[Rhodes22-list] Politics

Bill Berner bberner@optonline.net
Wed, 30 Oct 2002 22:48:37 -0500


I'm finding the tone of this conversation pretty ugly, and I'm just
about ready to check out of here, myself.

The folks with the more conservative bent who have been commenting, seem
to like to suggest that, thanks to them only, we with more liberal
leanings have the right to be wrong.  The comment has been made in such
a derisive and dismissive manner as to be insulting.  There is clearly
no interest in dialog, or reaching common ground.  One might have hoped
that events of the last year or so would have shown how dangerous and
destructive un-nuanced thinking can be, and what it can lead too.

I might add that dissent has also been a very powerful aid to the cause
of freedom in this country.  Dissent was crucial in moving the country
away from racial and sexual discrimination, and ending a devastating
military folly in South East Asia.  Dissent helped to end sweat shops
and promote unionism at a time when workers were truly abused (however
some may feel about unions today.  Many of the things that are taken for
granted today were tremendously advanced by the left before the middle
adopted them and made them the status quo.

Regarding my take on the gun control issue itself - 

The US has extremely liberal (no pun intended) laws regarding gun
ownership in the world.  It also has one of the highest murder rates in
the "civilized" world.  To think that these things are completely
unrelated seems to my as unreasonable as to think that if guns were
outlawed the problem would be solved.  An automobile can be a lethal
weapon when used recklessly or improperly, just as a gun can.  In fact,
the purpose of a gun is to actually destroy things, even if only a
target at its most benign, while the purpose of an automobile is quite
different.  But it's easier to get a gun license than a drivers license.
That seems to me to be a paradox of a pretty high order.

Bill Berner
191 South Broadway
Hastings on Hudson, NY  10706

v 914 478 2896
f 914 478 3856


-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces@rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces@rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of
R22RumRunner@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2002 8:53 PM
To: rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Politics

Gee Roger, you need to move to a better group of people. Nobody drinks
except 
on New Year's Eve? Where I come from they are know as rookies. Real
drunks 
don't go out on New Years, it's too dangerous.

Rummy :)
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