Democracy Is a Messy Business II

It seems to me that when I was a kid people identified themselves as Democrats or Republicans. Nowadays you're a conservative or liberal. Alas, this whole business of "being" on one side or another for many people is more an emotional connection than an intellectual, reasoned one, having less to do with carefully considered positions on specific issues and more to do with kneejerk reactions. People choose sides with as much rationale as they pick their favorite in the Super Bowl. If you ask someone if they want to be labelled or pigeon-holed they'll react with horror, and yet they do it to themselves. It's far more complex than rooting for someone to win in the annual football thugfest. Pundits talk about the "direction" the country is going. How the heck can you look at 300 million people of such widely diverse economic status, ethnicity, and personal interests and stick your thumb in the air? The craziness is compounded by the fact that people will identify themselves as a "social" liberal and an "economic" conservative, like cheering for the Bears on offense but the Patriots on defense. Someone once said a conservative is a liberal who got mugged. On the other hand, perhaps a liberal is a conservative who carpools.