Two Measuring Systems

I listened to the SOTU speech last night, and the Democratic response by James Webb. Webb acknowledged that by many measures the US economy is very strong. Then he simply stated that his party has other ways of measuring economic strength. (The first measure he listed was the ratio of CEO to worker pay.)

Many political divides can be characterized by different measuring systems.

If you think about Iraq as an war the US launched in one country four years ago, and measure success by absence of US-killing conflict inside that country, then it's unlikely that we will succeed soon.

If you consider the conflicts on the ground in Iraq as part of a much larger, much longer war that we did not begin, but was thrust upon us even before 9-11, an asymmetric war against ideologues whose passionate hatred of the Judeo-Christian values we hold (and the smutty culture we promulgate), then the war in Iraq looks different.

[I hold to the latter view. I think we should learn enough from history (ancient and recent) to know that it's only a question of where and when you want to fight this evil.]

Consider other political divides. Abortion. First Amendment issues. Taxation. Regulations. Responbilities of parents, and schools.

Different measuring systems are used. So the key to engaging in productive dialogue is to help one another understand those measuring systems.

There's another key -- realize that actions and inactions have consequences. Play chess, think more than one move ahead, and remember that we have many, many historical examples to consider.