[paisjpq]

Originally Posted by irishtrekker

Equal economic opportunity my ass. Like Warren Buffett so eloquently noted (and I can't do it justice), a lot of "opportunity" is luck. None of us chooses who our families are or what economic situations we were born into. Rich kids start with a lot more financial support behind them than the rest of us, and if you really can't see the disparate starting points we all have (and how those affect our paths in life), then you must live in a wonderful imaginary American world.

Look. I'm not afraid of a bunch of terrorists. I am afraid of a bunch of terrified, short-sighted and well-intentioned American citizens handing over every liberty we have in the name of defending our country when someone engages in some clever rhetorical fear-mongering. That's letting the terrorists win. Muzzle the press, delegitimize and stifle dissent, alienate sympathetic allies, and you wind up with a place that may be "safe" but that is so much less than the great nation we're supposed to be. Not in my name, thanks.

I like the way you think.