Pragmatism is a capricious guide

President Obama has made it clear on several occasions that he is no ideologue but a pragmatist; therefore, it could be useful to consider what these terms mean. What makes someone an ideologue or a pragmatist?

Ideologues approach problem-solving from a general framework that they or someone they trust have found to be sound. A Marxist, a utilitarian or libertarian could each be an ideologue when bringing to the table certain principles that will guide the way problems are solved. Most of us are ideologues about some things.  For example, we tend to believe that people have rights and when we solve our problems, we must not violate these rights even if it seems convenient to do so.

Various ideologues would use their general orientations to approach the current economic mess. An example of one ideology may be that bailouts are unacceptable because of a firm belief in private property rights. Or that imposing equal burdens on the citizenry will be considered proper, whatever the results. And ideological thinking can sometimes degenerate into dogmatism, lack of thoughtfulness.

Pragmatism was forged by people who are skeptical about any general viewpoint, any set of general ideas or principles, so that they embrace, instead, a flexible outlook. Thus they make it possible to do nearly anything they find appealing, no holds barred. A pragmatic politician would champion whatever policy that seems to him or her workable or practical, never mind any principles of ethics or politics that the policy might violate. An example of this would be advocating a massive government stimulus package to try to solve the current economic mess regardless of whether this policy violates the notion that only those who are responsible for the mess ought to be burdened with the cost of solving it. This concern over responsibility would show one to be bound by principles and pragmatists reject this.

In the current political climate pragmatism is often seen as a mark of sophistication because, unlike ideological thinking, it looks open-minded, flexible, and freewheeling (unconstrained by notions laid out in a written document such as the U.S. Constitution).\

Pragmatists generally consider such loyalty a mark of laziness when contrasted with their open-mindedness. But pragmatism also has serious liabilities. It is very difficult to apply and can make it fairly easy to rationalize bad conduct and public policies. That's because no one can tell ahead of time what will work to solve the problems at hand, thus allowing for any option whatever.

Why should we exclude theft, for example, if no principles are defensible or exclude torture? If principles are excluded as valid means for guiding conduct, why would even the most dastardly policies be objectionable? Only principles, based on past experience and careful reflection, can give us sensible guidance. So, in fact, pragmatists rarely if ever stick to their pragmatism. Instead they tend to cherry pick their principles.

In our time we see this with how righteously friends of the Obama administration criticize the Bush administration's use of water boarding as torture. In this case, it seems, some principles would be binding on us all. In other words, pragmatism makes it easier to switch principles in mid course. Pragmatism liberates one from the limitations of personal integrity - when principles serve one's purpose, then let's use them, but when they stand in one's way, toss them.

Unfortunately some of those who are invoking pragmatism in their thinking and public posturing are sophistic enough so as to gain the upper hand in debating the issue of what approach is most appropriate when it comes to governing. Few folks can handle Obama and Co.'s cleverness, when they claim to be pragmatic while also opposing torture, for example, on principle.

In fact, however, these clever moves are mostly ways to escape responsibility for one's ideas and policies. They cover up fundamental confusions in one's thinking and in how one sets out to govern, instead of making governing sensible and coherent.