“Pragmatic” has become a code word for supporting bigger government and liberal positions despite claiming to be a conservative. Wild eyed liberals also use the word to praise Republicans who act like Democrats.
What does “pragmatic” actually mean?
Pragmatic – relating to matters of fact or practical affairs often to the exclusion of intellectual or artistic matters : practical as opposed to idealistic [i]
We all want elected officials who deal with issues in a practical way and we want sensible realistic decisions. But this is not how the term is being used by politicians.
Liberals and RINOS are not dividing the political world into practical and impractical solutions. Instead, they use “pragmatic” as a word to cover decisions that are at odds with conservative principles and the principals of the Republican Party. It doesn’t matter that the conservative principles would have produced practical solutions. To liberals anything remotely conservative is automatically impractical.
“Pragmatic” is the word used when bowing to special interests, especially when big corporations want a bigger slice of taxpayer money or when the corporations work to stop conservative legislation because the corporate leaders have become WOKE.
Years ago, when Republicans were still the minority party in Arkansas, being practical sometimes meant proposing less than you wanted to pick up enough Democrat support to pass your legislation, but always trying to move public policy toward better more conservative policy. Not only are Republicans now in the majority in Arkansas, but Republicans also have a supermajority in both the Arkansas Senate and Arkansas House. Plus, all the state constitutional officers are Republican, from Governor on down to Land Commissioner. Practical conservative legislation can be passed anytime Republicans want to do so but for the Republicans who claim to be “pragmatic” in their support of Democrat positions.
Especially during the Republican primary, watch out for “Republican” candidates who label themselves as “pragmatic.” Most likely they are not talking about practical solutions versus impractical solutions but about ignoring conservative principles. If the candidate is an incumbent, look at how they voted on important legislation.
Check out key votes in the Conduit for Commerce 2021 Scorecard. Your legislators’ votes are listed in the bottom half of the report. The report is divided into economic issues and social issues.
