Presidential election, 2016

[Classic-Xer]

(11-27-2016, 07:34 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: The outdoor life is wonderful. I'm not so much of an outdoor person, but I enjoy it when I get the chance. I respect farmers. Asking permission to use their land is respectful. I know some of us "hippies" didn't always respect private property. It was an attitude that seemed right at the time. It wouldn't fit too well for most of us nowadays, most-likely. Respecting country people is not hard for us. Outdoor, farm and country life is cool, and it feeds the people. Our disagreement with you is not about that. It's how you're voting, and why, that concerns many of us.

I don't see why being an outdoorsman or a farmer means you have to disrespect city people or the value of intellect. These days, it's the intellectuals who become the techies that boost the economy. And there's no need for country people to disrespect the intellectual life in general, or the quest for deeper understanding of life and society.

My philosophy teacher once told me that a true human being or a "real man" is the one who can examine his or her life. A famous philosopher once said, the unexamined life is not worth living. Nothing that is human, is alien to me; said another famous philosopher. These truths hold whether you live in a city or the country. People everywhere can lead authentic lives and seek understanding.

You guys might not like it that we are interested in the politics of protecting the environment, although we don't live off of it. Folks like us, however, don't understand why if you like being in the outdoors, you don't want to see the outdoors preserved.

You don't understand because you don't seem to place as much value on those who work to provide for families by logging as you place on the spotted owls. We have the ability to preserve spotted owls and reintroduce them later on. We have the ability to remove old mature trees or certain types of trees. I'm seeing the outdoors being preserved, I hunt on public land and I'm supporting them being preserved through taxation paid to the state and federal levels and the license fees associated with hunting and fishing and the equipment involved as well. I pay a license fee for use of my boat. I pay a license fee for my ATV's. I pay license fees to hunt and fish or pay a fee to stay in camp grounds. A portion of my costs for outdoor gear go to the state via sales tax. Do you have a right to bitch at me or how I vote? It looks to me like I directly contribute more to the preservation and the enjoyment of the outdoors than you do? Keep in mind, unlike you, I actually pay taxes on what you may pocket for yourself down the road or contribute to blue non-profit person like yourself or another non-profit interest group aligned with your beliefs. I pay taxes on my business profits as well. Plus, I directly contribute to the local economies and the local people as well. I vote the way I do because I believe in America (or at least half to most of it) and I believe in other things that progressives view as stupid or as being below them or as being below their level of intellect or as being evil or bad and so on. I do value intellect. The problem is that I don't see very much intellect on the blue side these days. I see a stream of repeating of the same old blue intellect associated with the same old socialism, communism that's now associating themselves with other things like the environment.