Kids go through phases. For Jonathan Krohn, it turned out to be a conservative one.
You might remember him as the 14-year-old Republican wunderkind who gave speech at CPAC three-and-a-half years ago. He even wrote a book called Defining Conservatism: The Principles That will Bring Our Country Back before he was old enough to get his driver’s license.
That was then. Now, at age 17, he's picked up more left-leaning views along the way as he's matured.
"I don't think I had all the answers then. I don't think I have all the answers now," he explained to MSNBC's Lawrence O’Donnell on why he ditched his social conservative ideas. "I just feel that it was really naive of me to think I knew everything then and not open my mind to the possibilities of other things being correct."
He counts himself as a fan of The Daily Show, reads The New Yorker and will be a freshman at NYU this year — traditionally not the a conservative school of choice — to study philosophy and film.
"I rather just have my building to have my opinion on any issue I want. And so, I laugh and started having more socially liberal positions after that."
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Kid's a quicker study than I was... I was in my mid 40's before I quit drinking the Kool-aid...
Of course these gonzos on the right make the decision easier these days. Back in the 60's we had reasonable moderates to balance out the John Birch Society crowd... Rush Humbaugh® and the Beckhead changed all of that, along with Baron Murdochausen's FAUX noise...
Too bad yoy didn't stop drinking the booze too, Cab Driver. From on addiction to another, this one being addicted to other people's money! LOL!
Boy Fuzzie, your credibility with that comment about my non-existent drinking is about on par with every thing else you've posted here (Carter was president when I had my last one, folks, and that sobriety includes avoiding everything else that's sold on the street). And I've pulled my own train, @!$%# talker--Old Native American term I haven't improved on; they have another about walking a mile in someone else's moccasins as well--for many years, gratefully accepting the little bit of help that occasionally comes...
Note to the others: Grandpa is singing soprano again after a couple of us felted him again on his delusional narcissistic stuff; he seems to believe because he caught a few breaks along the way, everyone is likely to have as well. In truth, there are Afro-Americans and other minorities who still struggle with racist views and can't get hired for jobs paying a living wage; the same thing happens here (the Mormons aren't all prejudiced against "Gentiles," but they tend to hire their own big-time, and there is a "secret handshakes" club). That's what's given me a little compassion for others; Fuzzie also fails to tell us that nearly all the money he "earned" in his career was from tax dollars. A better man than he would probably feel some pangs of guilt, but he acts out his denial coming here in particularly adolescent and immature fashion... Realizing what a fraud he was, he projects that failure onto others rather than deal with it.
/Cue up Bobby Dylan and the relevant lines from "Masters of War"
Paranoia and delusions go hand in hand with the addictive personality, Cab Driver. And I don't know what you are referring to with your myth that you and others EVER have been able to argue with me on any topic cogently and authoritatively.
This kid is hanging around too much with the wrong crowd. Somebody needs to put some sense back into this kid before he loses his future.
What, no mention of gas prices, Cindy? Inquiring minds want to know why....
As for the kid, I'll speak from experience; being a 15-year old conservative--I was getting published in newspapers at that age myself--is a lousy deal. A person has all this compassion and idealism and no place to put it. Romantic illusions of John Wayne winning World War II only go so far... Look how out of touch they've made Grandpa...
And this was when we had the "Red Menace" and "Domino Theory" being tossed at us instead of the silly "social cons" and "wedge issues" they're trying to work us with now... At least I could find some comfort in science for a time, and then literature to preserve something of my sanity... The way the righties are disemboweling education these days, that option is off the table.
Play it again, Spanky...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aciWaZkvXGI
Seems to me its the Dems playing the wedge issues game, with free contraception offered to buy the women's vote (pretty cheap too), and the tossing off off the Immigration Laws enforcement by Executive Order to buy the Hispanic Votes (inclouding those that will are illegal that will attempt to have their votes counted too), and the Queer thing in the Obama announcements and positions on DOMA and "gay marriage" that he has "evolved" facing a relection campaign and fund raising that aren't going well.
Seems to me the Republican's are all about the policies leading to a Growth Economy and Small Business Expansion and Job Opportunities, Tax Reform, Energy Policies leading to Self Sufficiency, and continued vibrant Defense Posture in an Unsure World, and Fiscal Responsibility with review of the entitlement programs that have grown like topsy along with government sector employments. Add in the need for a sensible Health Care insurance reform package and we have something to vote for that can have meaning other than rehashed, tired rhetoric from a failed Amateur President from the Chicago School of Nationalist Socialism.
As to gasoline prices, we are still paying $3.60 in Connecticut this very day, and under George Bush in 2008 the price was $1.80. So go figure! 15% drop in Federal Government controlled oil fields, a blocking with myriad previously approved EPA and Interior Department Two New Refinaries cleared under the George Bush Administration (the first in 30 years) in Yuma, AZ for the West Coast and North Dakota by the rich Bakkin Shale deposits for the Heartland and the MidWest. And still blocking the rich Canadian oil sands product from an ally by stalling out the approval process of the Pipeline to deliver that inexensive oil to the storage centers and refinaries in Okalahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.
And don't even get me started on the war against Coal, our nations most readily availabe, inexpensive, and efficient fuel for electricity production to serve all those hybrid and smart autos that the Federal Government things we should be buying to help on conservation of gasoline and oil.
Whatcha got, Cab Driver?
I realize this is completely off-topic, but has anyone else noticed that this kid looks EXACTLY like Chris Hayes (host of MSNBC's weekend show, "Up w/Chris Hayes")? I mean this kid is TOTALLY Chris Hayes's Mini-Me! LOL