40 years of change in America

As a teenager, I passed out literature door to door for Barry Goldwater's Presidential campaign in 1964. This was in a small factory town in northern Indiana. 70% of those who opened the door refused to take the literature. The people then were mostly factory workers, union members, and voted Democratic. The only people Goldwater appealed to were the extreme RWers and the fundamentalist c'tians. My family was both. I was almost as fanatical as they were.

Today I'm a liberal and an atheist. My hometown is solidly Republican. The factories are gone, the unions are busted, and a majority of the people are religious fanatics. To them, George Bush is the 13th apostle. The kid that passed out literature for Goldwater 40 years ago would feel right at home there today.

The 180° turn in my life, and in the attitudes of my home town, are just one thread in the vast fabric of life in America.

:)

and not too uncommon. When did it all change? Was it a moment, or was it a gradual takeover by the conservative mindset? Why, is the question I need to have an answer to.