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Politics : View from the Center and Left
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To: Dale Baker who wrote (50914)2/29/2008 7:39:34 AM
From: Bearcatbob  Read Replies (4) of 542681
 
"Horse puckey. We have really stopped valuing a nation with a diversity of opinion, thanks to our zero-sum political world. Time to stand up for something better."

Participation on this board has caused me to ponder the divide between us to see what it is that causes all of the angst.

From my perspective on the right I see three broad categories of leftist opposition. I believe the same three categories exist on the right from the perspective of someone on the other side.

First, there is the principled opposition. My wife and her brothers fall into this category. They have simply looked at the same facts and have drawn different conclusions. They are hard working people who have no illusions about free lunch.

The next group is the ones I consider "looney" - for me it means the "looney" left. These are people with good hearts, good intentions and absolutely no idea of how the world physically works (spoken from the eyes of a chemical engineer). I sometimes think they do not realize that oil comes from wells - wells that must be drilled, gasoline comes from refineries - refineries that must be built and metals come from mines and smelters that similarly must be built. They largely have an assumption that wealth is there to be harvested. GW warming enthusiasts who think we can revert to levels significantly below 1980 levels fall into this category. Here I often wonder if their positions are for expediency or simple lack of understanding and an over whelming desire to a lot of the right thing.

The next and more extreme are the hate wings of each side. These people believe they have to destroy the other person or other ideas to achieve their goal. For example, for the hate wing of the left it is not enough to say Bush made a mistake in going to Iraq it is imperative that they prove he and everyone else associated with the decision lied. Another example of the hate wing in action is the demonization of profitable businesses. To the hate wing the profits are not a result of good business and hard work - the profits are the plundering of the poor. I could go on.

But Dale is right - the demonization process is the bane of our current situation. Barack Obama offers the hope of changing this and this IMO is why I believe he is succeeding. However, as I listen to more and more of his speeches I fear he may be firmly grounded in the looney category of the opposition. Further, his recent distortion of the 100 yr. statement by John McCain is beneath him.

Anyway - FWIW.

Bob
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