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Just to put a finer point on it....I recognized my obligation as a citizen to contribute, through the payment of taxes, to the well being of my country and fellow citizens.

However, and it's a huge however, the nature of government is that they badly waste our money. With foolishness, corruption, stupidity, feathering the nest and desires for greater control of citizenry. The only way to combat that effectively is to make government EARN every dime they take in in revenue. They need to be sweating every day where the cash is coming from....not printing money or raising taxes. It's our money god dammit and someone should be looking out for it.

There is good news,CB,once again-hopefully for good this time.The era of big government is over (come this Nov).The TEA party and American has had enough of "fundamental change"

Look at the recent Gallup Poll'

According to a December Gallup poll, the number of people who say that �big government� is the greatest threat to the country has risen from 55 percent when Obama took office to 72 percent today � the highest that number has ever been in 50 years of polling. For the next quarter century, whenever a liberal politician proposes some new, big-government program, all conservatives will have to say to discredit it is: �It�s just another Obamacare.�

I don't believe conservatism is in ascendancy, but maybe you were thinking the divide is brought into focus by those who benefit from division?

King, I honestly can't stand, but don't mind your implication that the answer to funding services falls on the shoulders of less and less. A larger population would only mean to me, a larger tax base, not burden. There needs to be the will to let them contribute, not fake the numbers.

No, the left and the right are not converging on the same course. Politicians may all take the course of politicians, but their ideologies might not be vaguely commingled.

I'm not making an enemy of Bill, heck I'd probably work with him if he had business in my neck of the woods. But no, his focus is quite different than mine and he presents himself in a way that I appreciate. Maybe you were stereotyping me as a one issue kind of fellow. What's wrong with a little cordial honesty.

I don't mind your list of 'improvements', but as usual, figuring what an improvement is could be a whole other can of worms. Even if he's not my guy, couldn't I hope for real improvements.

James, I said here years ago that our shooting future will be unrecognizable from what it is now in my lifetime. When I joined the board, I related a story of my oldest hunting buddy---now 97---saying "King, we've seen the best of it." You're absolutely correct: anti-gunners are playing the long-game; history is on their side. Communities around here see us as dinosaurs, patiently waiting for us to die. They've the numbers.

The best protection of our gun rights are what we represent to our communities as citizens. Bill's post above didn't suggest accommodation and was more of our not projecting the sort of behaviour exhibited here that makes us all look like lunatics. Migod, James, I'm hoping to see you in Nova Scotia before your son's off to school in the fall, you a true Blue Tory and me a mostly-left radical. What kind of people put hatred before friendship?

Which is kind of your way of saying, more wisely and generously, "If one day I heard an approach that actually represented reasonable, fact-based accommodation from both sides, I'd be all for it." Exactly. Same here. (Two more now on the extremists' enemy list!) Thank you.

King, it is likely that you, me, Keith, Dave, Craig and everyone else who is a member of the DGBB would like to end the discussion of gun rights. We only have it because they are under attack.

If we could be left alone, secure with the knowledge that agreements had been reached that end the discussion and let us reasonably pursue our sporting gun aims and our differing requirements for self defense, I think we'd all sign on. But I won't be holding my breath as reasonable accommodation isn't what the anti gun crowd are after.

I was disappointed you seemed to have made Bill a de facto enemy. Pleased to read otherwise. Where there is lock-step unanimity, watch out. As I said very early on---and was jumped on---dissent is the gospel. Jesus used it to turn the Roman world upside-down.

I can't think of a country in a left-turn. Russia and China may be communist but their systems are a familiar form of modernization that accepts all the benefits of global integration without giving up their ideological control over their peoples. As someone posted here today, we don't see anyone running to Cuba or Venezuela.

I don't believe the tax burden falls on fewer citizens---if that's what you mean by less and less. The tax system has become so distorted by special interests---money talks, as it always has---that it has lost the capacity to redistribute. As The Economist editors reported, far from reducing inequality, the modern state is making the problem worse.

They said: "If you put spending and taxes together, including all the deductions, the government lavishes more dollars overall on the top fifth of the income distribution than the bottom fifth. " You can argue entitlements with authors Micklethwait and Wooldridge, Brits who don't have dogs in the fight. However you cut it, the rich are getting the cream.

Finally, after all these years and hundreds of your posts, I've a fairly good picture of you. You don't fit a stereotype. You're not of a monotonous regularity. You tease a bit, fool around with words but I've always felt you're honest and curious about other views. And, yes, my notions of improvements must be different from others because of our different cultures and experience.

We rarely get final answers on these things in a lifetime.

You know what kind of behavior makes you look like a lunatic King? Getting caught in a lie, and trying to use another lie to explain it away... then getting busted for that when some uncivil cretin does the unthinkable and proves that you were lying by reproducing your exact words. So then you resort to flailing and attempting to descredit them. When you get called out yet again with proof positive... you cut and run.

See pages 14 and 15 of the "Is King Brown an Anti-gunner" thread to see this brand of lunacy on full display. Game over King. Your bullshit isn't going to fly anymore. I'm sure you understand since there's no unanimity in anything. And wouldn't this be a boring place if we all agreed with your lies!

How about that, every now and then I mention 'lock-step', with the direct or implied thought to 'watch out'. Oh, and that's dissent with an asterisk. What if a 'do nuth'in GOP'er' were a crook sitting outside your house. What would you prefer, that they 'do nothing', or break in and steal just a little. Well, some would pick 'c', belittle them.

I believe it's come to mind before, but why cut at the crumbs of the lower eighty percent. Maybe, I think my crumbs are just a-okay with....me. If everyone was entitled to cream, who's gonna change the tires on your pickup when it's time for a new set. Who's gonna be that female whitehouse staffer that settles for less pay than the fellows, because she wants to.

Remember, I'm first in line when 'The Life-n-Times of KB' comes out, in paperback, but you still might not get me to read it.

We won't be left alone. I can't recall any time in the Age of Public Activism---I just made that term up; since the 60s-- that a majority hasn't imposed its will negatively or positively. We're a minority. I live in prime hunting habitat where no home lacked a a rifle and shotgun; today I doubt there's guns other than mine on the 10km of our road off the Trans Canada Highway. None of my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren have the slightest interest.

There will never be security of what gun rights we have now. How could there? Those who have power always use it. We atavistically bully the different, the weak and take pleasure in putting them in their place. Robust institutions we once relied on for trust, justice and strength abjure to majorities. We weaken ourselves by arbitrarily making castes of warriors within our tent. The anti-gun crowd only has to wait. They'll accommodate no one.

My criticism of our movement has been mostly of the bickering among ourselves. If truth be known, the bickering and nastiness has less do do with who is or isn't anti-gun. An anti-gunner on an international board has a gnat's eyelash of influence. The festering-boil nastiness is more about how members think of each other politically, the old-fashioned and unintelligent political posturing, using the board to further political interests. More castes: the good and the untouchables, liberals and conservatives.

Holding our current gun rights would be a great achievement. Doing what we're doing, there's no evidence of it ever happening. Being under attack is no excuse for it. We're always under attack. We will always be under attack. Only by being together regardless of our opinions can we anticipate holding on to our gun rights within our lifetimes---all bets off after that.

Craig, I think guys who write of their adventures are full of it. My dear Mom used to say, "Did you write it down? That's a wonderful story." I wrote nothing down of a long life of minor misdemeanours. Reporting is history on the fly anyway. I've already turned down an honorary degree from a reputable university for my reporting. I've told my children I'd turn down the Order of Canada---our country's highest honour---if it were offered. There are many others more deserving when they're handing out these things. Many don't deserve them; it's all campaigns and politics. So there won't be a book that you won't read!