I agree. Both about the debate/discussion and about the "cross polination" of ideas and beliefs.
I never intended to make it a "debate" in terms of "winning or losing!" If we can have a civil, respectful exchange, and we can see the other's point of view, even without agreing with it, we are both winners.
And, I apologize if I have mistaken you for a strong GOP type. I assume (please correct me if I am wrong), that you are more a liberterian type. . .
Remember what I wrote earlier about "Commons?" This is an alternative to both the system you advocate for, and the system I advocate (at least to this day) for: it is a system that holds THREE legs of the stool in equal respect and responsibility (the market, the government and the people as a community MADE UP of individuals, with individual rights that are greatly enhanced by the common rights). Where the government would provide the services that individuals cannot obtain on his own (i.e., big projects, infrastructure, research, protection, etc. .) while the market would be focus on enhancing not the INDIVIDUAL greed, but the individual and communal well being and prosperity, and where the people would be equal partner in making decisions for the good of EVERYONE, protecting the weak, and encouraging the strong, supporting everyone's special abilities, but not neglecting those whose abilities are not "quantifiable," to obtain a BALANCE between the three legs of the stool.
Utopia? Maybe. But it certainly doesn't require ANYONE to be hurt!
