An exercise in thinking, or futility?
By Jim Surber 

While reading another community’s newspaper online, I was impressed by one reader’s comment to an opinion writer. The gist of his statement was that the constant slamming of specific political ideology or people turns him off, as he considers himself to be a moderate. 

Good for him. There is a lot more sense near the middle than on either side (my opinion). 

His comment was thought-provoking, and my first impression is that ideologies of all forms, whether conservative, liberal, libertarian, or whatever, are inherently bad. It is illogical to believe that one persuasion would be totally correct, while the others are totally incorrect. 

Most people should be able to agree that the liberal-conservative divide may be the single most harmful thing in our nation. Politicians at the higher levels, as well as many people, do not care about solving problems or improving situations; they simply want to know if a particular idea is liberal or conservative. Once this is known they are immediately for, or against it. But there is a good explanation for this. 

Ideologies are a perfect excuse for people to avoid thinking. 

Once they adopt a philosophy they think has all the answers, their task easily shifts from thinking to rationalizing. (I have always believed that the human capacity for rationalization is the only truly infinite quantity in the universe.) 

It is difficult to listen to one’s opinion when it is obvious that he started with answers, and worked backwards to select facts that support the view, while ignoring the facts that don’t. 

Can anyone really take an opinion seriously without first believing the person understands both sides of the issue in question? Yes, if that opinion matches or resembles a person’s adopted ideology. 

Another fallacy is the popular assumption that an opinion on any given subject locates a person at some point on the conservative-liberal scale. There is no logical reason why one’s opinion on gun control should have the same ideological correlation as their opinion on birth control. Yes, while those who publicly demonstrate or pontificate on a given issue are nearly always a member of an easily-identifiable group, there are many silent citizens who do not fit either or any given mold. 

Would we all be a lot better off if people ditched their ideology and used facts to present an argument or bolster an opinion? Is this totally impossible given the entrenched, two-sided, adversarial system we have embraced for over two centuries? Probably yes on both questions, but here are a few other thoughts on things that could be considered priority:  

Our freedom of speech is very important. If anyone is ever given the power to decide that some particular form of speech is forbidden, that power is simply too easy to abuse. To put it another way, “Pay close attention to the words you say if you try to curtail the speech of people you don’t like; they are the same words you will hear when others take away your right to speak.” 

Our democratic-republic form of government is good, and we should always seek to preserve it. 

Compromise is not a dirty word, and we certainly need more of it today. 

People who would rather make a point than win an election always lose to people who would rather win an election than make a point. 

The earth is a nice planet and for all those who came before us, and all those who hopefully will come after us, we have an obligation to not destroy it. 

Prosperity is definitely better than poverty, and technology should be a tool for problem solution, not a way of life. 

And finally, for all of us ideologues, the fanatics on your own side are your worst enemies, because they discredit you. So don’t judge your opposition based upon the words of the worst fanatics on their side. 

George Bernard Shaw once observed, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world, while the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” 

Maybe so, George, but it always seems to be the reasonable people that are the ones who get things done.