IVN
(Independent Voter Network) published a Dissident Politics article
describing an objective way to define service to the public interest. Belief in a political principle or moral that constitutes objective
service to the public interest above service to special interests
attempts to shift the balance of power from special interests as they
define it to serve their own political or economic beliefs or desires, to the real public interest as objectively defined.
The human brain sees and thinks about the world subjectively through a distorting lens of political and/or religious ideology (values or morals). That subjectivity gives rise to the vast differences in (i) perceptions of reality (facts), (ii) common sense (logic) and (iii) policy choices. All of those are unconsciously distorted to conform to personal (subjective) ideology or principles. Personal political belief or ideology therefore dictates how different people see the public interest.
In order to (i) reduce normal human distortion of reality and common sense and (ii) focus political thinking on the broad public interest instead of a focus on narrower interests, Dissident Politics proposes an objective[1] definition of the public interest as a key part of objective political ideology. An objective public interest definition expressly balances competing interests including, e.g., competing ideologies and other special (economic) interests. The point of a political ideology or set of morals that are based on fidelity to objectively unspun fact, objectively unbiased logic[2] and an objectively defined public interest is to make politics (1) more cost-effective, (2) less corrupted by special interests and their money and (3) more responsive to the needs and desires of the American people. The article is here.
Footnotes:
1. The objectivity in the public interest definition, e.g., as described before, comes from forcing consideration of the main concerns that constitute key elements of liberal, conservative, centrist and religious ideologies. Instead of the liberal or conservative definition of what constitutes service to the public interest, the Dissident Politics vision sees service to the public interest as a competition on the merits of a broadly defined public interest.
2. Strictly speaking, human logic as applied to politics (and probably everything else) cannot be completely unbiased. The phrase "unbiased logic" as used by Dissident Politics means logic biased by an objective intellectual framework (political ideology or morals) of fidelity to unspun fact and an objectively defined public interest. The biology of human cognition being what it is, logic will always be constrained or distorted by personal ideological belief. In humans, logic is normally used to rationalize and defend personal belief, not to critically and honestly analyze it. In other words, the human mind uses logic to support intuition or emotion, not to analyze and assess reality as a guide to refine or correct intuition. Intuition defines (controls or traps) facts, values and common sense (logic). Reason does not define or guide beliefs. One cognitive scientist puts it like this: “Intuitions come first, strategic reasoning second.” Some degree of subjectivity or emotion is biologically needed for logic to function properly in assessing reality or facts.
By using a political ideology that forces objectivity into the public interest definition and elevates that definition to the level of a core or "sacred" political ideal, logic will be biased within the confines of a chosen public interest definition. Although any "objective" public interest definition will be imperfectly objective, human cognition is imperfect and trying for objectivity by balancing competing political principles or morals is about the best that human biology will allow politics to be. This takes into consideration America's two-party political system, which is built on corruption by (i) special interests, e.g., both political parties, (ii) special interest money and (iii) spin, e.g., lies, misinformation, deceit, withheld facts, fact and logic distorted by both personal ideological belief and economic or other forms of self-interest, etc, all of which is constitutionally protected as free speech, freedom to address government and so on.
The human brain sees and thinks about the world subjectively through a distorting lens of political and/or religious ideology (values or morals). That subjectivity gives rise to the vast differences in (i) perceptions of reality (facts), (ii) common sense (logic) and (iii) policy choices. All of those are unconsciously distorted to conform to personal (subjective) ideology or principles. Personal political belief or ideology therefore dictates how different people see the public interest.
In order to (i) reduce normal human distortion of reality and common sense and (ii) focus political thinking on the broad public interest instead of a focus on narrower interests, Dissident Politics proposes an objective[1] definition of the public interest as a key part of objective political ideology. An objective public interest definition expressly balances competing interests including, e.g., competing ideologies and other special (economic) interests. The point of a political ideology or set of morals that are based on fidelity to objectively unspun fact, objectively unbiased logic[2] and an objectively defined public interest is to make politics (1) more cost-effective, (2) less corrupted by special interests and their money and (3) more responsive to the needs and desires of the American people. The article is here.
Footnotes:
1. The objectivity in the public interest definition, e.g., as described before, comes from forcing consideration of the main concerns that constitute key elements of liberal, conservative, centrist and religious ideologies. Instead of the liberal or conservative definition of what constitutes service to the public interest, the Dissident Politics vision sees service to the public interest as a competition on the merits of a broadly defined public interest.
2. Strictly speaking, human logic as applied to politics (and probably everything else) cannot be completely unbiased. The phrase "unbiased logic" as used by Dissident Politics means logic biased by an objective intellectual framework (political ideology or morals) of fidelity to unspun fact and an objectively defined public interest. The biology of human cognition being what it is, logic will always be constrained or distorted by personal ideological belief. In humans, logic is normally used to rationalize and defend personal belief, not to critically and honestly analyze it. In other words, the human mind uses logic to support intuition or emotion, not to analyze and assess reality as a guide to refine or correct intuition. Intuition defines (controls or traps) facts, values and common sense (logic). Reason does not define or guide beliefs. One cognitive scientist puts it like this: “Intuitions come first, strategic reasoning second.” Some degree of subjectivity or emotion is biologically needed for logic to function properly in assessing reality or facts.
By using a political ideology that forces objectivity into the public interest definition and elevates that definition to the level of a core or "sacred" political ideal, logic will be biased within the confines of a chosen public interest definition. Although any "objective" public interest definition will be imperfectly objective, human cognition is imperfect and trying for objectivity by balancing competing political principles or morals is about the best that human biology will allow politics to be. This takes into consideration America's two-party political system, which is built on corruption by (i) special interests, e.g., both political parties, (ii) special interest money and (iii) spin, e.g., lies, misinformation, deceit, withheld facts, fact and logic distorted by both personal ideological belief and economic or other forms of self-interest, etc, all of which is constitutionally protected as free speech, freedom to address government and so on.
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