"Who overcomes by force, hath overcome but half his foe"

In my last entry I commented, with varying success, upon certain political topics, a cast of the gauntlet that my old comrade Fritz picked up in challenge. One thing you must understand about Fritz and I is that we go back, way back--I even know his real name. We were kids together, we went to school together, his mother was a mother to me, mine to him, etc. SO, we know one another, and well. Anyway, when it comes to keeping one another honest, or in this case, calling one of us on our laziness or the like, we supply the office not only out of duty, but love, and if I may say so, for a certain amount of delight in twisting the knives of debate.

The flurry of discussion the last correspondence unleashed has been, in short, great fun. We took it off-blog, but only so as not to try the other readers' patience. You're both welcome ;-) Heh heh heh. Anyway, as usual, we discover more about one another, how our views have changed, stayed the same, and at what price our perspectives have been hardened by experience. It often turns out, however, as it has again this time, that we see more eye to eye than we might have thought. We come at things from different angles, but get to some of the same places.

If you need some fodder for similar discussions, let me suggest the following political topics:

• direct democracy (both "technology and" as well as "pros/cons")


• elimination of the electoral college


• elimination of the delegate system


• single primary & election day nationwide (adjusted for timezones so everyone votes at the same time everywhere)


• equal air, phone, television, internet, paper, etc. time for each candidate (federally mandated and supported only by taxes--no more expensive campaigns, well, not in the same way anyway)


• lobbyists (how they're good, how they're evil)


• business, politics, and the American Republic


• bicameralism (how we might get past the two parties, two parties that really aren't all that bloody different anymore)


• separation of powers (maybe we should try it)

This is some of the ground we've covered since yesterday. Nothing like an election year to get the blood going. Oh, and Go OBAMA!