Melodramatic as you sound...

I applaud your determination. I can't imagine a better State to begin such a career, either. Nevada is rapidly following in the "Liberal-West" tradition of California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and others... but still has a bit of the independent, individualistic "Old West" mentality too. It might not be too late to save the Silver State from the likes of Pelosi and Reid.

Your political aspirations aside, let's ponder something a bit...

As you quoted in your last post, Reagan was the loudest Presidential voice of the "individual first" movement that we have come to call modern conservatism, at least in the 20th Century. Only Teddy Roosevelt could compare, in my opinion... and that voice is 100 years gone. He wasn't the only voice, simply the loudest. SOME of those voices even belonged to Democrats, over the last century or so, believe it or not...

There is no question, though, that the Party of Kennedy, Truman, and FDR is very nearly UNRECOGNIZABLE from the Party of Carter, Clinton and Obama. Where the Democrats really did constitute the party of "fiscal responsibility" and "social justice"... they have now become the party of "fiscal equality" and "social dependence".

What is the root of this change in perspective? Why did the ideology of an entire American political party go from center-left (it was always a bit left, after all) to far-left?

The "elders" of the party are in their 60s and 70s... which means they "broke" into the game during the 1960s. They fought through the Nixon years, Watergate, Vietnam (although much of that war was Johnson's doing) and the recession of '74. They saw their hopes dashed in the failings of Carter, the Iran Hostage Crisis, the Oil Crisis, and the landslide election of 1980. They participated in (or learned from ) the opposition politics the Dems were forced to play during the Reagan years. They thought they had their "Golden Age" with the re-election of Clinton, only to see his Presidency become a global "joke" after the Ken Star investigation.

In short, the party has simply become SO entrenched in playing the polar opposite to everything the GOP stands for, that nothing else matters... they MUST oppose what the GOP supports! For all the fighting, arguing, debating and ranting that went on within the Bund prior to the '03 invasion of Iraq... no "rational" reasoning has EVER come from the Democratic-side of the aisle AGAINST finishing the job we started in Iraq! I will argue the reasoning FOR the invasion till I'm blue in the face, and I'll do it with the most raging liberals you care to find... but I still maintain that the job MUST BE FINISHED! We cannot leave Iraq one minute before there is a stable and functional Iraqi government that can defend itself and its people, or we will simply be forced to return to Iraq AGAIN in 10 or 20 years.

I am a Democrat (still!), but even I was rational enough to recognize that what the effort needed more than anything else was MORE boots on the ground... not less. 60% of the GOP understood that (although Bush, Rummy and Cheney were NOT among them)... but only 11 Democrats understood that (judging by their voting records). ALL the rest of the Democratic Congressmen and Senators spoke against the "surge" as more wasted lives and resources in an effort that was already lost (Reid among them).

The efforts of Pelosi, Reid, Kennedy, Kerry, Dean, Clinton (both of them), Carter... and now Obama and Biden... have all been focused on alienating the minority of Democrats that still feel that national defense is every bit as important as affordable health care coverage, or that agree that the USA is at war with international terrorism as much as they agree that the Federal government has a responsibility to our education system. They want NOTHING more than a total focus on removing "conservative" thought from the political arena, regardless of party affiliation. They don't want Christian Democrats, or Blue-Dog Democrats, or Dixie-crats (they are REALLY avoiding that label, huh?)... they simply want Liberal Democrats that will support with blind but wild abandon the policies and legislation of the select few at the top of the Party hierarchy.

What I wonder is just how far to the "left" do we have to watch our society go before we realize that socialism doesn't work? How long before we see that "equal opportunity" does not equal "guaranteed opportunity"? How long before we see that the Government CAN'T promise "results" without "effort" or "rewards" without "risk"?

{sigh}