At times I think I'm the eldest on the forum. Thanks for reminding me that I'm not. Next year (2025) will be 60 years for me.


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I've been to about half of my reunions and plan to attend my next one. I was part of the clique in school. It was very large and contained cliques within the clique, but there wasn't any animosity between them. They broke down largely according to school activities. Band kids, eggheads, jocks, who's dating whom, who went to elementary/jr. high together, etc. The further out our reunions were from our graduation year, the more the alumni began to mix and mingle without regard to cliques. So many interesting people when you reach out. I've changed. They've changed. Life usually causes people to establish new priorities. On the flip side, I've eliminated certain "friends" from the clique who proved to be shallow and dishonest.

The problem Gingrich faced is the same one faced by every Speaker: just because the Speaker is the head of the conference doesn't mean he can control the way all of his members vote.  The more conservative an agenda that is pushed, the more likely you are to bleed GOP votes from the moderate wing of the party.

Tip O'Neill didn't want to pass most of Reagan's agenda, but blue dog Democrats crossed over to support it so he couldn't stop it.