Nick Taylor

Facebook and email reveal that we've come a long way from our high school and college selves, and that our political paths have diverged. How can that teenage crush have turned out to be a tea party conservative, or that fraternity brother an anti-tax zealot? We've all had different life experiences that have shaped our thinking, that is true. But I'm always amazed that intelligent people, faced with the same facts, can reach radically different conclusions. The only answer is that ideology is more persuasive than history; people believe in their ideology because they want it to be true whether it is or not.

This was prompted by an email joke forwarded by a college friend. It's why one guy in line for a vasectomy gets laid by a nurse while six other guys are jerking off. The one guy has Blue Cross and the six have Obamacare. It shouldn't, but this stuff sets me off, and I got into an email argument. Here's part of what followed: Read More 

Greetings, friends! May I address
A selection process that’s a mess,
And the candidates involved
Who pledge to get our problems solved?

They’re from the right, that’s very clear.
That’s why their stock in trade is fear.
They talk about the deficit,
But don’t say they created it.

They all say taxes are just bad,
Don’t take from rich folks what they’ve had.
Just starve the poor and middle-class.
Who cares if the wealth gap is so vast?

Let’s start with Mitt, the man of Romney, Read More