I always tell people this story about my dad and his politics. I was well into my late 20s, maybe even my early 30s and I voted one night. We were definitely raised in a politically aware home and voting was always very important to my folks.

I have never failed to vote in the general election and I have only missed a handful of midterms in my life. I cannot vote in the primaries because I am a registered independent and it is illegal in the state of Pennsylvania for an independent to participate in either a Democratic or Republican primary.

Anyway, the one night, long before our kids arrived on the scene, my wife was traveling for business and I was all by myself. My parents live about 20 minutes away and I'm not as good as I should be about just popping in. That night, I was already out so I decided to pick up dinner and surprise them.

I walked in and of course they were happy to see me and they were surprised. And then, the first words out of my dad's mouth were, "Did you remember to vote?"
I told him of course I did and then he asked, "Who did you vote for?"

There aren't many secrets in my home – never were.

There were four candidates on the ballot that night and I told him I voted for three Republicans and a Democrat.

He looked down in complete disgust and mumbled under his breath, "liberal."

I just laughed, but he was dead serious. In fact, that is precisely why I laughed.

When that guy thinks you've gone too far, you need to reevaluate. There's a difference between conservatism and extremism.