I have nothing substantive to add to the discussion, just an
appreciation to the participants for a worthwhile contributions on all
sides. My sympathies are strongly with Richard, and I think he's done
an excellent job here, but the challenges are useful, too. As for
Mike's strategic point: My style is to put out unapologetically the
most radical message on any issue, because that's invariably what I
believe, and it's embarrassing to have it look later as though I were
holding something back about my actual views. I would think there would
in general be only so many times a strategy could be used of putting out
a softer version to gain widespread acceptance, then having people
discover that your real agenda was a slippery slope, toward the foul pit
of sexual license or abolition of the IRS. I recently bought, and am
looking forward to reading, All on Fire about William Lloyd Garrison,
for possible lessons and insights about his "total abolition now"
campaign.