[quote]Headhunter wrote:
What is it that you use to constantly review your assumptions and information?
You, like most libs, are a social metaphysician. This means that you wait for others to name your assumptions and information for you. Since they, like you, are too cowardly to form their own judgments, they lurk around and finally announce: “There ARE no objective standards. All morality is relative. Everything is relative!” — not realizing that they are finally making an absolute judgment.
You do not understand how a human mind works. We spend childhood inductively, with reason as our guide. We then form axioms and use these deductively, to form judgments and opinions, provided that the person had the courage to think (which most libs don’t). Look at the opening line of the Declaration of Independence : ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident…’ The Founding Fathers are stating AXIOMS, because they were rational men.
I appear as stupid and evil to you because I have the courage to make statements about what is wrong or right. Because you have no axioms, except that there are none, you have no values. Someone with values must then appear as ‘wrong’ to you.
So I end with how I began this post…what do you use to review your assumptions and information?
HH[/quote]
Oh please, you make it sound like liberals are a bunch of moral relativists and sophists. Like we have no values at all. Dude, are you INSANE!? Don’t you know WHY we want a basic level of opportunity and general well-being for the populace? it’s not because we want to quit our jobs and get in line at the welfare office, it’s because we have through reason and logic deduced that it would result in greater public good! We aren’t environmenalists because we own stock in Jimmy’s solar cell company, it’s because less pollution is a good thing and needs to be implimented when there’s a viable alternative technology that isn’t prohibitively expensive. Anti-trust laws and minimum wages are IMPORTANT in a society that doesn’t wish to see huge numbers of people living in abject poverty.
There are things in this world that make moral sense to me, and that I can use reason to justify paying for. Sure, I’d love to pay no taxes, but I realize that there are important things that the money goes for, like to protect our national security, educate our population, etc. Hspder has summed this whole axiom nonsense pretty nicely, please refer to that.
As to what I use to constantly re-evaluate my assumptions about reality, I use a constant influx of new information, critical thinking to analyze that information, and a variety of reasoning techniques and thought processes INCLUDING Sophism, Deconstructionism, Moral Relativism, etc. (using a Sophism or Moral Relativism tool as but one tool of reasoning does not make you a Sophist or a Moral Relativist - it makes you thorough), but when it comes down to it, when I’ve had my fill of mental masterbation, and its time to make a moral decision, I go with my gut. I constantly analyze what my gut is telling me, but I usually come to the same logical conclusion that my gut has, and in the end, one has to do what one thinks and feels is right. “To thine own self, be true.”
I have NEVER called you evil, and only implied that you were foolish (not stupid), but I’m coming to the conclusion that you are just a sad, small, selfish, petty little man who bases his political decisions on his knee-jerk responses to the sophistry preached by selfish, petty little leaders, that they use soley for their own personal gain.
I’m not saying Democrats are perfect. I’m not saying there aren’t some in the party out only for themsleves. What I AM saying is that the values that we collectively share are POSITIVE values, ones that are right in line with the constitution and declaration of independence. Truths that we hold to be self-evident, and have come to individually through our own personal growth and thought. Sharing in these values has allowed us to accomplish a great many things in this nation - we have protected a great many natural resources for genrations to enjoy. We have incredible libraries, some incredible schools (and many which could be a lot better, sadly), amazing art and science museums (as well as amazing artists and scientists, of which we desperately need more), and in some places, efficient mass transit, all of which are paid for by the general public, and all of which contribute to a greater good. This society we live in is AMAZING, and I gladly pay my part for that. I’d gladly pay more to make it even better.
If you don’t want to pay taxes, bucko, tough. Your party is spending even more money than mine, and we’re not getting as much for it. If you really think that a government and a society can function without taxes, you’re nuts. If you just want personal exemption, well, I think you may be just as sad and petty as I thought you to be.
I hope you read this carefully - I know its a lot, but I think there’s a small amount of truth and wisdom in there somewhere. I can’t be totally sure that what I’ve said is right, but it feels right, and that’s about the best I can hope for. Seriously, read through it again. Read what Hspder said in his last post too. Then think about it for a day, think about the assumptions you have about life in general, and then come back and explain to me what you think, WHY you think it, and how it makes you feel.
Take care.
-K