I discovered conservatism, in myself, rather than having chosen it as a political ideology. I give most of the credit to Ronald Reagan, in another post, but Jimmy Carter deserves almost as much credit for my transformation (or discovery) in the same way so many great comedians needed and made great use of a straight man. Reagan seemed immeasurably smarter and ideologically stronger because Carter seemed always to attempt to talk his way around every issue, rather than simply calling things by the right names. If more Americans were self-reliant and accepted (no, I mean EMBRACED) personal responsibility for their actions and their outcomes, rather than blaming any number of other excuses for failure, America would be a better place.
