For some time now some liberal friends, and even my own daughters, have been pestering me with the same question. Why, they ask, are you supporting Mitt Romney? Indeed, what propelled you, more than a year ago, to give up the comforts of home and move to Boston to work day and night for his campaign? And why, for that matter, are you a conservative? I admit to being flummoxed by these questions.
For a complete and truthful answer requires far more in the way of explanation than I usually care to give. The strange fact of the matter is that my support for Mitt Romney, like my conservatism generally, has something to do with a ship called the Serpa Pinto and with an American Marxist revolutionary by the name of Max Shachtman. Continue reading →
