Hello from Washington, D.C.

320 Years of History

Gold Member
Nov 1, 2015
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Washington, D.C.
Thought I'd introduce myself and ask a question too.

I'm a management consultant/CPA with 320 years of ancestry in America, Maryland, and, since 1790, Washington, D.C., and, for the whole of my life, I have lived in downtown D.C. Surprisingly, though part of my family hails from D.C., we've never had a prominent role in government. That said, being from the seat of U.S. government, having an interest in and opinions about political matters is unavoidable. After all, when one lives around embassies, sends one's kids to the same schools as do politicos, and just generally socializes in D.C., one either is conversant re: politics and issues, or one is a wallflower. LOL

I have three kids, all 18+,and I'm divorced from a former Swiss national. I love to travel, and I chose a career path that facilitates that interest. My career began in U.S., but for just over the past decade, I've been working in Asia, mostly the PRC, and Western Europe, most often London. My hobbies include, personal travel, tennis, squash, watch collecting, cooking, occasionally entertaining, boating, reading (pretty much any topic is interesting to me), bridge and pinochle.

I stumbled upon this forum and noticed this post: Bush vs. Gore: The Endless Election . The thing that struck me is that unlike posts I see in many forums, is that it's fact based, well written and "essay style."

I'm not a "sound bite" commenter. I either have something to say, and I share my idea in argumentative essay form, or I keep mum when I feel I have insufficient knowledge on, or interest in, a topic to present a cogent exposition of my thoughts.

Given that the post referenced has those traits, I thought I'd, as part of my introduction, ask whether thoughtful and well argued posts, albeit not short, are received well here? I am asking because I've engaged in political discourse/debate in other forums and observed that many of them and their members don't care for "essay type" posts. I just figure shame on me if I don't know and don't ask....

Best regards.
 
Welcome!
The shit slinging forums are definitely not for essays. You can find some forums on this board where you can have intelligent conversation without senseless, drone types slinging shit. Try to look at forums with "CDZ" designation.
 
I thought I'd, as part of my introduction, ask whether thoughtful and well argued posts, albeit not short, are received well here? I am asking because I've engaged in political discourse/debate in other forums and observed that many of them and their members don't care for "essay type" posts.

There are certain threads that move too fast for the long posts to be digestible. Sometimes I'll write a long post, but it's more of an exercise to organize my own thoughts than anything. That's more of a blogger format. I think messageboards are geared more toward brevity and pithiness.

Welcome.
 
Welcome!
The shit slinging forums are definitely not for essays. You can find some forums on this board where you can have intelligent conversation without senseless, drone types slinging shit. Try to look at forums with "CDZ" designation.

I looked through the forums listed on this page: US Message Board - Political Discussion Forum . Most of the forums shown have a label indicating "New," but not one has a label indicating "CDZ." Would you mind pointing me to at least one so designated forum so I know what to look for? Too, I don't know what "CDZ" means...

Thanks.
 
Welcome!
The shit slinging forums are definitely not for essays. You can find some forums on this board where you can have intelligent conversation without senseless, drone types slinging shit. Try to look at forums with "CDZ" designation.

I looked through the forums listed on this page: US Message Board - Political Discussion Forum . Most of the forums shown have a label indicating "New," but not one has a label indicating "CDZ." Would you mind pointing me to at least one so designated forum so I know what to look for? Too, I don't know what "CDZ" means...

Thanks.
Clean Debate Zone
 
The candidates for president are not that gifted at debate, why such high standards for us citizens?
 
Hello and welcome.

You will find that there are members who write long posts....usually as a thread starter. Some are known for it.

You will not be judged harshly for your length......but if you seek long replies which lead to a satisfying dialogue.....you may be disappointed.

Best of luck.....hope you find what you seek.
 
The candidates for president are not that gifted at debate, why such high standards for us citizens?

Standards only move in one direction. At the beginning of the world, standards were established and they've been slipping ever since.
― Edward Stevenson

Did you mean to post your comment in this thread: Do you expect candidates, elected or appointed officials to directly answer questions posed to them? | US Message Board - Political Discussion Forum ? Or was your mention of presidential candidates and debating skill merely coincidental with my having created that thread?

I'll respond here because here is where you posed the inquiry.

My standards for "you citizens" (including myself among you) are consistent with those expected of a high school senior or college freshman. I have three kids, all of whom were taught in high school how to compose a dialectically structured argument. I think that as citizens we have an onus to thoroughly consider and comprehensively discuss matters we find important. I don't think one can do justice to most current political topics in the space of a Twitter tweet, nor can one do with weakly constructed blathering.

I see no cause to exculpate presidential candidates for being poor debaters. They didn't wake the night before the debates and decide to run for president. ;) A fair number of them have lots of experience coherently presenting ideas, be it gained from convincing a board of directors or investors of something or in the political arena. I expect some of that experience to show when they participate in a debate. Even lacking any prior argumentative or debate experience, every serious presidential hopeful knows long before deciding to run for the job that s/he will (hopefully) be invited to a debate, probably several of them. At the very least, they could learn to become good debaters between signing up to run and the first debate's happening.

Aspire to decency. Practice civility toward one another. Admire and emulate ethical behavior wherever you find it. Apply a rigid standard of morality to your lives; and if, periodically, you fail as you surely will adjust your lives, not the standards.
― Ted Koppel
 
Welcome. So serious an introduction, it will interesting to see how well you survive the five word comeback. lol
 

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