# Debating with yourself
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debating-with-yourself/740722
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 17, 2015, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debating-with-yourself/740722 "2015-12-17T19:45:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2015, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debating-with-yourself/740722/1 "2015-12-17T19:45:42Z")
I find my self constantly debating with myself on various social and economic issues. Sometimes to the point where I do lists of pros and cons or accept don’t accept. I have very often found myself in disagreement with my political party on varius issues but never to the point where I considered swithching sides so had no real need to list things and weigh one against the other.
Times have really changed, I feel there is a large group of us in the middle who could go either way. What I am seeing in the GOP right now just defies logic. Where are the moderates? Why aren’t they stepping up?
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debating-with-yourself/740722/2 "2015-12-17T19:49:50Z")
If you debate with yourself, eventually you’ll become a master at it.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2015, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debating-with-yourself/740722/3 "2015-12-17T20:01:39Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#):
>
> What I am seeing in the GOP right now just defies logic. Where are the moderates? Why aren’t they stepping up?
And follow who? Moderate Republican voters like myself are waiting for a moderate Republican candidate we can support. George Pataki might have been it but his campaign went nowhere. So once again, moderate Republicans will have to make the choice between a moderate Democrat and a conservative Republican.
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### Author:  [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2015, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debating-with-yourself/740722/4 "2015-12-18T03:44:11Z")
I read the Title as “Debasing yourself”…which I seem to do quite regularly. Like every time I wake up…
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### Author:  [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2015, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debating-with-yourself/740722/5 "2015-12-18T13:41:53Z")
Can you clarify your question, please? What do you mean by “Why aren’t they stepping up”? What do you want to see moderates doing that they’re not? Coalescing around a moderate candidate? Publicly denouncing Donald Trump? Running for president?
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### Author:  [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debating-with-yourself/740722/6 "2015-12-18T14:00:15Z")
I heard someone on a show yesterday talking about something he’s heard from a couple of folks in the house, they are talking about a brokered convention and Paul Ryan was who they were talking about putting up.
I have no idea whether this is actually true, but I think it’s good to question yourself on important matters.
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### Author:  [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2015, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debating-with-yourself/740722/7 "2015-12-18T14:20:58Z")
To change the subject a bit, the primaries are what led to extreme polarization. They were supposed to democratize the political process, but have been a failure. One reason is the small turnout, but I don’t think it is just that. When I see how the two stage process in France has beaten back the extreme nationalists, I realize that is a much healthier system. Or maybe the Australian instant runoff, which can be done automatically by a voting machine.
As for debating with yourself, that is one thing that W was proud of never doing. And you see where that got us. Another word for debating with yourself is “thinking”.