Originally Posted by aceventura3

I am guessing that you don't see the conflict in your position and the two points above. Your first point illustrates than fighting for convictions is a marathon not a sprint. If you feel strongly enough you never give up, you do what it takes. Your second point illustrates that the appearance of compromise is not really compromise. You open the suggestion that Reagan may have caved, it is clear to me that he did not and that he achieved his objectives.
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You don't know what the result would have been if those against slavery stood firm, all anyone can do is speculate. We do know that the cost of that compromise was enormous. The issue for those against slavery is that they thought the institution of slavery would die on its own forces and that they did not have strong enough convictions against the institution of slavery. The trend of the death of slavery was in place, that is until the explosion of the cotton industry and the invention of the cotton gin. That turned the course on the declining trend. With the explosion of the cotton industry the value of slaves went up 4 to 5 fold in a short period of time. The US stood as the only modern nation sanctioning the institution of slavery at the time of the Civil War. Given hindsight there is no doubt the slavery compromise was the wrong thing to do.

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I am curious. If I help you get something you want and you help me get something I want, I assume you think that is good and even perhaps a form of compromise. But what if the thing I want is not in your best interest and will harm you, do you help me, does that make you an extremist if you don't? What if you are in a group of 1% that will be harmed and 99% won't be, does that make you an extremist? Where would you draw the line and fight for what is in your interests?

Also, I am curious - you seem to suggest that being an extremist is a bad thing, is that your view? I am very much an extremist on somethings, and I don't see it as a problem or an insult. I like living in a world where there are extremists, I think it adds color or texture to life. Do you really want a bland world of nothing but middle of the road conformists on every issue? Is there any aspect in your life where you see yourself as an extremist? Even if you give me a flip response, consider it food for thought.