[Dean's World] Aziz P: Crossing swords

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Posted by Aziz P:
Crossing swords
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1145448508.shtml


   Armando writes, at his new co-blogging venture with Josh Trevino
   "[1]Swords Crossed" :

     First, those who know me are aware that I am as fierce a partisan
     Democrat as you can possibly find. When writng at daily kos that is
     the hat I wear. While being faithful to the facts, I have always
     written with one thing uppermost in mind - how can this help the
     Democratic Party?

     Here, my approach will be to try and discuss issues AND politics in
     a less partisan fashion. My beliefs will be the same. But my
     objectives will be different. My objective will be honest
     engagement.

     Josh Trevino is a good friend and a good person. His political
     beliefs are anathema to me, as mine are to him. But I respect his
     integrity and his intellect. I admit that his conclusions sometimes
     amaze me, but generally (weâre only human after all), I believe he
     arrives at them from honest thought.

     To me, this is the important first principle that allows for honest
     engagement on issues and politics. I hope that participants at this
     site can take that approach as well. While both liberals and
     conservatives may marvel at the positions each of us holds, perhaps
     we can understand each other better by discussing them here.

   well said indeed. I am not a partisan Democrat, though I'd be a fool
   to deny that I am aligned. However I do value the work of principled
   partisans to reform their parties from within.

   Someday I would like to see an election be about the greater of two
   goods, rather than the lesser of two evils. I am not likely to get a
   chance to vote for Armando [D] vs Trevino [R] for President in my
   lifetime. But if enough blogs adopt the philosophy above, rather than
   the partisan scalp hunting that substitutes for "debate" at present,
   then we do as a society move incrementally closer to that ideal. May
   it be so.

   I do believe that Purple Politics requires an active and healthy
   two-party system. Ultimately both parties need to be competitors for a
   slice of the same True American Majority, rather than a GOTV-based
   approach of ekeing out their respective 50.9%. So I think that
   internal reform and honest debate between the partisan sides - which
   is the essence of what I see SwordsCrossed to be attempting to achieve
   - is a crucial component. Hence it is indeed authentically a Purple
   Politics endeavour and I wish them well.

References

   1. http://www.swordscrossed.org/