[davequanbury]

I am loving the discussion taking place on this thread over the past few days.

One thing I would add is that before the current "culture wars" era began, being "left" or "right" didn't mean what it does now. There was more nuance to each position. While being a communist was never a popular position, I believe in the cold war era was an entrenchment of a demonization of the left.

As an example, I offer the history of the governorship of Texas which we would all probably characterize as a republican stronghold. The truth is that the state has exclusively Democrat governors from 1859-1983 and then again from 1983-1995. Almost unthinkable in today's political climate.