James, the engineer's mind transpires from your writing about politics. That kind of approach is not in fashion these days. Starting by quoting Reagan puts you against Democrats in principle and the current set of Republicans in particular.

I like your constructive approach; despite that, I might argue with some of your statements. We need a deep national conversation along the lines of your essay.

BTW, I am trying to do that as well. About half of my 96 articles on Medium are related to different aspects of the issues you write about. Just check the last one.

Medium is a perfect platform for the debates you ask for. Will they do it?