Thanks for the kind words. I can say the same, when we first started debating I had you pegged for a "Con", but you surprised me with some open minded comments of your own and have earned my respect, even if, as you said, we often disagree....
Thanks for the kind words yourself.
BTW, if I am still here over the next few years, I bet you will see me butt heads with cons on the economy...especially the Trumpbots who think he can do no wrong (just as I did with the Obamabots). I think Trump is almost clueless about macroeconomics - especially his crazy tariff ideas. Plus, he is planning to stimulate the economy - just like Obama did. And I will be disagreeing with that as well.
And when the unemployment numbers come out and the Trumpbots start to take credit for them - even though the same people were knocking Obama for the exact same numbers - I will be putting down those numbers.
My point is, that I have no political loyalty at all.
In fact, I was a die hard liberal for years when I was young. But then I learned the hard way that THE GOVERNMENT CAN NEVER BE TRUSTED - no matter which party is in power. Politicians are mostly awful, vacant, shallow, selfish people. And even the decent ones (like Obama) are horribly arrogant and set in their ways. And arrogance leads to ignorance.
Take Obamacare? An admirable idea to give health coverage to the millions of Americans who had none. And instead of stopping there (and it would have worked - I think) the Dems got greedy and tried to make it all things for all people (a common failure with libs). So it became a bloated whale that almost no one liked (even Bill Clinton) and was doomed to failure. Libs are too much of 'we know what you need' arrogance. While Reps are too much 'God, guns and country' nonsense.
I have said it before, government (and the Fed) should leave the economy alone, ALWAYS run a balanced budget (except during war) as politicians cannot be trusted with extra money EVER, have a tiny military with a large militia (like the Founding Fathers wanted) and help EVERYONE who needs help - not wants it - needs it. And as for guns? I have said it many times. The 2'nd Amendment is STRICTLY about the militia. If you want a gun, join the military/reserves/police. Otherwise, you should not own one.
I am not a lib or a con or a libertarian (they have some great ideas but their love of guns and hatred of welfare I TOTALLY disagree with) or anything. Heck, I even like Communism - everyone sharing everything sounds nice. But unfortunately, humanity is too selfish and greedy and easily corrupted for it to work at this time...maybe one day.
Sorry to ramble - I just wanted you to know where I actually stand.
I'd be interested on your thoughts after watching a few of these vids, approps of what we're discussing. I'm not going to pick a particular vid, there are a bunch I'll let you decide how much time you want to invest.
Jonathan Haidt swings at Dems and Cons...
Thoughts?
I will be blunt, I have a short attention span for almost everything that is not business or history or gadgets or maybe sports. 18 minute videos on other subjects are usually beyond my ability to concentrate. But I will try and watch them over a period of time and let you know what I think.
Later.