Some good debate on these topics. Moderate people willing to give an inch or two often come to reasonable conclusions without losing their heads. Case and point was Reagan and O'Neill. Literally on the opposite side of the political spectrum but they got along and passed some very effective legislation. Wish it was still like that
I used to be HARDCORE Republican and believed everyone else was wrong. I enlisted at 18, Infantry all the way. 6 months later got picked up on an ROTC scholarship and went to LSU. Graduated and thought I was going to kick ass, become the next MacArthur, all that Call of Duty, SOCOM stuff.
I was 23 and a Second Lieutenant when I landed in Kuwait, then flown to Iraq via Chinook. Spent day to day wearing 60-75Lbs of gear in the the damn desert in charge of 38 other guys in my platoon. Yeah at that point I realized why all my friends in college branched Aviation, Quartermaster, and Armor. Long story short, 15 months of 130 degree max temperatures make you look at all aspects of a situation before you jump in head first. Lesson learned.
Being around guys from different walks of life is what opened my eyes. My PSG was a Latino Democrat from Los Angeles and I was a southern white Republican from Louisiana. It's safe to say at first we had our preconceived notions about each other. I learned A LOT from that man about the Democrat side of the spectrum and actually understood his views. To this day, if that guy needed, I'd jump on a plane to help him out.
Now, I'm saying all of this as an example because he didn't try to push his party on me or prove he was right and I was wrong. I would state my views on a subject and he would respond why he thought the way he did. Pretty much what Barrett and I just did. Too many posters see the threads as an "I'm right your wrong" ordeal that gets people banned.
Barrett, I'm gonna check out that documentary you were talking about. You may be right and if so I'll admit it. I have one more question and it's pretty amateur: How the hell you separate quotes like that?
