But people who follow politics closely — whether voters, activists or pundits — are often partisans first and ideologues second. Instead of assessing every policy on the merits, we tend to reverse-engineer the arguments required to justify whatever our own side happens to be doing. Our ideological convictions may be real enough, but our deepest conviction is often that the other guys can’t be trusted.
via nytimes.com
That's NY Times columnist Ross Douthat. While he's sometimes dimssied because he writes for the NYT, I would remind the reader that just because he's an anointed conservative doesn't mean he isn't correct in what he writes.
In this case, I'd say he hits the nail on the head and I don't think anyone should be afraid of a little self-reflection to test Douthat's hypothesis.
Be sure to check out the link to read the whole thing. You might be surprised to read his conclusion about whether this state of affairs is a good thing or a bad thing.
1 comment:
I would agree with Douthat but take it a step farrther. I have an opinion of the partisan mind identical to the one Barry Ritholtz put forth a few weeks ago:
"Sports fans, Partisans — anyone emotionally invested in any specific outcome — lose the ability to objectively judge reality. Studies have shown that their brains appear to have a form of damage similar to aphasiacs. But there is no physical damage, it is merely inherent flaws built into the wetware."
There will always be Americans that are skeptical of our government which is a good thing of course. But the more we can marginalize the group of people Ritholtz (and Douthat) refers to from our political process the better.
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