Archie & Paul ...

I remember Bunker. My dad had him on all the time, though it was probably reruns (that was me calling you old in case you missed it). One of my favorite lines (which Dad always repeated) was over gun control. You'll remember that Archie's daughter and wife to "Meathead" was a liberal. She once quoted a statistic over how many Americans died at the hands of guns the year before (not people with guns mind you, just "guns") and Bunker responded in that voice, "Would it make you feel any better little girl if dey was pushed outa windas?" HA! Makes me laugh just thinking about it. He completely dismantles gun control zealots in one line. And about that show I was watching some biography on Carrol O'Connor (Archie) once and it was revealed that Rob Reiner (sp?) (who directed that show - it was his incarnation), aka "meathead" had originally intended that Bunker be a character to be disliked due to his views and the theme would be one of constantly making fun of this "out dated old bigot." And surprisingly enough to Reiner, Archie became the sentimental fan favorite who made fun of his hippie son-in-law and Reiner fell into line directing the writers to go with that aspect of it. He's still a flaming liberal. Funny huh? O'Connor was a good actor (I think he passed on, I may be wrong). He showed his range in "The Heat of The Night" television series in which he played a southern sheriff quite convincingly. He suffered tragedy later in life though - his son, who played a deputy on that show, over dosed and died of illicit drugs. Pity. O'Connor was visibly broken when discussing it during the biography.

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Yes, Paul IS an example of traditional, historical 20th century conservatism, however, the definition of the word, as with all political terms, has changed. Think of the word "liberal." When discussing CLASSICAL LIBERALISM what names come to mind? How about Jefferson, Franklin, Washington? They were wildly liberal! Men determining their own fate? No divine rule? Democracy? Are you kidding me? And that brings us back to Ron Paul -HE is a classical liberal if there ever was one. Personal liberty (Paul's thesis) is the hallmark of historical Western liberal thought. So if you (Titus) are going to use him as the yard stick when defining what a true conservative is, then I am just as justified in using him as the yardstick when defining what a true "liberal" is.

But we both know NEITHER party will come back to that Ron Paul strain of politics in our lifetime. What candidate's going to run with the slogan, "elect me and get a man like Hoover again."