On Ideology

White sitting around talking politics, I received the impression that some reject ideologies as such. For sure, no ideology is perfect, but that misses the point. An ideology models society and the people within a society. We need a model to comprehend the complexities of society. The hard sciences like physics can test their models in controlled conditions repeatedly. We know that the theory of general relativity is a good model as it has held up to countless tests and predict phenomenon in many situations. It is not perfect, but physicists are not about to throw away something that works in favor of nothing at all. we cannot experiment so rigorously with societies, so we have to study history and human nature.

For those who dismiss ideology all together, you are traveling without a map or direction. Usually whether one admits it or not, some sort of implicit ideology guides their voting and policy preferences. People have some approximation of the scope and role of government in society implied in their statements. John F. Kennedy said,
"What is at stake in our economic decisions today is not some grand warfare of rival ideologies which will sweep the country with passion but the practical management of a modern economy. What we need are not labels and cliche's but more basic discussion of the sophisticated and technical questions involved in keeping a great economic machinery moving ahead."

This assumes that the economy can be managed like a machine. Actual policy would embody even more ideology since it would endorse ends for the economy whether it's higher growth, a better environment, or more equality. Casually, people will say that he government needs to do x, or that y is none of the government's business. While most do not make their assumptions explicit, more people should in order to better comprehend a complex society.

Why is ideology rejected as such

• People have seen too many ideologies applied that do not fit society or human nature and cause much damage
• Exceptions to the rule are dealt with first and the whole package is discarded if it does not fit in every single case.
• People do not know what ideologies are out there and why they exist

Just making you think,

Drew