Just A Quick Note Before My Later-In-The-Evening-Rant

Ok, for years, I have loved the work of playwright (and, thankfully, screenwriter) David Mamet, who is - AS A PLAYWRIGHT - utterly brilliant. (SPARTAN and Glengarry Glen Ross are both his work.)

Politically, he doesn't agree with me. Now, I say that in present tense, which I will explain.

Prior to "just recently," Mamet suffered under the crippling burden of being a liberal; now he has undergone a change. What he hasn't undergone yet is the philosophical understanding of WHY his previous views are wrong, which means he's taking them on faith.

I accept that his views are now more closely aligned with mine, but without an understanding of the REASON behind it - the logic and facts - that agreement has little true value. It is the philosophical understanding, the moral underpinning if you will, of the ideas that makes them valuable, because without that basic understanding, you cannot apply those ideas to varying situations; you can only apply them to THE IDENTICAL situation, should it arise again.

As an example, if you see a partial-birth abortion, and realize that killing THIS baby is wrong, but you don't understand the moral premise upon which that judgement is based, you cannot then make the conceptual leap and say "abortion is wrong;" you will be stuck forever, or until you take that next mental step, with "partial-birth abortion is wrong," when in fact they are morally identical prospects.

But at any rate, my favorite playwright has made an - as to be expected - well-written first step in the right direction. Kudos yet again, Mr. Mamet; Ilook forward to many more years of your hopefully better informed, now that you've begun your path to recovery, works.