I've been informed that I am a very unwelcome guest, and that I am no longer allowed to stay. I won't try to stay and post where I'm unwanted. I simply came here to show some conservatives how much they actually do have in common with their brothers on the left, and that none of this is as black and white as people think it is. Sorry for any trouble I caused.
Before you go:
I have been rather busy the past day or so and have had the occasion to read, but not to comment upon your posts.
You seem like a reasonable and generally thoughtful person.
There is no litmus test for "acceptable opinions" at this site of which I am aware, and if there were, I would spend my time elsewhere.
I happen to agree with your assessment that there are common interests and beliefs around which people on the Left and Right can come together. The increasing polarization, in our time, between Americans of differing opinions is symptomatic of a political culture driven not by citizens or statesmen, but by schemers for whom division is a means to their ends.
That is not to say our differences do not matter; only that they are subject to charismatic manipulation and emotional appeal, as opposed to rational discourse. Reasonable people may disagree about a host of matters. But the very thing that makes them "reasonable" is the adherence to standards of thought and behavior inherent in a society that values reason, as opposed to mysticism or force.
From my vantage point, I think that Americans across the spectrum who still value reason might well agree on propositions such as:
-Our government has grown too powerful and invasive of individual liberty and privacy;
-Our political leaders have set themselves apart from the people in create special favors, exemptions and "carve-outs" for themselves, while exposing the citizenry to oppressive laws and regulations whose tentacles will never reach the redoubts of those who imposed them;
-Our culture has devolved into a state where serial personal irresponsibility and moral relativism reign, and our personal connections to one another are less a function of familial and community bonds than of anonymous Internet intercourse.
-Our political parties increasingly represent not us, but the permanent power structures in Washington.
There are other examples, but I'll leave it at that for the purposes of semi-brevity. We may disagree on causes and solutions, but I still believe that they are more likely to be discovered by open debate and discourse than by atomization and retreat into our increasingly uncomfortable "comfort zones".
Your move.
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