Textos de opinião

Iain Murray, no The American Spectator:

An opinion piece -- whether an individual op-ed or a column -- exists to promote a point of view by argument. It does not seek to establish a fact, but to win people over to a particular viewpoint or opinion. Therefore, the strength of the argument is the key factor in determining the effectiveness of the piece. A sloppily constructed, poorly thought-out argument will convince no one -- while a tightly constructed, coherent, and well-written argument can sway minds. That is why opinion pieces are considered intellectual ammunition in the war of ideas.(...)
It was the Austrian economist and enemy of socialism F. A. Hayek who first spelled out to conservatives that they were engaged in a war of ideas. (...)
One of the reasons why leftists cannot win the war of ideas is that their philosophy has become almost a matter of faith rather than of reason. Those who do not subscribe to their dogma of redistribution of wealth, public direction of industry through regulation, and welfarism are to be cast out. Decades of economic analysis have shown these tenets of leftist faith to be unworkable and positively harmful. Yet leftists, defeated in the war of ideas, regard any expression of these truths with paranoia and hatred.