(03-01-2019, 01:49 PM)copycat Wrote:

(03-01-2019, 08:44 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: So I know Trump has repealed a lot of regulations.   Are there any regulations in particular that he has repealed that are your favorites?   I mean, what regulations do you most appreciate his repealing?  

Also, what do you think will be the end result of our running trillion dollar deficits?   How do you see the end game there?   My opinion: we will eventually have to monetize the debt, and that will cause hyperinflation.  

From your answer to #4, it seems like you see your role here as bolstering your fellow conservatives, and definitely not changing anyone's mind.  I would encourage you to go over to the liberal echo chamber at the Huffington post, and talk to those extreme left wing socialist progressives in the comments.  They are really clueless, and in dire need of some basic facts.  We need to defend capitalism.  I think you'd do a lot more good over there than you can do here.  Do it gently.  On this message board, you are only bolstering half a dozen people.  You're wasting your horsepower.  Over there, you can actually engage with thousands of extreme left wing progressives.    

I really miss William F Buckley.  He brought an intellectual rigor to the political debate.  Now, it's all just low-grade simplistic talking points.

That would never work.  The extremes on both sides have their minds made up and nothing is going to change that.  I have attempted to discuss things in a civil matter on sites like that, most recently the Covington Catholic incident.  Even with video evidence dispelling the "kid taunts native American" notion there was no changing their minds.

I don't think you can change anyone's mind right off the bat, but you can plant a seed that will lead them to a more reasonable position in the future.  Especially if you approach them in a mild manner.   

Obviously, you never change anyone's mind by opposing and attacking them.   All you do is back them into a corner and make them defensive.  There's an old saying, "No one ever wins an argument."  

I think if we're ever going to overcome the polarization in this country, we have to be willing to engage each other in a polite, open-minded way.  I don't mean that you have to try to adopt the other person's viewpoint.  What I mean by "open-minded" is that we give the other person credit for sincerity, and try to understand why they feel the way they do.

---