But I decided it would be arrogant and insulting to say that you found it incapable of figuring those things out for yourself.

I actually do believe that, I just think it would be bad manners to tell someone that publicly, in front of strangers.

"You haven't thought your politics through" You arrogant self-important little snit. Who the hell do you think you are? What makes you think you might just not be guilty of a wee bit of that yourself? Has it ever occurred to you that anyone dripping with that much certainty might very well be just a little bit mistaken himself? What gives you the right to appoint yourself as anyone elses instructor in Moral Philosophy?

Listen up. Politics is not an intellectual or philosophical, or even moral Gordian Knot. Beware of anyone who suggests it is, he's trying to sell you something. Politics is public administration, and economics is just business management. Other than a little accounting and Supply and Demand, the rest is just theory, and even that's in dispute. Anything that works fairly smoothly that doesn't piss off too many people is probably OK, in fact, its probably the best you can hope for, providing it can be occasionally modified without too much trouble. And you don't need an advanced analytical mind to know when you're being sodomized by a bully. People pick up on that real quick all by themselves. They don't need it explained to them, and certainly not by the likes of you.

There is no book of holy rules, no commandments or parables, no set of guiding principle, no saints or dieties, no laws of physics. Its mostly common sense, and like those management hygiene self-help paperbacks you see at Yuppie bookstores, its mostly made up of equal parts of the obvious and the unprovable.

Its when people start talking about Principle, Morality, the Founding Fucking Fathers, the Flag, Patriotism, Freedom, Liberty and Enterprise and all those other words that need not be in uppercase, that you have to worry. That's when you know someone's selling something, and when you should make sure your wallet is in your front pocket.

Don't you dare lecture me on my inability to think for myself. I think I'm smarter than you, and I know I'm happier.