Ideology as Idiocy

I guess you could call me a political pragmatist. I’ve been called worse. As an attorney who has represented victims for my entire career, I am acutely attuned to the needs of people who have been wronged by the system. I tend to focus on how we can help real people find real justice. Consequently, I am not an ideologue – I am not wedded to any political party or economic theory. I am a Democrat, I am a capitalist, I am a believer in the American Dream. But I am not a believer that my beliefs are more important than reality. To me those ideologies (progressivism, capitalism) are like magnetic poles that guide a voyage.

This is where I think the system has gone wrong in the past 20 years. For whatever sociological reason, our society has shifted to one where ideology is more important than reality. Of course, the most extreme manifestation of this is the Tea Party. This is a political Party that openly espoused the belief that defaulting the debt would be good for our Country. If the Tea Party were a person, they would be hospitalized in a mental institution as a danger to themselves or others.

Compromise was the practical means to get work done. Ideology is the enemy of compromise. True believers in politics are just as dangerous as the religious ones. When ideological purity is the most important criterion for any endeavor, then that endeavor is doomed. Which, I suppose, does not bode well for our Country.