Even with a method with which to analyze philosophical and political questions, where we can decipher false choice (and RC is very good at that), "objectivity" is still dependent on competing priorities. A crucial part of Hume's philosophy was that you can't automatically bridge any single or collection of facts into a normative statement. A value or goal (telos) must always sit between the two.
This forces us to define our values. Libertarians prioritize "negative liberty", conservatives value tradition and the organic society, etc. To a large extent, our embrace as Americans of the concepts of small-r republicanism and constitutionalism inform some of our priorities, but there are other questions still out there. RC also has its own values, which include centeredness and balance. I ultimately want RC to fuel a successful political movement. This involves pulling people who would not normally consider themselves RCers to buy into us. At this point, I think we're in an optimal situation for this, as 21st century American progressive and the conservative leaders have no desire to reach beyond their ideological dictates to capture what's real. This leaves a large portion of the populace ripe for the picking, even though most are far from over-ripe. Basically, I think we need some tools that other political movements have. I want to establish a narrative around RC that ultimately ties us all together. This "narrative" could a few attractive normative or value statements that make an unaffiliated voter stand up and say, "that sounds like me," bringing them into the fold. Mark Satin calls this an "animating passion." Anyway, I could go on forever, but I have a favor to ask: over the next few days, I'm going to copy and paste parts of the Political Typology quiz. Do you mind replying with your answers? If you want to add a line explaining your answer, that's no problem either. Feel free to skip any questions, at your leisure. Note that there's no real middle-ground on the questions, and Pew (the creator of the test) says that it's purposeful in order to link values. I found that I had to push myself into a category more often than not, and justify it to myself logically. So without further ado, here are the first few questions: 1. Which of the following statements comes closest to your view? A - Government regulation of business is necessary to protect the public interest B - Government regulation of business usually does more harm than good 2. Which of the following statements comes closest to your view? A - Most people who want to get ahead can make it if they're willing to work hard B - Hard work and determination are no guarantee of success for most people 3. Which of the following statements comes closest to your view? A - This country should do whatever it takes to protect the environment B - This country has gone too far in its efforts to protect the environment 4. Which of the following statements comes closest to your view? A - Using overwhelming military force is the best way to defeat terrorism around the world B - Relying too much on military force to defeat terrorism creates hatred that leads to more terrorism 5. Which of the following statements comes closest to your view? A - Racial discrimination is the main reason why many black people can't get ahead these days B - Blacks who can't get ahead in this country are mostly responsible for their own condition 6. Which of the following statements comes closest to your view? A - Business corporations make too much profit B - Most corporations make a fair and reasonable amount of profit 7. Which of the following statements comes closest to your view? A - Poor people today have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything in return B - Poor people have hard lives because government benefits don't go far enough to help them live decently 8. Which of the following statements comes closest to your view? A - It is best for the future to be active in world affairs B - We should pay less attention to problems overseas and concentrate on problems here at home -- -- 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 --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
