> but is there no value in building consensus? There might be "value", but at what cost? > I've had quite constructive arguments with people from different po

> but is there no value in building consensus? There might be "value", but at what cost? > I've had quite constructive arguments with people from different political backgrounds here in the Netherlands - which did not end with either side being convinced, but did end up with both sides (or at least me) smarter than before. That's nice, but what political power did you gain as a result? Remember, we're talking about what effective politicians do. In other news, pundits are evaluated on how many newspapers they sell, not on their accuracy. Readers are free to decide to buy, or not, for any reason, such as hair color. (Readers could use accuracy as part of their buying decision, but don't seem to.)