That is not fair, I've done a good job of compromising my principles lately.

And this is a good thing?????:confused:

Well, it's how government gets done. You think the stalling in Congress is bad now. Imagine if no one compromised...

Come on Griff...you know no party is safe from the Sycamore. :)

I made this comment to Dave last week, and while it's just my opinion, I stand by it: No "real" Republican would vote for the Republicans that are currently in there right now. I'm not saying that party principles can't change, but the Republicans in there right now come across to me as more like socialists than conservatives. And I think it underscores how the US government has tended to work better in the past 20 years when the executive and legislative branches are of different parties.

Compromise on legislation, on programs, on funding but never, ever, ever on principles.
:p

Ha!

Well if you're willing to compromise on principles then you should be a politician.

Now yer just being mean brother. :(

Minimizing government is fairly popular only on the net. Out in The Real World, it's a vanishingly small minority. And of course neither entrenched party has any interest in it; the system works to perpetuate itself, as all stable systems do.

Liberty currently has neither credible champion nor significant constiutency in the United States. The forseeable future will be more authoritarian.

I do believe you're wrong about that sir.

It's hard to see because we're IN the system, but the advocates for freedom are still the people, and things have netted out better in the last 50 years.

In 1965 it was illegal to air the sound of a toilet flush over the airwaves. In 1975 it was illegal to brew your own beer. In 1985 getting a passport involved a ton of paperwork and investigation and a six-week wait.

In 1965 people were drafted into war and killed. In 2003 it is thought that there will never be another draft.

Being IN the system means being co-opted by it.

And now it's illegal to buy a toilet which makes that wonderful full-flush sound.

And in the very near future it will be illegal to drive or do anything else 8 hours after drinking one.

This shall return. Probably already has, if your name is Mohammad.

(actually, I take it back; it wasn't true in 1985. I think that's when I got my first passport)

Instead, there will be universal national service -- already got that, in many areas, as a high school graduation requirement.