THIS IS THE SIXTH INSTALLMENT OF MY RESPONSE TO Chris, which begins here .
In describing your proposed experiment, Chris, you say:
...we will use plain old hard work and private property rights to prosper and provide.
Again—I have two responses:
First, the implication seems to be that liberals like me are against "plain old hard work and private property rights."
But, of course, we're not.
As I said last time, we value hard work.
Many liberal causes have been about making sure that the hard work of common people is valued, and that the property rights that work entails are not stolen by those in positions of economic power.- On the other hand, I think it's important to understand that "private property rights" are not simply a given of nature.
They are the result of laws, and in this country many of those laws are federal laws.
I really think that if you could hear the positions I actually hold, you would find yourself agreeing with me.
You ended by suggesting that we liberals take California, and let conservatives take Texas, and see how we do:
Let’s just try it with a two states first and see what happens. We get Texas and you can have California. I believe that will not put not put either at a disadvantage. We both have ports, natural resources and some of the same problems in which to deal.
That was obviously a rhetorical suggestion, but I think you would agree that there's a clear reason why you chose Texas and offered me California.
We both think that California leans toward the left, and Texas leans toward the right already.
You probably think that Texas isn't conservative enough, and I would say that California isn't liberal enough, but we would agree that there's a noticeable difference between them.
And we would agree about which one leans in which direction.
So it occurred to me that I could accept your offer in a limited, and more realistic, way—based in facts, rather than suppositions—by simply looking up how the two states are doing now.
That should give us some sense of how conservative and liberal approaches actually work in the real world.
Tomorrow, I'll give you the results of my research on the two states.
One relatively liberal, the other relatively conservative.
We'll see how they compare.
Next: Texas and California: The Facts...
