And always have been. You are willing to engage in a reasonable way an I love that about you and always have. Because you've always been unfailing about that. Your response (as always) was well thought out, reasonable and it took time to write it and you showed respect. I appreciate that I really do. What you said is a lot to unpack and it will take me some time to address each point but thank you for opening the door to me. I will address each point but without going to far yet I think I should address my history and how I think first.
I am not sure how old you are but I grew up in the 60's in a college town in Ohio. My father was a businessman there and when Vietnam happened we saw the protests and riots and I remember my dad being upset that people were throwing bricks and such through his storefronts. I didn't thoroughly understand it at the time because I was young but my Dad and I would watch the war news on TV and I didn't understand that either but my dad kinda did and he said this is why the kids uptown are lashing out and it isn't their fault. Everybody is angry and we need to settle it somehow.
My Dad was a very astute conservative but he did not support that war at all and he always had empathy for democratic thought. In other words even though he was more conservative in his time he had many friends that leaned further left and everything was a matter of give and take for both sides. They all hated that war for all the right reasons and the war itself was a complete failure in government terms and everyone agreed but nobody won. The whole thing was unnecessary just as we are seeing now with Putin.
As I grew older I developed my own thinking but as an older white mostly conservative male I seem to be automatically portrayed as a racist, bigoted white supremecist and nothing could be further from the truth. But the left just wants to hammer hammer that day after day and so it is where I am. And I am pissed about that.
As just a way of giving you my personal history as far as how my own mind developed politically I will introduce you to two of the strongest political minds from each side (in my mind) of those times and doing it together. They will both admit mistakes made and also agree that they learned from it.
Thank you for your so well written response and give me a little time to address each point but for now this video may help you to understand me better. I am somewhere between these two men who (I believe) over time became closer to the center themselves
