Two political junkies struck up a conversation. Jane, a staunch Republican well known in state politics, told me she had enjoyed watching NC SPIN on television for many years. “I liked the way you had people expressing different opinions without getting ugly or disagreeable,” she said.

I thanked her for the compliment, adding that we had only one rule on our show — “Tom’s rule.” It said that we were southern ladies and gentlemen, and we were going to act like it. If you couldn’t, you wouldn’t come back on our show.

We reminisced that people could reside in different parts of the state, from different political parties or have other differences, yet they could still talk and listen to each other and find things upon which they could agree. It was a more civil time.

My dad, a Democrat, se

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