Taft

Being pragmatic in the application of one’s principles does not manifest a lack of principle. I recall that some admired Paul Ryan and put down the Tea Party – in part because of Ryan’s willingness to accommodate, versus the Tea Party insistence on ideological purity. They made a point about how Ryan’s pursuit of the half loaf is preferable to the Tea Party’s willingness to throw out the loaf altogether. Perhaps we are quibbling on definitions here. For me, the pragmatic approach (or the “what works” approach) is similar to incrementalism: see what is possible and advisable under current conditions and… Keep Reading