Whither ideology?

In a (pretty good) post explaining the failures of the Republican Party and modern conservatism, Richard Posner writes something a little strange:

For myself, I would be happy to see conservatism exit from the political scene–provided it takes liberalism with it. I would like to see us enter a post-ideological era in which policies are based on pragmatic considerations rather than on conformity to a set of preconceptions rooted in a rapidly vanishing past. 

Simply declaring that we ought to work from pragmatism sounds good – “I just want to get things done!” – but doesn’t actually make much sense, since – in my view at least – even “pragmatic considerations” rest upon one ideological commitment or another.   Since while simple pragmatism can provide a good method - empiricism, attunement to falibility, and flexibility -by which we approach problems, it doesn’t actually help us define problems, or even determine their scope and relative importance.  

For example, it is plain to everyone (even someone devoid of ideology) that there is a serious health care crisis.  Health care costs are leaving families and businesses bankrupt, while millions of Americans live without any adequate health cae.  Now, I would imagine that Posner would simply say that we should take a full account of the problems in the health care system, and from there, develop a solution which would fix them.  Of course, a torrent of questions then arises: “what exactly is the problem?” “should we be concerned with cost, or access?” “what is the best method through which we can address access/cost?” “should we even address them?”  These questions must be answered before moving forward with any plan, and pragmatism simply isn’t up to the task.

Ideology – which itself is bourne out of certain ontological beliefs about people, communities, societies etc. – however, orients us to these questions (or any questions which arise out of attempts to solve policy problems), provides the tools for addressing these questions, and then from there, allows us to make pragmatic considerations based on those answers.  If my liberalism suggests that the problem is access to health care, then I can take pragmatic liberal steps to achieve an outcome in which that problem is ameliorated. 

The problem with ideologies is that they – if we’re not careful – can become rigid, totalizing worldviews which prevent us from seeing nuance, and hinder our ability to view the world with a critical eye.  Instead of hoping for a post-ideological world, we should hope for a world where ideologies are infused with a jolt of pragmatism and reality-based flexibility.