Ideal Integration

Or rather, the integration of ideals into a society. One of the most important things I have come to believe in recent months is that ideals, no matter how right or true or even workable, cannot be forced on society, or implemented too quickly even by agreeable means. One of the most frustrating things for idealists is the patience required to see your goal through, and the willingness to strive for, and revel in, the small victories. Countries like the US are particularly hard on the idealist because the government is designed to only make changes gradually. Its the checks and balances that make this frustrating state possible, and they have slowed positive change on many occasions.

Of course, those same checks and balances also prevent disastrous negative changes from happening, or at least from happening quickly. Most people, even the idealists among us, recognize that the two edged sword of checks and balances probably does more good than harm in the world of political change and prevention of tyranny. What many of us idealists do not get, is that even a good thing can be bad if it comes into play too quickly. For instance, most libertarians would like to see the removal or drastic reduction on the financial safety nets and the welfare state. At a minimum, the method of operation and implementation is far from ideal. However, the removal of such things in a country that has gradually grown dependent upon them over the course of three generations in anything less than at least a generation and a half would be a painful revolution indeed. A shift of that magnitude could throw the balance and cause more devastation to the economic standing of the whole country than any possible benefit of the more financially functional ideal trying to be reached.

So, in short, the process of finding the ideal has to involve long term strategy, and victories on the smaller scale. Most importantly, it involves removing the dependency before removing the supply, at least as much as possible. Sometimes the hardest job is being content with the small changes, and making sure that those changes are, in fact, a step in the right direction.