[imported_luckyme]

Thanks for the comments, I'll push this just a bit further. Just got back from an all-candidates meeting. Not the environment for Right Answer + Wrong Reason = Wrong Answer thinking. There are deductions to be drawn - The test for rightness can't be "it worked". The test for wrongness can't be "it didn't work".

You can see how this 'it's the correct reasoning that matters' is tougher in the political arena. It's also easy to see the conservative mindset in this. Conservatives fight change essentially on the "hey, it worked before, it's tradition, we've always done it this way" type of thinking. IOW, the "it worked, therefore it's the right answer" view of the world.

To take this underlying theme farther, it can be extended into some elements of the usual religous-non-religious arguments on here. Some non-theists see morality based on actions as missing the whole point. "I do this because god wants me to ..or will punish me if I don't" can be looked at as "doing the right thing for the wrong reason = wrong". There are no moral 'actions' there is only moral intent. The 'gun to the head' makes the gift a non-gift.

I don't want to overplay this theme, but I think the two divergent views of what makes right right shows up in lots of areas of our lives and can help to get a bit into the others head if taken into account.

luckyme,
if I thought I was wrong, I'd change my mind