My New Year's Resolution

I know it's a little early for New Year's resolutions, but I think that if there's something worth giving up then why bother waiting for some arbitrary date set by a Roman emporer two thousand years ago? If I was into that kind of thing I'd be a catholic.

This year, I am resolved not to waste my time engaging in political debate with anybody who doesn't own a passport. Having a stamp or two in it would be preferable, but ultimately ownership is the only key requirement. At least it indicates some kind of vague intention to visit another country, an entertainment of the possibility that life exists outside the arbitrary political boundaries of one's own nation. I've come to realise that one of the common threads linking the stupid, the scared, and the just plain barking is the lazy moral certainty that comes from never having seen anywhere, except through the goldfish-bowl view of the cathode ray tube.

"Ah, Captain, we were just wondering what your views were on the Second Amendement?"
"Certainly, but may I see your passport first?"
"Umm, I don't actually have one."
"Then fuck off, you dogmatic little cunt. It's 2006, not 1906, for chrissakes."

If you want to buy a drink here you're usually expected to provide proof that you're suitably mature, so I don't see it as unreasonable to expect people to prove that they're qualified to disagree with me.