Here is why all you passionate partisans need to listen to me...

Putting aside my customary reticence, it has become obvious to me that I am one of the very few people in the blogosphere who can tell the difference between a hamburger and the picture of the hamburger on the menu.

I say this even though I never graduated from college and most of you guys probably have; some from elite universities even. I suggest that you are more indoctrinated than educated, except, perhaps, for those of you trained in real science. The rest of you expensively schooled wonders are almost totally ignorant of the real world. Theories and models are not the real world although they may look like it to a greater or lesser degree (like the picture of the hamburger).

The problem is that you can only see what you’re looking at. That is to say, for example, if you ignore the evils done by Saddam Hussein then, of course, the Iraq War is wrong. To people who do give consideration and moral weight to the actions of Saddam Hussein the war is a moral imperative.

It all comes down to the inherent structures and limitations of human understanding. Besides being unable to include what we don’t know and, what we don’t know we don’t know, in our theories and models; what we do know will look different from different points of view.

This is why my attempt to understand the real world and its’ politics has brought me to establish the Public Enquiry Project to encourage debate and enquiry between the Left and the Right. This is not a neutral site because I know I’m a Righty, but rather my attempt to encourage dialog between Righties like me and Lefties. I must confess, however, that I’m a bit disappointed by the dearth of intelligent enquiry and the plethora of knee jerk insults from both sides.

I invite you guys who consider yourselves to be knowledgeable to try and approach my highly evolved level by engaging in respectful bipartisan enquiry into how to best manage the problems of the day. A good start would be to go to the superb article by Brad Delong promoting Kerry’s health plan and the lucent defense of the same by Marc Brazeau.

http://pep.typepad.com/public_enquiry_project/2004/08/prof_brad_delon.html

As a Righty, I believe that there are elements of this plan that have a lot of value. If George Bush wins as I hope and expect, I’d like to see his administration consider the brilliant GOVERNMENT AS REINSUROR part of Kerry’s plan.

I ask, even plead, to have a knowledgeable Republican respond to the points made by Delong and Brazeau. My Conservative friends please realize that even Lefties sometimes have good ideas.

Adrian Spidle

http://pep.typepad.com/public_enquiry_project/2004/08/here_is_why_all.html