Urbano (१)

Those who read the material on this blog should be aware that others demur. If we are to reach good decisions, their comments are as important as the assertions made in the postings. Unfortunately, their comments are buried in such a way that they are not readily available. I plan to bring some of them to this "upper" level to be sure they're available to all। For example, Urbano dela Cruz posted the following in response to
"Comments On Political Parties (1)":

Fred,

"Ideology is significant for large groups of people. It is considered foolish in individuals. Among small groups of people, employment situations and social gatherings for example, those who maintain an ideological attitude are more apt to be shunned than heeded"

I'm not sure I quite agree with that statement. You'll have to show me more proof than inference. It might be said that ideologies -and the ideologically driven attract their own groups of followers.

"However high-minded the foundation of a party may be, those who achieve power by espousing its principles become cynical when they achieve power. One of the reasons is that most of the decisions they are called upon to make have nothing to do with the ideology they proclaim."

again, those is a value-judgement laden statements. you already judge that the cart comes before the horse (i.e. -espouse principles -to achieve power) and then judge the effect (become cynical) based on another judgement call ('the decisions..have nothing to do...")

You may very well be right in your analysis, but I would ask for more proof that that is how things operate. (I find it very perilous to begin ascribing motives.)

(end of Urbano's post)


I have, indeed, made value-judgements regarding our political existence. Had I not, I would not feel the system needs improvement. However, there IS a problem with having done so.

Value, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

I shan't, in this case, try to prove the correctness of my opinions because I consider it a digression. The way I arrived at them is less important than the conclusion: Our political infrastructure is flawed and correcting it will require all our attention. Even so, Urbano has raised an important point. The reader must decide if my bias is so great as to invalidate my conclusion. (Note: If there is a specific question, for example, if Urbano considers the question of ideology in small groups important enough, I'll do my best to explain my view.)

In addition to this point, Urbano raised a number of questions about the troika/triad method of selecting representatives. I plan to examine those questions (and, hopefully, those raised by others) in subsequent posts.

Fred