How Much is Pragmatism Reasonable?

[saysmydoctor]

Where do we draw the line with compromise?

[loveisdead]

In the case of Obama or generally speaking?

[macabre]

If compromise only limits the extent to which goals are achieved without sacrificing those goals in their entirety, I'm willing to live with that. For example, if the particular goals of health care reform are to cover more people and lower costs then these bills accomplish that. Sure, I think a robust public option would be the optimal solution but given the choice between reform or no reform, I just don't think sitting around and waiting for the ideal proposal is practical.

[x togepi x]

are you talking about pragmatism as a general way of working towards a goal or pragmatism as a political ideology?

[Love As Arson]

The problem is, pragmatism is defined as a compromise between the two poles of allowable discourse.

[saysmydoctor]

are you talking about pragmatism as a general way of working towards a goal or pragmatism as a political ideology?
Working towards a goal.

[loveisdead]

Working towards a goal.
The way things work in the US, it's needed.

[Nevuk]

Wait, isn't this a philosophical school espoused by Bertrand Russell?

[theguy77]

obama's ideas on the issue are just about ideal for a capitalist country if you ask me -- in fact it was a selling point for him in the election for me -- but thats because in general i tend to think american capitalism has always been a tad too conservative and failed to account for too many scenarios of the unfortunate. however, this is not to say that i feel obama has accomplished all the goals that fit what he claims to stand for yet.