Mark, having discovered I am much more the Aristotelian than Platonist, muses thus:
With that kind of realism I wonder if you will be considered " progressive " in the current political sense of the term a decade from now
Probably more so.
Understand that 50 is closer than 45, which means I'm well past the point where human brains become inflexible.
More importantly, my insistence on dealing in real things is the reason I align myself with the progressives. The Conservative belief that one can stand athward the flow of time by dint of sheer will is…not accurate. The Neocon belief that one can construct a society by strictly controlling all the I/O is hallucinatory, resulting in the political equivalent of the Dust Bowl…life and society are patterned as opposed to logical (he who understands is spared three blows).
Change is the constant, and in the face of that the only sane reaction is adaptation, and mastery of the ways things change.
Posted by P6 at May 25, 2004 11:53 AM
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Comments
Ah, in fairness to the conservatives, despite Wiliam F. Buckley to the contrary, they are not crying "halt" so much as " respect" as you adjust to change. At least that's how the old Burkean conservatives felt. Society being a contract between the living and the dead and those yet to be born.
The deep attachment to religiously sanctioned tradition for tradition's sake is a primary reason why I'm not really a " conservative ". There's a lot of that too on the Left as well - taking one's position's on faith instead of on evidence is still faith even if you're militantly secular. Reality continues to exist regardless of the teachings of " The Cause" or " The Church".
You may become more radical over time Earl but your habit of looking for the evidence may mitigate against it. Or at least keep your feet firmly planted on this earth.
Posted by mark safranski at May 25, 2004 02:26 PM