MMC, I appreciate the respect, and agree with you ideally it should be given and gotten by all.
I'm too old to think the world has any obligation to conform to my expectations. But it is not pie in the sky to think that this small, and intelligent group of people here - all of us - can muster enough sense to escape the trap of "argument" by label.
I've been as guilty of it as anyone, and have seen the results. We, friends who now descend on you en masse, have posted together for years, are escaping from a board where argument by label is truly the only thing left.
Here is my modest proposal: When any of us falls into the lazy man's habit - left, right, center, outer space - we call it, and move on. We can surely do better here than our $#@!s in Washington who profit by dividing the People against itself.
I trust this is a universally true statement. If you ask any of my friends if they respect what enumerated powers in a Constitution means, you will find they all do. If there is disagreement that is certainly not it.Yes I respect the Constitution. Not azzholes.
Surely, the scope of those enumerated powers is subject to good faith dispute, and that frankly is the discussion we never see played out nationally because we are too busy dismissing each other as "conservative" and "liberal."
Why shouldn't we all come to each other's aid? For a change, it would be nice to see a group of Americans come together as Americans to discuss the very serious problems we all face.But are you looking to come to another's aid? Seems you are about treating people with respect. So you will fit in nicely.
When we got attacked on 911, United we Stand was a motto that everybody understood. Is it any less true when the division is being sown from within?