Ideology, Dogma and Moderates
In a response to a critique of his views on ideology, Dale Ritche offers a response of his own.
By Dale Ritchie
Foreword: Moderate (n.) and centrist (n.) appear to have the same definition in Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary. Neither accept extremes. I have been consistent in using moderate by this definition in this series, so I will continue using moderate to refer to someone who avoids extremes in politics. Any mention of independents should be assumed to be discussing those who are not aligned with a party regardless of their ideology or their stand on the issues. Any mention of moderate independents will be related to those without extreme political views who are also not aligned with any party.
I had to do a double take after reading Kevin’s response to my article on what moderates would desire in a moderate party. I read both his response and original twice and I can’t come up with what he based my supposed dislike of ideology upon. He did not leave me with a quote on what I said on ideology that he thought indicated this, so I am starting by answering most of his response with the following very broad answer.
If in my advice and opinions to moderates it seemed as though I was somehow anti-ideology, it was unintentional. I will repeat the main points, making that a little clearer.
In two of the three articles in the series, I describe moderates and the ideal moderate party. I said (and I believe) that moderates do not have an ideology that requires certain answers to issues. You can be a moderate and take any position on any issue as long as you avoid extremes. There is no requirement to take the conservative, liberal, or any other position on an issue to be called a moderate. I thought that was clear by the definition of a moderate but perhaps I wrote something else that muddied the water.
Kevin has a point that almost any organization has a purpose and in politics that could well be called its ideology. For a moderate party, a purpose such as representing their constituents’ views and needs and increasing voter satisfaction with excellent political service could well be its ideology. I would also add personal integrity and integrity in government as a moderate party’s ideology, but it still would not include a required position on many of the issues other than avoiding extremes.
I also defined the seven characteristics needed in a moderate party from the perspective of a moderate. A moderate does not need an ideology to define what solution is acceptable. The moderate is free to reason one out on their own, which does make it incredibly hard to make a platform for a moderate party. There are too many strong and differing opinions as those opinions are personal.
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