Grandpa,

I agree with the thrust of this article. What we are seeing is the classic case of divide and conquer. The Political Action groups, whether they be political parties or PAC's tend to give with one hand and take away with the other. A couple of examples:

The GOP fervently protects 2nd Amendment rights (good for hunters) while sysematically dismantling environmental safeguards (bad for the animals we hunt).

Washington Trout advocates on behalf of the wild fish (good for fishermen) while seemingly seeking to restrict fishing opportunity through the closure of hatcheries (clearly bad for the fishermen).

That is why all of these issues become so contentious. The line between support and opposition to a particular group is so very fine. When I say that at this point I support WT's efforts, it really means that the scale is balanced about 55% to 45%. I wish it were easy enough to analyze a group and their activities, maybe throw a judgement of liberal/conservative on them and go happily down the road feeling that "I've got it right". Unfortunately, all of these groups, whether they be Political parties or Action groups seem to do this on purpose. They all have an agenda, sometimes the agenda can be perceived as radical, and they seek to give their individual supporters just enough so their core is kept solid. And as far as they are concerned, that 55% to 45% that I mentioned above is enough.

I have seen that the polarization of our society is becoming more pronounced. There is so much noise out there (talk radio, internet, e-mail, advertising, etc.). So many of the noisemakers try to make things black and white. However, when you peel away the top layer of the onion, it just gets grayer and grayer.

Long-winded to be sure, I will probably continue to generally support the environmental groups (Sierra Club, Washington Trout, Mountaineers) but I do not do it as a robot. I will always try to look at the complete agenda and then make my decision. But, I realize that my decision of support or non will very often be a fine line. Gone are the days when the enemies were clear and the good guys always wore a white hat.