Why do people who do not understand political philosophy insist on posting their views here as questions?

You're absolutely right. The problem is one bad apple spoils the bunch.

All it takes a few people typing inflammatory rhetoric and nonsense and it gets everyones ire up and before you know it most of us are full of resentment for a bunch of strangers and typing garbage all over these forums and getting no where as far as convincing anyone of anything.

It's a shame, but it's human nature I'm afraid. It's especially hard to have a civilized dialogue when people have the anonymity of the Internet to protect them. I suspect if 10 or 15 of us were out for dinner together, we could have a much more thoughtful conversation, especially if we (as un-democratic as this sounds) weeded out the most infintile and ignorant rubes of the bunch who have nothing to contribute.

I agree with much of what you've said. I'm pretty sick of all this myself but I don't expect it will change. I think I just need to stay out of the politics area and stick to the other sections for the sake of my own mental health and well-being.

Your assessment that most people are moderate is wrong. Here is why.

1. When liberals run in national elections on traditional liberal positions: higher taxes, bigger government, etc, they lose.

2. When Republicans run in the same as conservatives: lower taxes and less government, they win. See 1980 and Reagan and the Contract with America in 1994.

3. Republicans were voted out because they became a party of all the things liberals are known for .

4. Political theory is just that: theory. I live in the real world and I deal in reality.

There is a big problem in the Republican party with playing politics. We need to get rid of the McCains out of the party.

I agree with most of what you say. Except that I can't make heads or tails out of your comment that "Our founding fathers were mostly conservative, but they created a liberal government." That's kind of baffling.

I do take very seriously that there are fundamental and apparently insurmountable differences between "conservatives" and "liberals" in terms of how we interpret the highest law of our land -- the Constitution. In "The Federal Courts, Politics, and the Rule of Law," by John C. Hughes (published 1995), it says:

"In the contemporary political context, those who fear conformity have tended to describe themselves as liberal and have tended to applaud judicial 'protection' of human rights. Those who fear diversity have tended to call themselves conservatives and have been appalled by judicial 'usurpation' of the majority's discretion to form the kind of community it finds most conducive to its own happiness. The former tends to approve of the expansive theories of constitutional interpretation, while the latter tends to prefer the restrained theories of judicial review. These alignments are neither perfect nor inevitable, but the debate has surely been shrill."

When you are done slapping us around with your admittedly superior intelligence & your huge ego, I will try to slip in a word here.. What part of free speech do you not understand? Everybody, no matter how ignorant or how too-smart-for-their-own-good has a right to voice an opinion, Guaran-damn-teed in the Constitution. No matter how much I want to slap them silly, they have the right. I have also learned when I think I know better than most, I quit learning.

I'm not fond of the knee jerk writing here either. So I can write off the jerks, or try to help them get my point of view. Sometimes I slip up & just slam someone who is badly asking for it. This accomplishes nothing. And sometimes someone might think, "Gee, I never thought of that". Bingo, we have one more thinking person in the world.

I can tell you what it looks like from the left side. Our party was marginalized for the last 6 years as the majority swept through a super conservative agenda that benefits the chosen few. Now I want to see things set right and see some oversight. And I want my Bill of Rights back.

It seems that now that they are now no longer in the overwhelming majority, the Republicans are talking about "working together." We shall see.

I can't imagine why you say the Founding Fathers were conservative.

They wrote 2 of the most liberal, if not radical, documents in history.

The Bill of Rights is so out there for most people that polls taken year after year show that most Americans wouldn't support it, believing it the work of Communists

The point is to spread disinformation and ultimately to persuade. The Republican strategy of endless repetition works.

You are right.

Wait until you see who they pick for best answer.