Yeah, I follow ya. I understand the analogy, and I do see your point.
As an aside:
Quote:
We don't seek to make everyone gay pot smokers with no god
Heh, that reminds me of my friend Sebastian. My other friend Lucas and I were picking on him the other day because he's just about the only democrat we have in our group at church, so of course we pick him on him relentlessly, and the conversation went something like this:
Lucas: "Well if you had it your way, the streets would be overrun with homosexuals having abortions!"
James: "Waita minute...How are homosexuals going to have abortions?"
Lucas: "Science will find a way!"
Well...I thought it was a funny anyway.
That's interesting you say you could apply the same definition to liberals. Would it be within the realm of probability, then, to say that most of us are not quite as extremely right and left as our talking heads in the media represent us to be?
I was told recently that it seems most average people you run into, in both parties, are actually moderates. I'm beginning to see some of that myself, and I wonder if that's indeed the case. This would, again, attest that the media has greatly skewed the true nature of things.
Someone also recently brought this observation up to me, which is one I hadn't considered: On one hand, Republicans support the war (which costs lives) but oppose abortion (to save lives). Meanwhile, Democrats support abortion (which costs lives) but oppose the war (to save lives). Ironic?
I think where we hang up on these issues falls under the umbrella of whether our country, as an entity, has values of its own. I have values. You have values. But does our country have values?
If so, what are they, and how are they defined? Because if what you want legalized merely violates my values, then that's one thing, but if violates the
nation's values, it's quite another.
Personally, when I say I'm conservative, I'm not saying I resist change across the board, but merely that yes, this nation, as an entity, does have values, and that those values should be protected (conserved). Outside of the scope of that, I would say there's plenty of room for progressive change, which, by your presented definition, suggests that such is a liberal element to my philosophy.
So, in my mind, such issues come down to this:
(1) Does our country, as a single collective entity, have moral values?
(2) If so, what are those values, and
(3) How are those values defined, and by whom?