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> Most ideological debates aren't about that. There is no side arguing that government for the sake of government is good. You can always add more nuance. Ehre
by brownbat 10y ago
> Most ideological debates aren't about that. There is no side arguing that government for the sake of government is good.
You can always add more nuance. Ehrenreich had a great piece 20 years ago, "Confessions of a Recovering Statist" with arguments from the left for skepticism of government power. Some people follow that mold and consider themselves liberal-tarians. Some on the right are more hawks, nationalists, or law and order types who prefer strong state institutions.
But speaking in broad swaths, the impression that I get is that most people have a pretty shallow understanding of political theory, and go with the simplest heuristic possible. No fault of their own, it doesn't interest them. They have lawns to mow and bills to pay.
Given that, a better simplification of the current party lines might not drill down into subfactions of parties, but to capture most people, you could get away with something like "I'm on team red" vs. "I'm on team blue."
Short of that, I'm not convinced pro-G / anti-G is that bad of a model for most people though.
- JamesBarney 10y agoLabeling a team pro-G is similar to labeling pro-lifers anti-choice. Or pro-choice people as pro-abortion. It using one sided proposed narrative to create a caricature of the other. It's a very common stereotype on the right, that members of left are interested in more government for the sake of government. And labeling a side pro-government perpetuates this misperception.
- brownbat 10y agoI'm not on the right criticizing the left though, and it strikes me as melodramatic to say this "perpetuates a misperception." Let's talk about perceptions and misperceptions. Most Americans have no idea who is in power, or how their government is structured: http://www.businessinsider.com/poll-many-americans-dont-know-basic-facts-about-government-2014-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/poll-many-americans-dont-know... Given that, I'll grant that it's probably a mistake to think that people's political ideologies have anything to do with a theory of government at all. Most people's political ideologies are probably about as refined as a blue/red color preference.