The Importance of An Ideology

Some say that the left right paradigm is over that politics needs to be based upon reality, usually by people to whom an ideology is an anathema.

Ideology
a set of beliefs or principles, especially one on which a political system, party, or organization is based:

The ideology lays out a goal whereas "reality" defines a specific moment in time where certain
conditions are known to be/hold true, since reality is fluid and subject to rapid changes it can be regarded as a unknown variable. One can make predictions based on the current reality and forecast what may happen if one of the conditions is changed with varying degrees of probability.

For example:
The reality: We were attacked we must respond
The counter argument: Invading and occupying Afghanistan will mean a long term war and occupation and the end result chaotic. Based on the historic record this was the most likely result.
The consequences: Many who voted for it anyway believed in a different result we are told, against all the odds, or their intentions were dishonest/deluded right from the start. They then merrily continued by invading Iraq. This was based upon an ideology generally referred to as Neoconservatism which had its roots in the conservative wing of the Democratic Party. Neoconservatives believe using corporate and military power to modify the world to remake the world in our own image under the umbrella doctrine of "American Exceptionalism".
The current reality: Chaotic, the likely end results. If we leave then Afghanistan returns to pre-war conditions of Taliban and Warlord control. If we stay the war continues until we leave. The long shot is if we stay long enough then we create a stable and prosperous Afghanistan which is not supported by the reality of the historical record, re: Korea with a potentially set of terrifying consequences based upon the current unstable reality.

Our country was founded upon an ideology for a given reality at the time, it is regarded by many as being the sum of all wisdom regardless of the current reality. A few countries rewrite their constitutions every so often to accommodate changes in the current reality. However in democratic societies a the basis of these "new" constitutions is usually based upon the ideology of the original so as to integrate the variable that is current reality i.e a progression.

Hence an ideology is the starting point, a constant within a sea of variables, a statement of intent as it were to obtain a specific goal. If one bases everything around the current reality then one is basing stability upon a rapidly and continually shifting variable with a largely unknowable end result with no obvious objective.

The ideology lays out the communal objective with specific requirements, it can be adapted temporarily to the current reality yet still maintain the objectives. The current reality is the result of the proceeding history which logs the previous causes and effects of a given temporary reality. Without understanding the record decisions in the current reality become mere guesswork. In other words, do not do the same damn thing and expect different results.

In a democracy if parties dont hold to an ideology but claim they are reality based how can one make an intelligent decision? Trust? Trust happens to be in very short supply these days because whoever we seem to vote for/or not ignores the principles [ideology] for which they were supposed to stand, often blaming the current reality on their way which often came from changing the principles to meet the previous set of realities. e.g. baking crisis.

When you elect someone with no clear stated ideology nor the experience to react to the reality then all is in flux and unpredictable. When even the person elected is unpredictable on a day to day basis you pray to god that the rest of government still works, which again with the current reality is not reassuring.

An ideology is important and any changes when reacting to the reality should be based upon the principles and the objectives of the original statement of intent. A major change to the ideology will obviously change the current reality and hence the objectives and stating otherwise is merely dishonest.

The question I have to Democrats is; what the hell do you stand for, don't give me a shopping list/pile of soundbites, what is your ideal goal/outcome? "Reality based" politics is all well and good for any given reality at any specific time, especially when you can use it to ignore your current promises/principles if indeed you have any.

Anyway that's enough rambling on my part, I hope a point comes across.

Just a thought. Based upon conversations I have been having both with family/friends in the US and in France. Confusion/disappointment seems to be rife; at least I am not alone in this.

Tags: 
Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

Lookout's picture

has devolved to "more for me" with both parties at the trough and the politicians bought and paid to serve the corporate overlords.

The idea of the public good seems to have evaporated some time ago. Best of luck on your side of the pond doing better than the profit seeking policies here in the states.

up
0 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout and is not just the US it is pretty rife.

up
0 users have voted.
gulfgal98's picture

@LaFeminista @LaFeminista Sadly neoliberalism is a very selfish and ugly ideology. It is now leading to a backlash of proto fascist candidates which will be end up being far uglier. The concept of public good has been shattered and left in a pile of dust at the altar of money.

Elimination of the concept of public good is one of the five main characteristics of neo-liberalism as compiled in What is “Neo-Liberalism”? which was written by Elizabeth Martinez and Arnoldo Garcia from Corporate Watch.

ELIMINATING THE CONCEPT OF "THE PUBLIC GOOD" or "COMMUNITY" and replacing it with "individual responsibility." Pressuring the poorest people in a society to find solutions to their lack of health care, education and social security all by themselves -- then blaming them, if they fail, as "lazy."

up
0 users have voted.

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@gulfgal98 We don't hear enough of these in a positive sense and see even less action aimed at improving them. Now all we hear is Gummint iz bad, teh ebil of taxation, freedumb all designed to keep them down and far from free. All goes back to the hate campaign against single mothers. One easily attacked group at the time, at the moment it's immigrants, they'll always blame something so as to avoid their own failings. "Why do the hate us" must rank right up there in the imbecile stakes.

up
0 users have voted.
Cassiodorus's picture

@gulfgal98 at this point if the

backlash of proto fascist candidates

will in fact

end up being far uglier.

After all, in the US and in much of Europe the so-called "Left" has sold its collective soul to neoliberalism, and so the last remaining refuge of the idea that you deserve something for your taxes will be advertised as the so-called "Far Right," which will if elected turn out to be more neoliberalism, just as Donald Trump turns out to be more neoliberalism.

Your task, in these trying times, will be to keep alive the dream of something other than neoliberalism, all the way up to the point when "climate departure" puts paid all the neoliberal dreams.

up
0 users have voted.

"I'm starting to believe that they want Donald Trump to get elected." -- Compton Jay

ggersh's picture

the empire is winning

http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/04/26/empire-abroad-empire-at-home/

We know too that globalization is a permanent fact. The international economy is the engine of our nation and the source of our wealth. It means that all the physical and conceptual walls associated with the modern, sovereign state—the walls that divide domestic from international, the police from the military, intelligence from law enforcement, war from peace, and crime from war—are coming down.

The institutions and ideas U.S. elites used to project “full spectrum dominance” onto the global stage have eventually become part of the political order in the U.S. The “full spectrum” includes us.

up
0 users have voted.

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

@ggersh

up
0 users have voted.

You have to have ideas to have an ideology. These bastards only have One idea and that is more for them, fuck All of YOU! Including me, of course.
Freudian slip in Prey to Dog?
Love your writing and thought process, please keep doing it.

peace

up
0 users have voted.

Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

@Tall Bald and Ugly

up
0 users have voted.

Goes back to the French revolution where in the Estates-General, the representatives of the common people sat on the left and the representatives of the rich and titled sat on the right.

Therefore, in today's USA, it is correct to say that there are two right wing major parties ,(D) and (R), and a minor right wing party (L). I'm not sure how to sit the (G) party after Stein demanded a recount that could only benefit Hillary.

The differences in the (D) and (R) parties are purely social not economic.

up
0 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness industrial complex the use of the war on drugs and war on terror as means of control and division.

Many on both sides willing use their "religion" to justify their inherent bigotries.

up
0 users have voted.

@The Voice In the Wilderness

The issue was election integrity not Hillary winning. It's unfair to assign that motive to Jill. Integrity of the process has to be more important than the personality of the candidate.

up
0 users have voted.

Beware the bullshit factories.

@Timmethy2.0

up
0 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

should be equal before the law and have equal access to education, jobs, housing, the commons and distributions of the benefits from economic exploitation of the commons. ...

up
0 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Arrow's picture

Is the slavish devotion to the myth of 'upward mobility'.
Both parties and US culture as a whole view Meritocracy as a given.
Thomas frank talked at length how Hills and DLC types celebrated the 'winners' of this game at the expense of the working class.
As a humanist like myself, who believes in the worth and dignity of all, it is easy to see how divisive and monstrous an ideology is that holds Meritocracy as an ultimate ideal.

up
0 users have voted.

I want a Pony!

Pluto's Republic's picture

@Arrow

Meritocracy is the concept of bestowing authority or power on people selected on the basis of their ability. This usually takes place within the construct of a government or bureaucracy.

Upward mobility is a social construct and is usually referred to as "social mobility." It is the idea that the child will do better than the parents considering the concurrent advancements of civilization. The son of a rag picker could become a wagon maker and so forth. It is imperative that each generation do better than the last because, with population growth, each new generation must be able to care for the oldest generations in a society. Where social mobility flourishes, there is civilization. Where it breaks down, there is a failed state and extinction. What determines that is called the GINI index, which measures income inequality (caused by under taxation and concentrated money hoarding). In places with a high GINI, like the US, society is breaking down. The new generation is economically weaker than the one before it, and older generations can no longer be supported.

In that sense, you are right. Upward mobility is a myth.

up
0 users have voted.

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato