charlie@cca.UUCP (Charlie Kaufman) (08/10/83)
In the Republicans vs Democrats debate, someone (sorry about lack of
proper reference) said that the Republicans back their arguments with
logic while the Democrats back theirs with emotion. This was followed
by scathing criticism of the Democrats for these heinous practices. The
only response denied that it was true.
I have noticed that on economic issues, this seems to be true. Welfare
opponents speak of long term indirect effects in well reasoned arguments
while proponents scream about starving babys. On personal liberty
issues, the left seems to favor logic, and in debates on foreign policy
I can detect no logic on either side.
I would like to challenge the claim that emotional arguments are used
when there is no logical justification for a policy. I claim it is the
opposite! In politics, an emotional argument is much prefered and logic
is only the last resort when emotion fails. The concept may seem
foreign to readers of this group, who have been trained to value logic,
and in a pinch to even think, but in society at large...
--Charlie Kaufman
charlie@cca
...decvax!cca!charlie