re: "Pledging Allegiance to the Center"
The center is traditionally the place filled for folks that either are uninformed and don't have an opinion or mask their true opinion and agenda - why on earth should I pledge allegiance to such a wasteland of ignorance and subterfuge?
Coins don't land on their sides alot Robert.
Thanks, I needed that. Did you consciously intend to parody a wild-eyed partisan, or did it just come out naturally that way? Lord, man...BTW, coins land on their sides in all cases, it's just that they rarely end up resting on their edges.
In any case, that metaphor only makes sense to people who live in a narrow binary world. My coin is a sphere, and the results are thus infinitely rich.
Why should I disavow the political philosophy that has made such major gains for good in the world?
I wouldn't expect you to disavow the great Western Liberal Tradition, of which Classic Republicanism is a traditional and honorable thread. I only object to this NeoRepublican model of democracy that hearkens back a lot further, to ancient Rome, when 10% of the citizens enjoyed the blessings of democracy. It's the same 10% that's represented by the modern Republican Party, and the Party at their direction is not working to strengthen democracy, by a long shot.
Try and tell me with a straight face that the Founders intended our system of self-government to be thoroughly dominated by a tiny wealthy elite. Please, explain how they'd see today's Republican "base" as fundamentally any different from the feudal lords whose power they were trying to neuter two centuries ago. Please, I could use another laugh.
Sounds like you're pledging your allegiance to those Republican extremists, though. Too bad, but I figured you for the elitist type who'd fall for their antidemocratic blandishments. You're a "rich conservative", right? Of course you don't want to share power with the unwashed masses, those who are "uninformed and don't have an opinion", here in the moderate middle; or as you call it, "a wasteland of ignorance".
Did you consciously intend to parody an elitist pig, or did it just come out naturally that way?