INowRegretThesePosts's Journal: Do not be obedient to a political party

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Landis This man is a slashdotter who is a scientist at NASA.

See what he wrote in http://www.geoffreylandis.com/politics.html
Specifically,

Right at the moment, I think that the liberal/conservative divide is the single most harmful thing about American politics. Politicians don't seem to care about solving problems, they only want to know whether a particular idea is liberal or conservative, and then, presto, they are for/against it.

I don't agree with him 100%, but I do agree with the principle that we would be more open to ideas from people whose overall ideologies we do not share.

Look what happens in the abortion debate, for example. Pro-lifers have been deemed "anti-woman" and therefore _every_ proposal they make, such as requiring parental permission for a young girl to have an abortion, is immediately discarded.

People should debate looking for Truth, instead of trying to prove that the opponent is stupid and evil.

Also, people should not commit themselves to one specific political party.

Just because you are worried about AGW, it does not mean you should become an obedient Democrat.

Just because you are pro-life, it does not mean you should become an obedient Republican.

Republicans are sometimes right, Democrats are sometimes right, and often they're both wrong.

moof

[Bill Dog]

His anti-ideology stance is idiotic, but this caught my eye:

In short, if you want me to take your opinions seriously, you will have to convince me that you in fact understand both sides of an issue.

But only because it is so sorely lacking in political discussions. When neither side takes the time to really understand the basis of the other side, then most things get misinterpreted.

And many issues have more than two sides to them. Even someone who understands two of them might have just heard the two extreme

CLARIFICATION

[INowRegretThesePosts]

Republicans are sometimes right, Democrats are sometimes right, and often they're both wrong.

I am NOT arguing that both parties are equally bad. One may be overall less bad than the other. I am only saying that
1) Both have great defects.
2) Sometimes the other party is right.
3) Listen to your opponents, do not demonize them.