My Political Orientation

I am an urban person. I like mass transit systems. I like street maintenance. I like an efficient police system and government agencies, which help the needy. I like the things that citizen groups can do together. Government is the most fundamental and one of the most powerful of all citizen groups. I admire the national health care systems of most European nations and wish we had something comparable. I am sad that our cities and states are not really committed to providing an equal level of security and education to all our citizens, regardless of social-economic background. As an urban person, I have no interest in fleeing my city to escape from a population of uneducated hoodlums.

I am, however, very aware that other Americans do not share all of these outlooks. Indeed, I was not born in an urban environment. I now live in Cleveland, Ohio. But I was born in a state: Nebraska, and a country: the United States, which has had significant difficulty in identifying with the urban experience. To Americans, cities are often felt as a necessary evil. So when I go to western Nebraska, I am left a bit perplexed as to what political perspective to argue for. My ideal government is not their ideal government.

But this is the essence of democracy. We don't have to agree on what the ideal government is. But we do need to be able to sit together like a good family, and pragmatically discuss how to spend our money.

I am very pragmatic. My political orientation is not determined by what I believe. It is determined by where I am located. I am located in Cleveland, Ohio. But I am also located in the United States of America.

Ideology and Pragmatism

Our political discourse today is marked by the prevalence of ideological discourse. To me, this is distressing. An ideological statement typically begins with something to the effect of "I believe." For example: I believe in universal health care, or I believe in a free market, or I believe in capitalism, or I believe in socialism. Ideological statements are often stated in the negative, such as: I am opposed to government intervention, or I am opposed to corporate influence.

Ideological statements polarize. They assume two sides. The speaker situates himself on one side of a conflict. Ideology always comes out at election time. It situates the debate at the level of what distinguishes us. It raises our adrenaline.

On the other hand, if you have a group of people who share a common threat and you need to work together to resolve that threat, ideological statements need to be avoided. All successful families know this instinctively. You don't start the conversation by saying: "I believe you are not thrifty enough." It implies that the person being spoken to lacks commitment to thrift, something we all agree is good, and raises his adrenaline. It prepares him to defend himself.

Instead of making an ideological statement, successful families are pragmatic. They stick to the problem at hand. "Hey, I'm worried about money. I've noticed that each month our balance is less than the month before. Do you have any ideas about what we could do about this?"