About ideology.....

[Wetzelbill]

In looking at the differences in Republican and Democratic presidents I found one thing striking. (Well, many things, but I'll only talk about one)

If you were to question Bill Clinton about something obscure regarding policy, he wouldn't be stumped. (you could say the same for Britain's Tony Blair too) Instead, Clinton would rattle out all sorts of concepts and ideas. He knew the stuff in and out - did I just say "in and out" while writing about Bill Clinton? oops. Clinton, no matter what you could say about the man, was an avid reader and a policy machine. Rarely, if ever, did his advisors know something that he didn't know.

Jimmy Carter was heavily involved in peace talks between Egypt and Israel. He has since written books regarding the arab-Israeli conflict, and spent his years out of office as a highly regarded statesman and international relations expert. Not much got passed Jimmy on an intellectual level. Whether or not you take umbrage with his presidencial legacy, Carter is nobody's fool when it comes to political knowledge.

Dubya Bush and Reagan have frequently been characterized as disengaged and incurious about policy. Bush, Sr, has a slightly better reputation but is widely regarded as being out of touch with most of America and the world. if you were to have asked Dubya or Reagan an in depth policy question -unscripted- they'd look at you like you were an alien or something.

Instead of policy and intellect, Dubya -and his slightly less out of control ideologue Reagan - subscribe to ideology. A certain preordained philosophy that is supposed to work in theory and no matter what. Bush cannot be bothered to read a newspaper or engage deeply into political debate. His philosophy says:" cutting taxes is good, so just go out and do it" or "Saddam is bad, well he must have ties to al-qaeda and WMD, so lets go get him." The ideology is without question right, so go do it and make the information fit the facts later.

So then we have an uncorroborated philosophy that is the cure-all for everything. Ideology rules. Economy is bad? Nearly 3 million jobs lost?? Well, obviously there are too many taxes. Stick your head down and keep beating the horse until it works.

Never mind that it doesn't work. Just do it.

Now listen to John Kerry this next year. Is he articulate? Knowledgable? Is he well-read and policy driven? Is he flexible or bent on one narrow world view?

We know where Bush stands. We know exactly what we'll get from the Bushes, Delays and Gingriches of the world.

More of the same whether it works or not. Simply because the philosophy says so.

[Steely_Dan]

1. Good Synopsis

Good synopsis, Wetzelbill. I think that you are right on the mark. -Paige

[cetasika]

2. This is a reason to admire Republicans

unlike our party, the gop believes in something.
Something terrible, but at least they have goals and standards.
The Democratic party seems to just be reactionary on a partisan and ideological level with no real plan of its own.

We need a progressive version of PNAC.