Pragmatism in Politics

Pragmatism is truly the language of the politician. This is borne out time after time when a candidate presents one set of ideas in the primaries and another during the general elections. For example, during the democratic primaries Barrack Obama was seen pandering to the left but once he won the primaries he made a rapid shift towards the center to appeal to a broader audience in the general elections.

How many times did wee see candidate Barrack Obama backtrack on a statement he made with conviction just a few days before? How many flip-flops were there 10, 20, or more? How many half truths and deceptions were potential voters spoon fed? How many promises did he make that he had no chance of delivering?

Of course this isn’t exclusive to just Barrack Obama, or the democrats for that matter, politicians in general are pragmatists who run from the truth if it shows any potential whatsoever to be damaging. This is evident when a candidate changes his tune depending on the audience he is speaking too—even to the point of contradicting himself?

This behavior seams to be perfectly acceptable by the voters as simply, “just the way it is, everybody does it, the status quo, or business as usual.” If this is true, should anyone be surprised that we have so many problems in society today?

Does this pragmatic philosophy cause contradictions that affect policy? The answer is absolutely yes. Just examine any government policy and you’ll find plenty of contradictions. Look at the stimulus package which is full of pork. How does tattoo removal and food stamps help the recovery? How can Obama say there is no pork in the bill and yet there is at least $13 billion in pet projects that don’t do a single thing to stimulate the economy? How can Obama say he won’t hire lobbyists to work in his administration then turn around and appoint William Lynn, a lobbyist for Raytheon, as deputy secretary of defense? How can he say he is going to restore integrity to government and then have four appointees who are in trouble for failing to pay their taxes including one who is now the head of the IRS?

The broken promises just keep piling up. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone because Barrack, the poster child for pragmatism, was infamous for his flip-flopping during the presidential campaign as he tried to be all things to all people.

Obama promised:

1. No pork. See above.
2. Bipartisanship. Republicans in the House of Representatives weren’t even given a copy of the stimulus bill before the vote nor were they asked for their input.
3. To reduce bills that gets rushed through Congress and allow at least five days for public comment before signing bills. That never happened.
4. To create a $3,000 tax credit for companies that add jobs. That seams to be missing from the stimulus bill and budget.
5. Not to hire lobbyists. See above.
6. To bring integrity to government. Then he nominates 4 people who owed back taxes.
7. Transparency. The stimulus bill was a secretive process until after it was passed and we are still learning what’s in it.

These broken promises shouldn’t surprise anyone since he had such a vivid history of being untruthful.

Click here for Top Ten Flip-Flops

Want More? Here's more:

1. The Surge.
2. FISA.
3. School Vouchers.
4. Welfare Reform.
5. Divided Jerusalem.
6. Meeting with Iran without preconditions.
7. Palestinian elections.
8. The threat posed by Iran.
9. The Patriot Act.
10. Wiretapping.

There are many more but this should suffice to prove my point.

Does anyone doubt that the institutionalization of the pragmatic philosophy is a threat to America and to the principles of individual liberty?