A Beginning

I have been thinking about doing this for a while now. One of the benefits of a "connected" world and existence is the ability to hear differing opinions. I have noticed, on Facebook posts especially, some people that I know fairly well (or used to, at least) have diametrically opposed opinions from mine. That is not a bad thing, in fact it could be a good thing; but I was surprised.

In most of our lives we associate with people that are like-minded on most major subjects. (or they are intimidated or confrontational-averse enough to avoid mentioning they feel differently) The problem with this is we go through life thinking that everyone agrees with us on those subjects. We may not "work" as hard as needed to find support or substantiation for our position. One thing the internet has done is give a voice to those people that have differing opinions. The problem is, it also allows people to sit back and "snipe" at people with nasty and offensive blasts of name calling.

I have noticed that there are numerous issues that the country is very divided over. These issues are tough to cover in any forum, so we will have to tread carefully on these. The ones I am specifically referring to involve morals and/or faith. I do not want to tread on faith (although if the argument is presented in an adult, intellectual fashion, I am not ruling it out totally) as it is the only position that can get down to "just because" citing the Bible, Koran, Torah, etc as "proof". The subjects I am looking at discussing and hearing from differing opinions on are: increased taxes and/or taxation policies in general, government spending, unions - especially public sector, government regulations - especially as they relate to the "nanny state" (I know I have to even watch my labels as they can be contentious, and any other similar societal or economic subject.

My desire for this blog is to open a dialog between those with differing opinions. I certainly have my opinions on things, but I would like to think I could be persuaded by a good argument to change. I know over the years I have changed my opinion on certain subjects as I learned more about them or just as I matured. The reason I did this as a blog versus a Facebook page is I can easier keep out the idiotic blasts I refer to above. You will have to trust me, but I pledge and promise not to censor or block any dissenting argument as long as it is presented in a civil manner. I would ask people to be respectful and to have backup and documentation for any statements made. Name calling and degrading, disrespectful comments will not be posted.

If someone wants to post the opening argument/position - have at it. If not, in a few days I will post one myself. Please talk this up and participate. If no one responds this will be no different than my other blogs, just a forum for me. I want to hear other opinions as well as other people that may have a reason to support the original statement.