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[Egalitarian Thug]

44. First, ignorance is or it is not, you keep using the word, belief. Belief is irrelevant, either

a person has some understanding of the matter, or they do not. People that do possess an understand can have differing opinions, reach conflicting conclusions, engage in meaningful debate,and they can even be flat wrong, but belief never enters into it.

I think you have pointed out one of the most significant problems we have today. Somewhere along the line too many of us have accepted the notion that belief is a valid argument (argumentum ad populum). The notion that because everybody has an opinion, all opinions are equal is another fallacy that has taken hold.

Our system of a republican democracy is not simply a fancy name for mob rule, we have, or had, mechanisms and procedures to protect the minority from the majority. They are/were highly flawed and don't always work, but they exist(ed). You are testament to that.

So to get back to the point of my original reply, my opinion is formed through both my own understanding and that of a whole constellation of economists who have achieved the widespread recognition of their peers, and a consistent track record of actually being right for many years. I think any reasonable person would concede that that is probably more valid than large numbers of people simply nodding their heads to whatever they are told by people with a microphone and an agenda to exploit their ignorance.