I wish I could agree with you that the government is being hampered by the extremist positions, but (imho) that’s much too forgiving of them.

I’ve long seen their problem (the gov’t) as this worsening tendency to pander to the various conflicting interests. I think the gov’t has actually encouraged this dangerously divided country with its continual knee-jerking to positions that change daily, depending upon who is screaming loudest at the moment. We have myriad, self-defeating programs and policies at every level as a result of this see-saw, and it has compiled over time.

Yes, I agree that we’re going at things like “The War On Drugs” in the wrong way, and while it hasn’t been a topic here much, I expect that if we were exploring it at the moment, there would be a lot of discussion and disagreement. That’s a good thing… as long as we keep the channels open.

There is such enormous heat surrounding the illegal immigration situation, it’s getting harder (from my perspective) to write about it. People are polarized, and as it gets worse, sensitivity about issues increases.

I spent much of yesterday evening moderating some extremely hostile comments on a different post (from the national language angle) that I put up at the Chronicle, too. I was naive, racist, or plain dumb, depending… but those are (for the most part) strangers to me who obviously were venting without even reading what I wrote.

Here on this blog, though, people are typically thinking and discussing (as opposed to screaming, as sometimes happens over at the chron). You’re going to disagree sometimes — no two ways about it. Everybody does (except AC, who drinks in what I say undiluted… so I’m much more careful than you may realize… lol….).

I have an interesting readership here, politically — typically, moderate folks from both sides of the current political divide. Sometimes, nobody likes what I’m thinking or saying, and when that happens, I count on them saying so.

That’s awesome for us all — not only because we are able to explore where we may diverge, but also because others who are thinking about things can see why a differing opinion is held, and how it came to be.

When (as in this case) it looks to y’all as if I’ve lost my mind — a mind you hitherto thought I had, btw — I hope you’ll always ask me where I’m coming from. You may still disagree at the end of a discussion, but the journey almost always yields something of value.