I wish our local oil guy would get in on these conversations. I think you are projecting your own view of what you think an oil company is instead of what is real. Have you ever bothered to look for yourself? Go to the company websites. Where does the money come from? Where does it go? What profits are made? What taxes are paid? What's the background of the CEO? Other officers? The top five managers of ExxonMobil are engineers, not MBAs.

As for asparagus:

A hundred fifty million people died on the altars of communism and fascism. Tell them political philosophy is all in the mind.

My philosophy states that you and I should be, as much as possible, left alone to live our lives. The Left's philosophy demands that you and I become the property of the State. These are not equivalent positions. This is not two sides of the same coin. There is a huge difference in outcome if my ideas win or if theirs do. I have nothing to gain from others from my ideas but my own freedom. The collectivist gains my life and property and yours as well.

This is not gaseous theory. Lives and nations ride on this every day. You can see it in history, and you can see it in the news.