Once again, some really good ideas to agree with. But my caution is that while, yes, "piecemeal social engineering" is usually the very best alternative, in some circumstances we may need more radical measures. That is, let's not foreclose our options by making too many absolutist statements. Heath care reform, if done piecemeal, makes a lot of sense while centrally planned health reform does not. However, as wasteful and inefficient as the Department of Homeland Security is, in fact, after 9 / 11 the last thing we needed was more piecemeal national security programs, which was one reason for the attacks upon us being successful. Billy --------------------------------------------------------------- 1/10/2012 9:16:39 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, [email protected] writes:
I can go with "rational evolvement". Popper called the concept "piecemeal social engineering". He thought the difference between piecemeal and utopian engineering was, "the difference between a reasonable method of improving the lot of man, and a method which, if really tried, may easily lead to an intolerable increase in human suffering. It is the difference between a method which can be applied at any moment, and a method whose advocacy may easily become a means of continually postponing action until a later date, when conditions are more favorable. And it is also the difference between the only method of improving matters which has so far been really successful, at any time, and in any place, and a method which, wherever it has been tried, has led only to the use of violence in place of reason, and if not to its own abandonment, at any rate to that of its original blueprint. On Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 11:42 AM, Chris Hahn <[email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) > wrote: I like your concepts, but I don’t like the word progressivism. It will be too easily be confused with American progressivism which already has a meaning. Instead of rational progressivism, how about “rational improvement” or “rational evolvement”? Chris From: [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) [mailto:[email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) ] On Behalf Of Mike Gonzalez Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2012 9:32 AM To: radicalcentrism Subject: [RC] Thoughts on this tenet? I want to home-in on this particular tenet and get to the heart of the point (tempered optimism + our brand of centrism = rational progressivism): -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
