[Peace-discuss] Convergence, left-right

[Bob Illyes]

Laurie writes: "The old democratic apology again, Bob?  The answer is 
always in the middle. Some people say "X" and some people say "Y"; I am 
going t6o stick with the
"people."  The are some things to which the law of the excluded middle does
apply - especially in the area of morality, ethics, and ideology unless one
is a complete relativist (in which case, one could not even commit to the
middle ground).  It is once again the story of the politician and the rabbit
issue."

What on earth are you talking about, Laurie? I can only conclude that you 
haven't read Aristotle on either ethics or politics. You also seem to have 
imagined that I wrote an apology.

The law of the excluded middle applies to Boolean things, things that are 
either true or not true. It makes no sense to apply it to things that exist 
on a continuum, such as is the case in the conflict between democracy and 
individual rights. I'm not sure what your background is, but I'm an 
engineer who works with both computers and circuitry. In computer program 
logic, the law of the excluded middle applies, thank God. With what are 
called "real" variables, it doesn't make sense and is definitely not 
applied. I suggest that, to use the mathematical analogy as you insist, 
real numbers are appropriate to real politics.

Bob