Dang. I'm sorry to hear you had to give it up. Just because it's not my cup of tea doesn't mean I beMudge you your fun. I don't need to be mollified-you have every right to enjoy your life in any way that you choose that doesn't hurt someone else. Just because I think it's silly doesn't mean I would try to stop you, or even that I would pick on you in fun about it. I am sure I do a lot of things you think are silly (or even stupid) and if you pointed out how goofy they were, I would respect your opinions and keep doing 'em. I collected Star Wars toys and played computer games for years, and they're certainly silly and of a lot less benefit than reenacting. I've even considered buying a set of stormtrooper armor which is both toy collecting and reenacting combined...So I don't have much room to talk.
Is there no way you could take part in reenacting any more? It would seem, with your passion for it, that you could still take part. Maybe by helping others build their uniforms, or by organizing events? Aren't you a vet? Why not go as yourself?
As for the election, I am not doing a happy dance. No matter who's in the White House we have along row to hoe. I'd like to see a lot more effort on all our parts to find common ground instead of beating on each other all the time. This election (all of them, actually) is meaningless if we can't put our fists down and work together like we did under all our great presidents, from Roosevelt to Reagan, or Washington to Jackson.
It's been our willingness to set aside our differences to find common ground that has made us great, not any single political belief. Those have changed a hundred times in the last hundred years. It's the polarization of America that I hate, not conservatives. It's the lies and distortion of truth to gain votes that I despise, and the unwillingness to look at the world without preconceived notions that I hate. And I mean I hate it about liberals as well as conservatives. The whole definition of liberal is, after all, the freedom of thought. If a person is so radical that they cannot accept another's opinin whithout denigrating them, then they are wrong, IMO.
Mr Greenwood's mistake was to try to use WIX as a bully pulpit. I on the other hand, believe that WIX should be a secular institution, politically. If we were having a beer I would welcome a talk about plolitics and try to find a way we can both exist in the same world.
But here on WIX I want to hear about warbirds and people who love them. There are plenty of other formats for politics. If you haven't noticed the only time I discuss politics is when others bring it up, and then only to shut them up. That comes, I think, of having spent my formative years in the military, where politics is really poisonous to unit effectiveness.
Anyway, I'm glad you're still here on WIX. It's a shame when people decide they are so special that they deserve to be treated differently than everyone else. Generally, that's why people seem to leave WIX. They get their arses in a vise because they think they deserve better treatment than the rest of us.