Prager U: Idealogue or Pragmatist?

Which one are you?

6.30.2016

Prager University has the great Jonah Goldberg on hand to explain the difference between ideology and pragmatism to debunk the leftist lie that they have no ideology or principles.

Everyone has a belief, everyone has a principle. If you believe in free distribution of wealth, then you have a socialist principle. If you believe abortion should be abolished, then you have a pro-life principle.

Throughout the video, Jonah Goldberg explains what any free-thinking individual would classify as common sense. If someone believes something to be true or righteous, then naturally that person would act accordingly.

The most important lesson to take away from Goldberg's lecture occurs at the 2:40 mark when he describes the logical conundrum that occurs when leftists whine about "labels" or partisanships.

How often do you hear people say, "I don’t believe in labels?” Whether its liberal politicians, TV news anchors, columnists, cable news hosts or your brother-in-law, Harry, the line always goes something like this: "Why can’t we move beyond these partisan labels? Why can’t we get beyond this philosophical divide and get to the hard work of dealing with the problems facing the American people?"

Warning: People only they say these things when they want you to shut up and get with their program.

What you never hear them say is: "We need to move beyond these partisan labels, we need to get beyond the philosophical divide and for that reason I’m going to abandon all of my principles and agree with you."

These statements illustrate the fulcrum at the heart of debating leftists, largely pioneered by David Horowitz. In every debate, leftists seek to neutralize conservatives by claiming they want to meet in the center, and then stabbing their conservative counterparts in the back once they drop their guard.

The question in every debate is who holds the best ideas, not who's the most pragmatic.