Well, my last sentence had a pretty harsh tone, but your message really did come across as being pretty condescending. You spoke of the Reagan supporters in your school as being “rich kids echoing the view of Mommy and Daddy while going to school on their dime.” That, plus your description of Reagan as being so stupid that you felt sorry for other leaders who had to deal with him, and your ending comment where you wished for a lower IQ so you could believe otherwise…
When I was younger, I felt the same way about Liberals. I finally figured out that the first step towards real understanding is to give your opponent enough credit to see that they have actual reasons for believing the way they do, that those reasons make sense (at least to them), and that sometimes they are even right. There were and are great, brilliant men in the United States in both the Republican and Democratic camps. If you’re a Democrat, you would do well to try to understand the viewpoint of some of the Republicans. And start with the assumption that they are just as smart and educated as you are, until proven otherwise.
Anyway, at least we can agree on John Prine. Great artist. Keep spreading the Prine gospel.
“There’s a hole in Daddy’s arm, where all the money goes…”
One of my great pleasures is that my best buddy at work is extremely conservative politically, and very religious (as opposed to my atheism). Fortunately, the demands of my job are such that we are able to enjoy many in-depth discussions. One time I actually thought I’d gone a little too far, and he said, “Heck, anytime you’re talking about religion and don’t use the work ‘mindfuck’ I think you’re being pretty mild.” Good to have friends like that. Of course, I sometimes get into trouble because, we enjoy such spirited discussions without taking any offense, that I am often surprised when other people take extreme offense at some of my far milder observations. But the one thing we both disfavor, is people who profess strong opinions on an issue that they seem to have little grasp on.
Fortunately or unfortunately, I have taken very little interest in politics for some time now. A couple of things happened where it became so clear that it was impossible to get unbiased info about some really basic things. And you see from the preceding thread how effectlvely folks can argue past each other by simply putting their desired twist on any facet of such issues. So I still vote, but I put all of my efforts into matters where I can attain some mastery and have some effect - like my family, or my garden. Any interest in political matters for me now is extremely local, like the zoning request down the block or the proposed school referendum.
BTW, none of this is intended to take anything away from my unquestionable brilliance.
I think presidents should be measured by how little damage they do, too bad they cant be measured because of biased people like above. The last president ill give credit for doing anything is the one that copied the interstate road from the germans.