One of my favorite political writers is William F. Buckley. A young lady much like yourself is reported to have written to him asking him what she should believe in, since she wanted to be a conservative. His response was characteristically honest and accurate, and I regret that I can only paraphrase it: you are a conservative because you believe in certain things; you can't do it the other way around.

So - don't be a joiner because you think that one group looks or sounds better, or seems to be winning, or because you feel sorry for them. Figure out where your interests are and what your core values are. Then you'll know who your associates should be. You will be able to leave home soon enough.

good advice.

my dad raised me on buckley :)

Conservative is great. Republican thought, however, has nothing to do with conservative ideals.. and it's time the girl who wrote the letter investigated the details of what she's claiming to support.

Republican economics today - not when Buckley made the quote referenced - are simple to understand. Take money from you and give it to an already-rich CEO.

Republican economic "philosophy" (the Laffer curve) is pure cowflop. Yet, when push comes to shove, the only method ever proposed is "cut taxes on the rich" - it's a remedy, it's a stimulus, it always works. Except it never has and never will.. it has only resulted in (shockingly) lower tax receipts for the government. If cutting taxes actually worked, Democratic presidents would not have a higher GDP than Republicans. However, facts are immaterial to the Republican party.

Greenspan's Ph.D. was on housing prices -- and you really want to believe he had no idea he was deliberately forming a bubble in housing to give more money of yours to Wall Street? Who do you think sits on the board of directors of the Fed? Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Bank of America.. yep, the same people who benefited from the housing bubble through the fees charged with each deal.

A vote for a Republican is a vote against your economic future.

Who's Obama's economic advisor? The last useful central banker the US has had.. the only guy to show Wall Street the finger and break inflation - Volcker.

Today, the family is right and the little girl is 110% wrong.

You might be expecting more of this kid than you're going to get. Likely, she's only being Republican as a silly teenage rebellion.

As to the rest of your post, I would simply say that any attempt to equate "conservative" with "Republican" or "liberal" with "Democrat" is a misguided one. These labels are nebulous and poorly understood at best. They only serve as handy tags for people who don't want too much thinking in their political thoughts, if you know what I mean.

Buckley was a racist who wrote many sympathetic rants in support of the South during the Civil Rights Movement. Nothing he wrote since could ever make up for that.

And I have the opposite problem in my family. My parents are wonderful people who'd do anything for anyone; they're retired teachers. They are also proud liberal Democrats. I have followed in their footsteps, so to speak. My sister married into a very Republican family. We never had a problem with that, we like him and his family; my parents did raise us, after all, to be ourselves and not carbon copies of them. We have many different political "persuasions" in the family, but everyone gets along. Indeed, we often enjoy spirited but respectful and CIVILIZED debates and discussions, and we enjoy hearing other viewpoints and perspectives and debating the merits and points thereof.

My sister, her husband and his family, however, are a different story. My sister and BIL, especially, seem to go out of their way to make any family gatherings of which they're a part unpleasant. They'll start in on a particular hot-button topic and then start SHOUTING about it, tearing down those who don't totally and completely agree with them in every way, including our parents, who are too polite to say anything about it, they just sit there. As do the rest of the like-minded family members. Those who may agree with sis and uncouth BIL are also uncomfortable, as they're attacking people, not their ideas. Sis shows no respect whatsoever for any different views or for those who may hold them, including her own parents. And BIL and his family are all the same way.

So, you see, it cuts both ways. Yes, there are liberals/Democrats who are like that as well, and that's just as wrong.

See, the thing is, a person can choose to be Republican, Democrat, or any other political persuasion, but they can't choose not to be an idiot.

Sad, but true.

....which reminds me of a beer commercial from his day, less filling, less taste. The only thing Buckley ever got right was sticking his tongue out and opening his eyes wide, like some mental lech pervert. Was that fool saying the Communists (which were the lefties of his day) didn't believe in anything?

An overeducated, but connected, idiot. But the banner child of what American neocons think is 'conservative'.

I don't even think the point is Demos vs Repubs; it could be anything at all. I know you know that, it's all I can come up with to start.

I just think that this young girl is suddenly realizing how her family comes across and treats those who don't share their views. It hasn't been an issue for her until now because nothing in her has ever run contrary to their beliefs. Now she's on the outside looking in and saying yikes.

Hey, welcome to adulthood, cutie! I remember the time my family started making fun of Scott Baio in Skatetown USA and the nervousness I felt in worrying, "omigod, they're going to find out I love roller disco! I gotta get out of this crazy family before they kill me in my sleep!"

You know, it's not bad enough that they spew their views in front of your friends while driving you around in their car, now they can't even keep their damn opinions to themselves in their own home. The nerve of some people!

"I remember the time my family started making fun of Scott Baio in Skatetown USA" I predict you are going to regret saying that for a long time.

I feel sorry for that girl; whichever party her parents belong to they are not nice people.

"Republican economic "philosophy" (the Laffer curve) is pure cowflop. Yet, when push comes to shove, the only method ever proposed is "cut taxes on the rich" - it's a remedy, it's a stimulus, it always works. Except it never has and never will.. it has only resulted in (shockingly) lower tax receipts for the government. "

Excuse me? Didn't Reagan's tax cuts trickle down and result in the lowest unemployment rates in US history? With the highest salaries for middle and lower middle income classes? Wasn't Reagan a Republican?

Sure it took 12 years to happen, but it did happen. And everything went just fine until the fed's, under Greenspan, raised interest rates over 8.5%. Then the excrement hit the rotary oscillator. To recover from the resulting depression, interest rates were cut down to 0.5% and even then it took several years. Then 9/11 happened and delayed the recovery further. The current crises in the banking industry (bankruptcy of most of the sub-prime lenders) is also the direct result of the fed's raising interest rates).

I don't classify myself as a Republican or a Democrat, I tend to vote for who I think will do the best job (it tends to be the one who slings the least amount of mud at his opponents). And I'm in the middle, neither conservative nor liberal.

SomebodyElse wrote: "Excuse me? Didn't Reagan's tax cuts trickle down and result in the lowest unemployment rates in US history? With the highest salaries for middle and lower middle income classes? Wasn't Reagan a Republican?

Sure it took 12 years to happen, but it did happen."

Nonsense. If your policies don't work in 3 years, they aren't working. You can't take credit for other's policies.

Reagan's only "success" (and this is why his wealthy friends are constantly singing his praise) was to save the speculator class. By providing tax cuts to the rich with no requirement for them to invest, (by that I mean real investment - not "investment properties") he insured that a lot of cash was chasing around a fixed pool of stocks and real estate. The wealthy found this an easy environment to succeed in and saw their wealth increase by several 1000 percent while people who work for a living saw their prospects tank. Republicans like averages because one billionaire can offset the decline in the standard of living of tens of thousands and so everything is "great".

Reagan was a major disaster. With the exception of Dubya, the worst president since Harding - a crook and Coolidge fiddled his way into the depression. Just one thing - his failure to have a energy policy resulted in the mess today. Canceling solar research and failing to raise average vehicle mileage ALONE have cost most Americans a reasonable future.

SomebodyElse:

Excuse me? Didn't Reagan's tax cuts trickle down and result in the lowest unemployment rates in US history? With the highest salaries for middle and lower middle income classes? Wasn't Reagan a Republican?

Sure it took 12 years to happen, but it did happen. And everything went just fine until the fed's, under Greenspan, raised interest rates over 8.5%. Then the excrement hit the rotary oscillator. To recover from the resulting depression, interest rates were cut down to 0.5% and even then it took several years. Then 9/11 happened and delayed the recovery further. The current crises in the banking industry (bankruptcy of most of the sub-prime lenders) is also the direct result of the fed's raising interest rates).

Since all of your conclusions are preposterous, I can only hope you were trying to make a joke.