Maggie's Farm

Quite so. Viagra is not a surfactant.

That's an obvious overgeneralization. While liberals envision social changes, most are as rational as most other human beings.


In science, 'fact' can only mean 'confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.' — Stephen Jay Gould


That is not always correct. If there is unused productive capacity and an underutilization of liquidity, then government spending will trade wealth for economic activity. This is important during severe economic downturns to prevent extensive damage to the economy. (If, however, there is little unused productive capacity then stimulus will create inflation; while if there is little unused liquidity, then stimulus will create a rise in the cost of borrowing.)


While long term support can be a disincentive, short term support can be important for repositioning people to reenter the economy, resulting in increased productivity. Many social programs, such as social security, universal healthcare not tied to the employer, and child care, increase productivity by allowing workers greater economic mobility.


''Whenever this issue of compensatory or preferential treatment for the Negro is raised,'' Dr. King wrote, ''some of our friends recoil in horror. The Negro should be granted equality, they agree; but he should ask nothing more. On the surface, this appears reasonable, but it is not realistic. For it is obvious that if a man is entered at the starting line in a race 300 years after another man, the first would have to perform some impossible feat in order to catch up with his fellow runner.''


While most people fit comfortably into binary sexual distinctions, some do not. And gender is even more variable.


True enough, but as history has shown, many aspects of society are amenable to change, and the history of the world since the Renaissance has seen a dramatic increase in social and political equality.


The premise is appreciated; however, there is plenty of simplistic thinking on both sides of the ideological divide.