Politics and a book review

Awesome day with wendy yesterday. Gymnastic superstars tour thing! About one-third high-energy exhibition, one-third amateurish Cirque-du-Soliel knock off, one-third truly crappy concert, yet somehow combined for way more entertainment value than I anticipated. Also, much better ratio of barely pubescent girls to hot hunks without shirts than I was expecting. It is good to be pandered to!

( Cut for politics )

All I am saying, really, is this:
-That there are conservatives and Republicans who do not identify in these ways because they're uninformed, or reactionary, or xenophobic, or religious wackjobs, or stupid, or evil.
-That there are some that share my basic worldview, my thought processes, my way of thinking about the world, who I would find intellectual equals and valuable conversation partners and admirable antagonists... and that while I obviously know that, I perhaps do not really hear it as often or sincerely as I should.
-That party labels are not inherently tied to rightness or wrongness of ideas or policies, or even to basic worldviews or values.
-That I sincerely hope that if political labels slip from my original conception as radically as they have for him, I will have the same courage he does to step back and consider with intellectual honesty and clarity.

( Passage, Connie Willis )