...I'm smart -- I went to U.Va.! :) Kidding aside, I am firm in my beliefs and believe they are well-supported both by information and philosophy. With that said, I'm human and imperfect, as are we all, so while I think I'm always right, I also know that I'm not always right, if that makes any sense.

One reason I read this board is because it is so dominated by the other side, so I think I do get a sense of the "big picture" in that at least I'm aware of unvarnished opposing viewpoints. Also, FWIW, I live in California and am surrounded by lefties/anti-Trumpers. Most of my social circle is left-wing. I think I've got a pretty good sense of opposing points of view.

You raise some really interesting issues in your post that hopefully will come up in future threads. Unfortunately, it seems to me that these topics have too often been hijacked on this board and devolved into pure Trump-hate, with some folks viscerally taking the opposite view, and it just became a boring tit-for-tat. Maybe once Trump is out of the picture these issues can get addressed more thoughtfully by both sides.

I think COVID is a perfect example. It will be interesting to see how that issue gets discussed once Trump isn't around to be a whipping boy.