DiscoGary wrote:
I do! wrote:
That makes a lot of sense. I see A LOT of that on this thread. Things Obama did or tried and was lauded for and Trump has also done are now somehow bad for our country or economy. It hasn't made sense to me until reading that analogy.
What are the principles?
You can join me in my luxury skybox while we ignore the hecklers in the cheap seats. You'll have to forgive them. They can't see much from where they're sitting. Relax and help yourself to a beer and some mini hot dogs.
Let's assume you're looking past the cheer leaders and watching what's happening on the field. Well, ignoring the cheer leaders is a lot more profound than it first sounds because it means you are not counting on ANYONE to explain the game to you. Not even me.
You need to decide what the goal of the game should be. How do you keep score? What really matters? The cheer leading, the demonization, trying to get people to your side ... all that's political stuff, but now you have to decide on and "ideology".
Politics is the struggle to attain the necessary power to force others to live by your ideology.
Your ideology is how you think society should be governed based on your values and your view of the world.
In the football analogy the elements of ideology are:
Values = How do we score the game? What counts as winning? (Standard of living, individual freedom, social justice, civil rights, group rights, environment, income equality?)
View of the World = The laws of physics. If you don't understand these, then you will NEVER understand what's happening on the field, and you will never be able to predict the consequences of the next play. ( economics, human nature, etc ) Liberals struggle with this.
How you think society should be governed = The rules of the game. ( Constitution, federalism, capitalism, socialism?)
Note that many political disagreements occur when one side argues ideology while the other engages in politics. I am constantly trying to convince liberals in the stands to change their values or view of the world, while the cheer leaders try to make sure their people never hear a word of it. If you saw an argument between me and another ideologue you would never know it happened because it would go by so fast, and with so little heat generated that you would think we had just decided where to go to lunch.
Also, note that the laws of physics can not be broken and any attempt to do so will end up hurting people, just like in real life! Liberals constantly think they can change the laws of physics by writing a new rule for the game. This is their downfall. For example, they thought that passing ObamaCare could violate the laws of economics and somehow make health care cheaper for everyone. It failed, not because I'm a white supremacist, but because IT COULD NOT SUCCEED. Football players can not fly, and writing a rule which says they can will not make it so.
So the first principles are your values combined with your view of the world, which then lead to how you think society should be governed. If your first principles are flawed, and you are writing the rule book ... then that's bad for everyone. In the next post I will provide you with sound first principles which will not lead you down the wrong path.
Allow me to borrow your football analogy. You know the guy that blames the refs and Goodell for all your team's problems and fails to realize a much bigger and deeper issue with the team and organization? That's you.