An excuse or a strawman... still trying to figure out what that means.

What could my being a former liberal Democrat be used as an excuse for? And in what universe can building a false persona (a strawman of myself, really?) help anyone's argument? Does it really matter to anyone here who I am or what I was?

I was a liberal Democrat for a relatively short time, considering how old I am now. I married a liberal Democrat, and she came a family of like minded thinkers, so you can imagine how they all felt about an acceptable atheist/liberal/Democrat inlaw becoming a Christian/conservative/Republican inlaw.

It didn't just happen over night, my views gradually changed over a 30 to 40 year period of time. And it's not an excuse for anything, or a straw man argument for persuading anyone, it's just a fact. Granted, it has nothing to do with anything I might say about abortion or politics, or the politics of abortion... I'm just letting ya'll know where I came from and where I am now.

No one is born a Democrat or a Republican, just like no is born an atheist or a believer in God simply because of genetics or family connections. Some people make life decisions based on what their family and friends believe, and I did as well, but I changed my mind.

I am only me. Remove the spaces and it reads Iamonlyme. Then add a space and you have Iamon lyme. See? That's who I am.