Every word of it, Rob.

You see, I don't see the world in terms of good and evil, or a conflict between right and wrong, like I suspect TB, and in fact, conservatives do. I see the world in terms of process. I see people and organizations trying to prosper and avoid disaster. They will always tend to do what they feel is best for them.

I also believe most people think of themselves as good and decent. They don't necessarily want to hurt anyone. It's not that we have some spiritual tendency to be that way, but out of sheer practicality and experience, people (and organizations) know that maintaining goodwill and a reputation for fairness and honesty is good for business in the long run.

The problem is that these two human properties are often in conflict, and people have an enormous capacity for self-deception: they will convince themselves that what is best for them is really best for everyone else, and when they find their interests don't coincide with those of others, they can only conclude that those others are evil, while they are obviously virtuous. Those who don't grasp this dynamic will forever find themselves in conflict with others, and in conflict with themselves, and sooner or later they will lose, because the world doesn't care about good and evil. It just happens.

Evil does exist, as do villains. The problem is that no one ever sees himself as a villain, what WE do is always good, always fair, not just you or I or TB, but Hitler and Stalin and Sarah Palin, and Barack Obama, too. Yes, sometimes we have to fight to protect ourselves from our enemies, I'll grant you that. But as long as we see ourselves as inevitably virtuous, and our enemies as consciously evil, we will never be able to fully understand them. And if we don't understand them, we will always underestimate them. This is what I feel is the biggest flaw in conservative thought, not differences in government or economic policy. They see the world in black and white, and they are always white. So when things don't go their way, it must be some conspiracy at fault.

And since despite our best intentions, conflict will occur sooner or later, in any close conflict, if you do not understand your opponent on a psychological level, the only way you can hope to defeat him is if he's just as stupid as you are.

So what part of my post do you think I'm just making up?

That simple supply and demand, while undoubtedly a verifiable mechanism, is an overly simplistic view and highly misleading explanation of the way markets work?

That drug companies (or any business, for that matter), would be more likely to invest in expensive development projects that promised higher returns than in those with limited profit potential?

That conservatives, as do all partisan observers, tend to selectively publicize those facts that support their preconceptions while deftly minimizing or even ignoring those that contradict them?

That people involved in highly complex and abstract financial manipulations are essentially parasites that produce nothing of intrinsic value? (You do realize I'm not talking about loaning money to businessmen so they can expand capacity and hire new workers, but some of the abstruse voodoo crap we've been seeing on Wall Street over the last few years.)

No doubt, they don't feel that way about it, they are probably sincerely convinced what they are doing is not only "good" but good for everyone else. I don't really expect them to believe anything else, but I don't have to agree with them.

History, and the world, is not a moral contest. It's a process, much like digestion. And until you understand that, not only will you be condemned to see life as a constant conspiracy out to get you, but your efforts to protect yourself and prosper will always be inadequate and counter-productive. Conservatives always strike me as the kind of people who don't take any shit from inanimate objects.