Room you should stick to the philosophy.
Why did the USSR fail, why is China moving to a capitalist economy, why is North Korea starving, why are Cubans driving 50 yr old cars, why does France have 12% unemployment?
I'm not going to apologies for the facts to preserve your ego.
'but don't think for a second that the events of the 20th century mean you can proclaim as a scientific principle that capitalism trumps communism.' that's exactly what I am saying, ya we wouldn't want to learn from history, or use facts to support our arguments, that would be wrong.
BTW have you had economics (if you have you obviously didn't understand) and what happened to the Academy?
“i know a helluva a lot better than most that there ain't a whole lot distinctive about an ivy education other than its price” I know, you brought it up so people would think you are smart, not me.
“my point was that it's always a mistake to simplify the people who disagree with you as misled or stupid or ignorant - they're people coming at the same issue with different experiences. that's not defining oneself by others' opinions, quite the opposite: it's asserting that everyone has a distinctinve identity that leads them to their beliefs, and you can't just lump them together because you disagree”
good point I should have addressed the beliefs and history of every person on this planet before I say anything so as not to offend anyone, we should not use words such as communism, democracy, republican, or American, because maybe they came from another country, or maybe they spent 2 weeks in Europe and thus are somehow less American than the rest of us. Let us not lump people together by calling them male or female or white or black or Asian because that might offend someone, let us make general statements to attack others without ever holding an opinion because others might not like it, yes that would be bad.
“especially when you start talking about how (other) sincere people can be wrong. wrong by what standard”
I was not talking about other people I was talking about you numbnuts (you have been rochambeaued) by what standard? There you go again about being so vague as to evade any sort of opinion; shall I write a rule of law on every possible subject and encounter before I say anything, so I can point to it and say there that standard paragraph 7 line 2 on page 2987-987 how about the standard of reality in which the rest of us live?
“which leads me to the real funny thing about your post: the part you called fluff without reading was the part where i encouraged people to actually listen to the other side and argue intelligently”
What you’re saying here again is that we should have no opinions as they might be bad. I believe Kimphil made points (I did not ignore them he just didn’t know what he was talking about) I argued them intelligently by citing your ‘standard’ the IRS tax table, he did not know that capital gains are double taxed and I let him know, so I have met your standard of listening and bringing to a standard, but you seem to avoid facts, logic or any attempt at an opinion to show others what big words you use or how you are the superior person by making your position political ecumenism.
I only read one Ayn Rand book, The Fountainhead, and it SUCKED how’s that for an opinion.
Have I addressed your Fluff enough so you know I can read?
If you have any points or opinions please bring them up so they can debated, or heaven forbid proved wrong instead of saying “everyone has a distinctive identity that leads them to their beliefs” Ya everyone has different size feet so lets not make shoes.