A Democrat’s Dead Dogma

 November 25, 2013 

Anna

Political Theory in the News The Personal Is Political 

John Stuart Mill, author of “On Liberty”
Photo: Robert Nelson

While reading the second chapter of Mill’s “On Liberty”  I ran into the concept of ”dead dogma”. According to Mill, “… a dead dogma [is not] a living truth.” Dead dogma is either one or a collection of superficial beliefs which has the following qualities: easy to lose,  liable to manipulation, and accepted without really understanding its meaning. I would like to suggest that many children’s political and religious beliefs are forms of dead dogma.

When most of us were growing up, our little ears would catch snippets of “grown-up” conversation, whether it be at the dinner table or during a long car ride. Our parents, other family members, their friends, would occasionally find themselves engaged in heated debates about newly elected politicians or practices of the church and their disdain for (or support of) either. Also, I am sure that I’m not the only child that was dragged out of my cozy, downy bed on Sunday mornings to attend the dreaded church service or into the local polling station on Election Days. It is from these snippets of conversation and activities, I am suggesting, that we develop our own political and religious beliefs.

In passing, many conversations about politics or religion have gone a little like this:

Me: “Hey, nice Obama shirt! You’re a supporter?”

Them: “Oh heck ya! Love him!”

Me: “Right on, right on. Me too! Why do you like him?”

Them: “Uh… Well, he’s a democrat & I’m a democrat because my parents are democrats and liked Obama…”

… Yes. Okay, so wonderful. I am always up to find more Obama supporters (especially nowadays), but there’s a difference between being a supporter of Obama because his ideals line up with your own and being a supporter because that is what your parents have been advocating since 2008. Furthermore, as noted in The American Voter Revisited, when parents share the same party affiliation, they pass it to their children about 75% of the time.

How many political views are developed
(“Pathways to Political Socialization”) Credit: Institute for Social & Economic Research

Though I am well aware that there are many cases in which children have adopted their parents’ beliefs because either they want to. This would not be an example of dead dogma because they have made the decision autonomously and have not simply jumped onto the bandwagon so to speak.

Mill advocated that, “One must understand reasons for and against one’s opinion if one is to know the truth, as opposed to having (mere) true belief. This is being open-minded, but not “accepting” everything.” This means that, as young adults, we should take the opportunity to challenge our parents’ beliefs – not just accept them as truth. We should push ourselves to research the choices that we make, continuing to only make the choices that suit us best.