This below image is still my favorite illustration of why political debates cannot be won and why there is no one "right" answer... only beliefs and opinions. political debates have not changed since the early days of civilization itself. Plato and others debated the very same issues 2400 years ago with no greater success than people have in the year 2003. the same concerns, the same fears, the same theories, the same worries, the same predictions of how it will all go wrong if we continue down the path of "XYZ".... the same emotions and the same confusing of opinion with fact.
Yet here we are. still going strong. never perfect as no country is, but clearly doing ok.
We live in a Democratic Republic that is a system of agreement built on dissagreement. there is no right or wrong between Democrats and Republicans. there is only successful and unsuccessful debate. the winning argument does not have to be "right". ask OJ. It amazes me that people can believe they are right and everyone else is wrong. its probably rational behavior... but its very illogical. it is self comforting i guess and part of a process of self affirmation, that serves to fortify the walls of beliefs that we build around ourselves that protect us from having to carefully weigh and consider an overwhelming amount of information and make an incalculable number of decisions everyday. easier to just tow the party line and take the good with the bad.... afterall, for any shot fired at either party, there is always something to fire back. Much easier to argue about nothing and use mindless rhetoric about which President can't spell and which lied under oath than to argue about something as massively complicated as financial markets, economies, macro-economics and global politics.
Anyone that thinks they are "right" in their views or political opinions or beliefs are acting logically and probably normally... but i think that the reality is that if you cannot allow yourself to see both sides as objectively as possible, then it cannot be logical to conclude that your views or opinions are more correct than others. The magic of the system we have however is that it fully takes this into account and in the end, it is the ranting of those at opposite ends of the spectrum that allow us to define the center.
Colin and i are very similar in our political views. We understand and agree on the need for Republicans and Democrats. But i think we both place our faith in the system, not individuals. Its the system itself, that has worked extraordinarilly well since its beginning and continues to work well. If you took a micro view of the system you would see a lot you dont agree with and a lot of things you think should be changed. Step back and take a look at the system as a whole and you see an economic and political system that has created the worlds only super power and the worlds strongest economy. it has not functioned perfectly all the time... but it has proven to be incredibly resilient, self correcting and effective.
to argue that "republicans are better because..." or "democrats are better because..." is just silly. if the arguement was strong enough for either statement, they would be in power indefinately.
Last edited by JR at Apr 27 2003, 10:43 PM