|
Hugh Segal and the Practical-Ideological
Dichotomy
Dear Editor,
Re: "Canadian Voters Frown on Parties Seized by Ideology"--by Hugh Segal--April
4-6--Financial Post
According to Hugh Segal, modern conservatives should be practical -- not ideological.
But since an ideology is an integrated body of ideas or principles, this means that
ideas are not practical. That is certainly true of left-wing ideas, many of which
Segal has swallowed, but not true of ideas or principles as such.
Segal's idea of being "practical" is to adopt a "pragmatic mix of
conservative fiscal policies and humane social policies." But a policy presupposes
a goal, which presupposes an ideology, i.e., ideas about what is good versus bad.
A practical policy (assuming that the chosen goal is achievable) is one that achieves
the goal in practice, which requires understanding the cause-and-effect relationships
or principles involved.
For example, if reason and freedom -- freedom for each individual to think, create
values and personally benefit therefrom -- are the basic cause of prosperity, as
history has amply demonstrated, then the leftist policy of punishing each according
to his ability won't achieve prosperity regardless of anybody's feelings or intentions.
Segal, in claiming that practicality is achieved by eschewing ideology, merely wants
to have his cake and eat it too -- he wants to criticize people for being "ideological"
whenever they disagree with his (destructive) policies.
The only alternative to a principled approach to choosing policies is a whatever-feels-right-at-the-moment
approach, which explains why it's so hard to nail down what Segal really stands for,
or what side of the Liberals he is on at any given moment.
When a government fails to protect individual rights, the result is warring pressure
groups running to politicians for special favours and handouts at others' expense.
Such a climate abhors principled politicians and attracts pragmatists like Hugh Segal
who -- in the name of practicality -- eschews principles in the hopeless attempt
to be everything to everybody.
Sincerely,
Glenn Woiceshyn
© 1998 Glenn Woiceshyn.
All rights reserved. This article can be found on-line at at http://www.capitalism.org/glennw. |
|
