My kind of debate

I like fair debate. It's fun. Sometimes I argue a point just to pursue it, just to think it through fully. I wonder what people think about me, as far as what my views are. And then I remember that if I have any viewpoint whatsoever, there's always going to be someone who disagrees.
I guess you could say that what someone chooses to argue is something that the person thinks, to a certain degree.
As for me, I'm experimenting with my own views, and probably will for as long as new issues come to the surface. I hope no one takes offense at what I view as a necessary part of life. It's easier for me to debate freely with people I have some sort of relationship with, because they know I still care about them as individuals, and vice versa. And there's that added benefit of being able to explain what I mean better after I've thought things out more, or being able to show them I'm actually multi-dimensional.
I'm rather disenchanted with politics these days--not that I liked them in the first place. But to know that everything is about winning people's opinions and support at the expense of propriety is discouraging. How am I supposed to react to people saying stuff like, "So-and-so should apologize for saying something, because Joe Wilson had to." It's devolved into two-year-old tattling and getting back at each other. I idly wonder if we need another Reagan to make fun of all the mud-slinging that's going on.