Like it or not we are indoctrinated. Religion and politics are two or the most prominent examples of this. It takes a certain kind of person to move outside your own mind, if you will, and take a fresh and unbiased look at some of these subjects.

I don't mean this to suggest that this makes one superior in any way. I am simply speaking about a fact. You can't evaluate religion without moving outside of it for your evaluation. As an atheist I had to move outside the indoctrination of nearly to decades of growing up in the christian faith in order to see it differently.

And so, as we evaluate and discuss politics you'll come across people who --no matter what-- are attached to an ideology and there's nothing you can do to change that. They have to choose to open their minds to a conversation and an honest evaluation of where they stand.

In many ways Romney was absolutely right in stating that 47% of voters will vote for Obama no matter what. What he neglected to say is that, for other reasons, 47% will vote for him no matter what. Those of us in the middle can be tough bunch because we don't buy into the indoctrination and dare to want to look at the facts every so often.

I am certainly not right about everything and I know that some of my opinions might be critically flawed in many ways. I've always appreciated learning from others --and I have, a lot.