Ideology, Politics and Policy

Setting your ideas to sail!  Translating ideas into winning 

elections,  passing legislation, and creating successful 

policies are not the same thing.

There's a big difference between the three.

Before we talk about what core views and values Conservatives share - it will be helpful to understand the distinction between three concepts:  ideology, politics, and policy.  You may find in debates that people point to political statements, positions as a means to call into question conservative ideology.  

Example:  Deficit spending under Republican President George Bush exploded.  George Bush claims to be a Conservative.  Therefore Conservatives do not believe in fiscal discipline (or Conservatives are hypocrites.

Because the intersection between ideology, politics and policy can get messy - it is important to understand the differences between the three.

IDEOLOGY - The art of the imaginable.   Ideology is defined as a system of ideas and ideals that are characteristic of a group, social class, or individual.  Ideological concepts can be pure and exist without regard to reality or need for compromise.  

POLITICS - The art of the possible. Politics is the art of winning elections.  In the United States our systems is set up to encourage the formation of two major parties.  Therefore, on a national level, the House of Representatives may be controlled by the Republicans or the Democrats.  Same with the Senate.  Same also with the Presidency.  This reality requires that both the Republican and Democratic Parties create a large coalition of different - sometimes contradictory - groups in order to muster enough votes to win an election.

Example:  The Democratic Party attracts both social conservative catholics as well as pro-abortion rights individuals.

POLICY - The art of the actual.  Once the election is won, and the bill passes the legislature, then policy kicks into gear.  How we translate our ideology into actual policy can be tricky in three ways.  First, idealistic dreams run into trouble when they must take the form of actual mandates or prohibitions.  Second, few - if any - solutions to perceived problems solve 100% of the problem and lead to unintended consequences.  Third, most solutions create or reveal new problems.

Example: By going paperless I have eliminated the problems with storing lots of pages, and lost pages.  However now I need to buy larger computer screens and I have to deal with computer storage back up.

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The relationship between the three cuts both ways:  

The inability scrupulously follow  ideology in the political and policy realm should not undercut the legitimacy of that ideology.  An example of this would be why Libertarians may decide to vote for a Republican candidate even though that candidate does not align 100% with Libertarian ideology.  

However if your ideology cannot survive interaction with the real world - then it may be time to reassess the wisdom of your selection.  An example would be the failure of communism to create a prosperous society.