Critical thinking is one of those boring philosophy courses that is required in college. I detested philosophy because for me it was rehashing what I already knew. Learning another "ism" conjured up by some bored 19th century professor was not my idea of how to spend hours out of the day. Critical thinking was another one of those. Critical thinking is basically the study of how decisions are made and the breakdown of that process ad nauseum. I never thought twice how I came to conclusions or how I solved problems. I simply used logic. It was instinctive to me to use logic to solve problems as it was just as instinctive to not use emotion to solve problems. 

     The revelation for me came when I finally realized how many people do not use logic to solve problems. How ignorant I was about how the world turns. Hence the situation we are in now in this country. I remember as a child thinking that adults, because they were adults, had to be smart. What a complete moron I was as a young man. The thinking behind that was that adults had life experience and had been through school so therefore along with using logic they had to all be smart and efficient. I know you have been in a situation before where you explained to someone else a concept that was in your mind simple and the other person looked at you like you had three heads. Moments like those make you want to pull your hair out. 

     I have thought deeply about the lonely lives of logical people. I have come to the conclusion that it might almost have been better to have started off solving problems emotionally then learning the error of your ways and adopting logic rather than be a logical person and trying to figure out why the rest of the world has no clue what you mean. A good example would be someone that is street smart earning a masters degree rather than the intelligent man or woman trying to understand how the street works. "But Michael what does this have to do with politics? This is a political blog right?" Yes it is and logic and critical thinking are a huge issue when discussing the differences in politics. The dirty little secret is that all politicians have some degree of logical thinking capability. It's when they don't use logic in conjunction with morality and the code of duty to the people that they are bad or at worst evil. 

     Politics demands logic in order to work properly for the people. The health care debate is a good example. We logical beings look at the problem or in this case the perceived problem and we decide if there is a problem. Once a problem is detected our immediate reaction is to research logical solutions. Solutions, meaning ones that will solve the problem with the most amount of satisfaction for all and the least amount of chance that it will surface again in the long run and the most practical to run in harmony with whatever system or situation the solution will ultimately exist without causing harm. The emotional solution is to mandate that everyone gets health care by law. Stamp it, sign it, and enforce it. However. we all know that it isn't that simple or easy. Emotional solutions, as you notice might solve a problem in the present time, but for how long and at what cost to everything else? Logical solutions would consider the well being of everything else in their conclusions. 

     If all Americans stayed as informed all the time as they are now with the health care debate leftists would not be electable because the American people would not fall for propaganda. This brings us to our mission to educate the apathetic and ignorant. We must prove our logic, or at least plant the seed of logic in everyone we talk to. We must learn to be as articulate as possible and to be able to refute the cleverly thought out talking points of the left. It is not that hard when you have logic on your side. 

     There are two or three different types of people you will run into. The hardened leftist is the one not to waste time on unless you want to make them look silly. The family member, friend or acquaintance that is curious but leans left from the constant barrage from the left is the best type to work on because they are willing to listen rather than talk over you with platitudes. The satisfaction from converting someone back from the dark side to reason and logic is an incredible feeling. Most won't admit it and if they don't, don't take credit for it just be happy you were able to convert them. Usually for these people it is an epiphany and afterwards they become your best allies in the war to save the country from the left. Logic is alive and well and will survive but we want it to be the rule when solving the problems of this great country.