I thought I should get this entry up fast as much of Amanda's family knows about this site and will probably figure out pretty quickly that I'm a Republican.

I introduced Amanda to my folks this weekend and the conversation turned mildly political.  My dad mentioned he thought that keeping up our educational standards is very important for America to keep it's competitive edge in the global economy.  He indicated a willingness to spend more money on it.

I agreed with the premise, but suggested that wringing more efficiencies out of the school system could produce better results than simply throwing more money at the issue.  I even suggested some fairly "radical" ideas that I think should be tested on a small scale to see if they work.

Amanda contributed some fairly well thought-out ideas of her own, pointing out that a lot of the best schools spend far less on a per-pupil basis than many of the worst ones.  I think the short of it was she'd like to see a very efficient educational system AND spend more money on it.

I think I could go along with that, but I'd like to see the efficiency first.

Shortly after that, my mother started beating around the bush.  "Can I ask you a personal question?  I mean, it doesn't really matter what the answer is..."

Amanda's head stared swimming.  What personal question could take this much wind-up? 

Then mom delivered the pitch.  "Are you a Republican or a Democrat?"  She continued, "because my son can argue, and even be a bit assertive about his point of view."

It turns out Amanda is a Democrat.  Yes, it's true.  And we explained to my folks that we find a lot of common ground in our opinions and respect the differences.

"So you agree to disagree?" asked my mother.

"No, ma.  We actually find areas that we agree with each other, even on topics that we disagree about.  Then on the specific items we disagree about, we appreciate and respect each other." I replied. 

I think one thing we both agree on is that competition of ideas in the arena of politics is necessary, and healthy for democracy.  If we "split" at the ballot box, so be it.  We've been doing so for years anyway.

As for Amanda's family, I heard some political discussion over the weekend.  I'll forgive the hyperbole, such as "the most corrupt administration, ever."  I think I probably used the same phrase during the last one.  But I think you'd have to look back in history pretty far to find the MOST corrupt administration.

The conversation I heard was well thought out and the positions earnestly believed in.  That's the most important thing to me, that someone actually considered all sides of an argument and honestly believes his position is best. 

The folks were high on personal responsibility, believed in ownership rights, due process, careful conservation over mindless preservation, and so on.  These are all pretty important to me too.  We might quibble over the details, but I suspect we have more in common that the strict party affiliations might imply.