Posted on 03/14/2019 5:27:06 PM PDT by huckfillary
I don’t understand the idea that ideology is a bad thing. Notice the contradiction here? “Ideas are a bad thing.” That itself is an idea.
Democrats, some party insiders say, are going over a cliff. They’re going all-out socialist. Even Communist. One of their leading figures wants to tear down every single building in America and build new ones, conforming to environmentalist standards. Most of her colleagues in the Establishment either agree, or are reluctant to be seen disagreeing.
Is ideology to blame for this madness? No way. It’s not ideology that’s to blame. Ideology simply means the presence of IDEAS. It’s the content and quality of the ideas that matters.
America’s founders were ideologues. They were radical for their time. In fact, they are radical for today. They held the idea that the only proper function of a government was to protect liberty. To uphold the rights of the individual. The rights of the individual, they insisted, were to the PURSUIT of happiness. There was, according to these radicals, no right to free housing, free medical care, free cell phones, free college, free graduate school, and all the rest. They took it for granted that forcing one man to pay for the livelihood of another was not only NOT a right, but a form of slavery for the man forced to pay for it. They would be horrified by the policies of Republicans today, to say nothing of the up-and-coming socialistic Communists now on the mainstream of the left.
President Trump is not an ideologue. Although he’d be even less popular if he was, he’d be more effective if he was. Fortunately, most of his attitudes and emotions are based on the right ideas — lower taxes, less regulation, a strong defense where America is the good guy and people like ISIS are self-evidently evil, who need to be destroyed. President Trump’s attitudes are the precise opposite not just of the up-and-coming socialist Democrats, but of the “old fashioned” Democrats as well. Lucky for America we have a President whose attitudes are based on the right ideas, for the most part.
A society without ideas is like an individual without ideas. It’s mindless. It cannot survive for long without ideas. At least on the left, they’re full of ideas. Their ideas are insane. Their ideas are dedicated to the destruction of liberty, prosperity, individual rights, capitalism and even the rule of law. They don’t care. Yet don’t blame their irrational ideas on ideology itself.
Your emotions, attitudes, feelings and actions are ultimately based on ideas you hold, at least subconsciously. If America is to survive, at some point we have to rededicate ourselves to the ideas of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the Bill of Rights. Some Americans are doing this, but not enough to save us from the tyrants coming to dominate the left. We could be a single election or two away from tyranny.
Our survival as a free and rational civilization depends on ideas. So we better embrace the right ones.
You mean like communism or honesty?
From the looks of it, one may use ideals and ideology interchangeably.
You are cordially invited to argue with the dictionary.
An ideal is a characteristic
Ideology is a system
Duh, ideology is not mere ideas. In the sociological sense of the term, it means ideas mixed with economic interests.
Ideology is best understood by a well-known joke about cows:
Socialism: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
Communism: You have two cows. You give them to the government, and the government then gives you some milk.
Fascism: You have two cows. You give them to the government, and the government then sells you some milk.
Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.
Nazism: You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots you.
My original comment was that anyone without ideology, or a system of beliefs, is a mental invalid. The diversion changed nothing.
As you say...
The first thought that popped into my head was the adage, “Don’t be so heavenly pure that you’re no earthy good.”
That fits with those who profess “principles” in my world. Yes, Rand. I’m talking about you and you’re vote today. We all have principles, but never let them get in the way of sound reason.
That’s called pragmatism and many people
think it’s scandalous.
You’re only ideology is to be what is pleasing to God
That makes life pretty dang simple and easy to remember
It depends on the ideology. An ideology is a systematic way of looking at ideas. That can be helpful in making sense of the world, but strict adherence can blind you to reality outside the limits of the ideolgy.
For you and me...
Ideology is a way of thinking pertaining to a group or an individual which COULD be the result of, or at least incorporate the sense of IDEALS.
We're still FRiends, but back in the day, we had a slew of wordsmiths that helped me formulate my own thought processing.
The article actually targets the IDEALS of IDEAS (in our founding, and it's Fathers) and as I understand the question posed in the title compared to the body of the essay, I think the liberty I took is forgivable ....
It's all good, FRiend
We ARE after all, uniquely ... AMERICAN.
bump
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