MAKING SEN$E: "American Ideology? There Is No Such Thing"
PBS NewsHour
October 10, 2012
http://www.pbs.org/newsho...thing.html

MAKING SEN$E: "American Ideology: We Don't Practice What We Preach, Don't Preach What We Practice"
PBS NewsHour
October 10, 2012
http://www.pbs.org/newsho...ctice.html

Hal, I would be interested to know what you, Richard and or Bridgier thought of the first article you posted.

I think Hill came up with a catchy (if incorrect) title for his essay hoping to create some buzz for himself - and he succeeded at that to some extent. Once you get beyond the title, his essay is pretty much follows the standard NeoCon foreign policy line. We've heard it before.

I thought the two essays were interesting when taken together. The characterization of Lodge, as being "nearer to what used to be called the left" does a great deal to explain 21st century American ideology. NewHour couldn't come up with a real Lefty?? : -) : -)

The "ideologies" that drive our nation's two political parties are so closely intertwined that there is nothing of substance to debate between the two. Because there is no substantive difference to distinguish the two, the parties then focus on "hot button" issues and encourage divisive, uncivil debate at the expense of the common good.

I wonder if an opportunity was missed in these essays, particularly Lodge's, to introduce readers to Pragmatism, as developed through Charles Peirce, William James, and John Dewey. If you don't enroll in an American Philosophy class while at the university it's unlikely that you'll ever hear of it. However, as a school of philosophy, it is one of this country's oldest, most substantial, and still vital traditions, reaching back to the 1870s.

The tenets of Pragmatism seem relevant to the discussion, especially as Ayn Rand - the bitter darling of individualism absolutists - uses it alongside Christianity as a chief antagonist in most of her essays and novels.

Joe I could not agree more. Pragmatism, logic, reason, education and scientific method have all been hijacked by retarded pseudo-religious Neanderthals that believe that the world is 15,000 years old.

I am no longer shocked by our political atmosphere and I remember preaching a decade ago about the manufactured polarization of American politics. However, my lack of surprise stems from being an existentialist rather than a pragmatist. But then again maybe I am a pragmatic existentialist.
Where is Spock when we need him.