<HTML><BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff" STYLE="font:10pt verdana; border:none;color:#000000; background-color:#ffffff; "><DIV>Dave writes:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"Um... er... Um??? I didn't think we had come quite <I>that</I> far. We're going to have a hell of time developing a party platform if we begin on the economic issues. After all, I really <I><B>am</B></I> very libertarian. Where we can start (where modern political discourse fails) is to concede that each other's motivations are good. Which I do. But we're going to have to arm wrestle or play mumbly peg over entitlements. Which I'm also willing to do."</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>What? You didn't get the memo about the Opyr-Budge Progressive Libertarian Party's official launch on April 3rd, sunset, at the Golden Gate Bridge? I'll have to speak very sharply to my secretary about that. Unfortunately, he's only five and has already retired for the night. But I'll reprimand him sharply when he wakes up tomorrow, expecting his Frosted Mini-Wheats, his orange juice, and a quiet half-hour watching Blues Clues, just as if he'd done what he was supposed to do. I've got to hire better help. Know anyone else who will work for Playdough? </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Anyhow, sorry to puzzle you, Dave. I was writing in shorthand. What I meant to say was that I have mentioned to you in some private correspondence that I acknowledge some merit in taking a libertarian approach to some issues, particularly vexing social and/or religious ones, and that I was under the impression that you and I had begun some kind of preliminary discussion regarding the disintegration of the two-party system (or, rather, its lingering shell -- this is a one-party state in which the nominal Ds and Rs at the top agree to screw the nominal Ds and Rs at the bottom) and that there was the possibility of a creative dissonance in which I might concede some of your points, and you might concede some of mine. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I did propose to you, did I not, the possibility of a progressive libertarian dance party mix? We needn't be of one mind to do a kind of hip-hop two-step. I read and enjoy <STRONG>The Economist</STRONG>. All I ask is that you read a little Barbara Ehrenreich and Molly Ivins. I do think that progressive libertarianism might be possible -- particularly if it includes wrestling, arm, mud, or WWF. That could really catch on. In fact, now that I think about it, wasn't progressive libertarianism part of Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura's mass appeal?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment</DIV> <DIV><A href="http://www.auntie-establishment.com">www.auntie-establishment.com</A></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>PS: I don't want to be party chair. You can have that. I want to write the manifesto. In rhyming heroic couplets. </DIV></BODY></HTML><br clear=all><hr>Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : <a href='http://explorer.msn.com'>http://explorer.msn.com</a><br></p>