or conservative. They're no longer young.

The people near and dear to me, family and friends, matter far more to me than politics. These issues, looming so large in the here and now, seem hugely important. And they are - for the moment. But they belong to this period of history. In the long run, people matter more.

So if a Communist likes his Communist belief system and a world where the state owns everything, may he find solace among the bureaucrats. If someone else prefers a world where corporations own governments and resources, God bless her blind faith in unchecked corporate power.

Personally, I don't think either extreme does anyone any good, but that's just me. All the political storms we hurl ourselves into amount to little more in the end but 'sound and fury.' Didn't Ecclesiastes also say something similar? So it's people who really matter more than anything else.

The politics here I can take or leave, and I mostly prefer to leave it. I enjoy the people, and, of course, talking about space. Those are the reasons I come to HZ.

And you're one of those reasons. Glad you had the stamina to read this endless ramble, and glad you're back. : )