Checkpoint: Arguments You'd Like to Win
The Logo ·
Feb 14, 2011 at 11:37pm
The topics suggested so far (in response to yesterday's post) are below. We've made an attempt to categorize them by topic area, and have included in parentheses competing views that seem likely to emerge.
Please keep them coming. We'll let this simmer for a few more days, and then select five to tackle first.
Social issues
- Support for school vouchers
- Securing our borders (is; is not) morally justified
- ObamaCare is a massive mistake
- Abortion is harmful to women
Global issues
- There is (plenty of; very little) respectable disagreement about the existence and nature of global warming
- Most environmental and social experiments are about seizing power
- Global warming would have (net positive; net negative; offsetting) effects
Religion
- Islam is (inherently violent and conquest oriented; a religion of peace)
- The social justice movement in the Catholic church is stealth Marxism
Economic issues
- End deficit spending
- Unfunded liabilities in entitlement programs need to be addressed immediately
Politics
- Liberals are no smarter than conservatives
- Why Obama doesn’t deserve a second term
- The deficit is on Obama’s shoulders, regardless of the impact of the TARP or the war in Iraq
- The left is more vitriolic than the right
- There (shouldn’t; should) be limits on campaign contributions
First principles
- Limited government reflects a respect for humanity
- Class warfare must be stopped
- Those who use something should be the ones to pay for it
Other
- Pizza should be cut in (squares; wedges)
- (Tastes great; less filling)
- American Idol is (fixed; not fixed)
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Comments :
May '10
Re: Checkpoint: Arguments You'd Like to Win
Liberals ARE smarter than conservatives. And Marxists are smarter than liberals.
That's why I belong to Ricochet. In my world, it's almost impossible to find a smart conservative.
Jan '11
Re: Checkpoint: Arguments You'd Like to Win
I don't feel like I lose when the topic comes up but I do feel like I upset people when it's debated: the topic of Free(er) International Trade and how it benefits domestic consumers in the short-term and has huge net gains for the economy over the long term. I wish that more people were exposed to the ideas of Smith and Ricardo and listened to today's scholars like the ones at George Mson Univeristy's Econ Department.
May '10
Re: Checkpoint: Arguments You'd Like to Win
Economic Issues:
1. How should the GOP be comunicating their position so as not to lose the war vs the Democrats & MSM.
2. What is the economic cost/value on regulatory compliance.
Jan '11
Re: Checkpoint: Arguments You'd Like to Win
Abolish unions for government employees.
Jul '10
Re: Checkpoint: Arguments You'd Like to Win
1. Most stick and ball sports are fixed.
2. "Chemicals" are not inherently harmful as everything is a chemical.
3. Organic farming is harmful to the planet and to humans.
4. Free market policies promote a clean environment.
Dec '10
Re: Checkpoint: Arguments You'd Like to Win
On the role of government -- Is more government intervention the best solution to most social and economic problems or does more government intervention make most problems worse in the long run and create new problems?
On free market capitalism -- Is free market capitalism an inherently good and desirable economic system that should be minimally regulated and restricted or is it a necessary evil that must be heavily monitored, regulated, restricted, and controlled by government?
About public sector employees --
Should public sector employees be permitted to unionize, thereby monopolizing the services they provide, and go on strike against the government/people?
Are federal/state government(s) morally, ethically, and legally bound to honor all existing contractual pension and retirement health care benefit commitments to public sector employees who are not yet retired?
Should public sector employees be on average better paid and receive a better benefits package than private sector employees?
Should public elementary and high school teachers ever receive tenure?
Edited on Feb 15, 2011 at 6:27amJan '11
Re: Checkpoint: Arguments You'd Like to Win
I'd like discussions on feminism which I think dovetails with the topics of abortion, education and the culture war. Why should liberalism, NOW and Code Pink exclusively define the feminist movement and why do conservative women accept the liberal stereotypes associated with feminism?
Aug '10
Re: Checkpoint: Arguments You'd Like to Win
(1) Individual hypocrisy (does; does not) invalidate the legitimacy of that person's beliefs, or the beliefs of a movement he belongs to.
(2) US federalism (should; should not) be rolled back to its previous implementation.
(3) A post-nation state world is impossible to achieve, and would make us worse off if we try to get there.
(4) War is embedded in the nature of mankind, and to plan for a future without conflict is to invite certain failure.
(5) First Principles: Humans are imperfect. Human understanding and intellect are limited and prone to bias. Therefore each of their creations, including governments and structured economic plans, necessarily contain flaws... and these flaws multiply as the amount of reliance on human intervention increases.
Dec '10
Re: Checkpoint: Arguments You'd Like to Win
Is the current Federal income tax non-liability for approximately one half of the population too dangerous economically and socially to continue?
Sep '10
Re: Checkpoint: Arguments You'd Like to Win
We should return public schools to neighborhoods where they belong. We need to eliminate public housing and provide vouchers in order to prevent a cycle of poverty in the "projects." All children and their parents should be able to walk to their schools when not in a rural area.
Feb '11
Re: Checkpoint: Arguments You'd Like to Win
I'm with you on the first one.
A big fat NO on the second (barring infirmity, even then, private charities/churches can handle that). There's this institution called the family. Don't weaken family influence by subsidizing, via public housing or vouchers, bad behavior that results in poverty/homelessness. Don't replace public housing with public vouchers.
Walking to school, yes. Please define a 'rural' area? I only ask because, in my town, the city went on a big 'tear down the old school buildings that were in neighborhoods' spree. My guess is that they just wanted the excuse that there were no schools close enough to qualify as 'neighborhood'. Amazingly, during the same time they 'tightened' local laws that private and charter schools had to surmount. I know of two such schools that went out of business because of that.
Jan '11
Re: Checkpoint: Arguments You'd Like to Win
I'm not sure what category this would fall under - End tax exempt status for all entities.
Re: Checkpoint: Arguments You'd Like to Win
Wow! Interesting topic, Pike! I wonder how the proponent of such a bill would survive politically.
May '10
Re: Checkpoint: Arguments You'd Like to Win
Tommy De Seno
Wow! Interesting topic, Pike! I wonder how the proponent of such a bill would survive politically.
Eliminating the national income tax would solve the majority of our political problems.
It was never possible under normal circumstances. It might be possible now that so many conservatives believe our nation is nearing the brink of fiscal disaster. It's time for an assembly of the states to start the Amendment process.
Jan '11
Re: Checkpoint: Arguments You'd Like to Win
Aaron Miller
Tommy De Seno
Wow! Interesting topic, Pike! I wonder how the proponent of such a bill would survive politically.
Eliminating the national income tax would solve the majority of our political problems.
It was never possible under normal circumstances. It might be possible now that so many conservatives believe our nation is nearing the brink of fiscal disaster. It's time for an assembly of the states to start the Amendment process. · Feb 15 at 3:39pm
I'm leery about calling for a constitutional convention, it could too easily turn into a hotbed of extreme's from all sides. It does make for an interesting topic, though.