Dichotomy

I would like to see an Obama/McCain ticket. A lot. If McCain weren't a social idiot, in a lot of ways. But what is necessary is a true bipartisan ticket, and a true bipartisan office.

That's all I have to say.

Assuming positions.

I realise I have quite a bit to lay out in the way of both my philosophy in terms of how to actually come to conclusions, given the positions and attitudes of those around. And I have some good illustrative anecdotes as regards that, that I will go over later, as I have a ginormous headache right now.

But I did wish to make the point that being a moderate does not mean rejecting extreme policies-- in some ways, the moderate stance involves the most extreme measures. It means doing things in such a way that, while both sides may bitch and moan because it is not /exactly/ what they wanted (and it doesn't undercut the other guy totally), actually gives them as much of what they really want/need as possible.

Anyway. See Joseph Andrew's Speech on why he switched from Clinton to Obama. You can argue all you want about this particular guy and whether he is honest, whether he's right about Obama, whatever. It doesn't matter. What he is saying in this speech, and his reasons for doing what he is doing now, are Right.

IMHO.

i r srs politiks-wank.

The Problem of the moderate political philosophy is that it is, by necessity, tl;dr. That is to say, the moderate position cannot (or can rarely) be reduced to a soundbite or catchphrase-- you can't sum up, in two lines, a position which has to take into account the positions of both sides, extract the best, discard the worst, qualify where appropriate, define one's warrants (and possibly those of the Others), and then explain where it all came from and why one arranged it as one did-- provide context, as it were-- before one ever comes to a conclusion. And the moderate conclusion is, to paraphrase the poet, rarely neat, and never simple.

Which is why no one ever wants to listen to us. We ramble, we rant-- but we go on too long and half of the listeners don't understand a damn thing that was said.

Nonetheless, that is the purpose here. It is I, das Kainenchen, and my wankish, rambling, tl;dr politiksish opinions for the world to skip over and not actually read. Sometimes extreme sounding, always-- so I hope-- at least somewhat considered. But imho, being a moderate is not always about being a wishy-washy, middling compromiser. It is about also bending both ends around to where they meet at the extremes and get themselves tied in nasty-fun knots.

That's what I like to do.