Postmodernity is the state or condition of being postmodern – after or in reaction to that which is modern, as in postmodern art (see postmodernism). Modernity is defined[who?] as a period or condition loosely identified with the Progressive Era, the Industrial Revolution, or the Enlightenment. In philosophy and critical theory postmodernity refers to the state or condition of society which is said to exist after modernity, a historical condition that marks the reasons for the end of modernity. This usage is ascribed to the philosophers Jean-François Lyotard and Jean Baudrillard.
The concept of Post-Modernism goes further
Butler responds to Benhabib by arguing that her use of postmodernism is an expression of a wider paranoia over anti-foundationalist philosophy, in particular, poststructuralism.
A number of positions are ascribed to postmodernism - Discourse is all there is, as if discourse were some kind of monistic stuff out of which all things are composed; the subject is dead, I can never say “I” again; there is no reality, only representation. These characterizations are variously imputed to postmodernism or poststructuralism, which are conflated with each other and sometimes conflated with deconstruction, and understood as an indiscriminate assemblage of French feminism, deconstruction, Lacanian psychoanalysis, Foucauldian analysis, Rorty’s conversationalism, and cultural studies ... In reality, these movements are opposed: Lacanian psychoanalysis in France positions itself officially against poststructuralism, that Foucauldian rarely relate to Derridideans ... Lyotard champions the term, but he cannot be made into the example of what all the rest of the purported postmodernists are doing. Lyotard’s work is, for instance, seriously at odds with that of Derrida
Butler uses the debate over the nature of the post-modernist critique to demonstrate how philosophy is implicated in power relationships and defends poststructuralist critique by arguing that the critique of the subject itself is the beginning of analysis, not the end, because the first task of enquiry is the questioning of accepted "universal" and "objective" norms.
It is my view that Post-Modernism was how modern movements extended the lifespan of "Modern" and "Progressive" political movements. Post-modernism was how they made it past the hard point of the crisis that came at the end of World War II. Its how these movements which helped shape a lot of our thought across religion, culture, and politics dealt with the realities of the cold war and the creation of the lifestyle we have seen from President's Eisenhower to George W Bush.
What is a Rino then you ask? I want to segway with another idea that I found in the writing of Libertarian business man Bill Bonner (These opinions do not reflect the opinion of any employer I have or any client of said employer that relate to Mr. Bill Bonner) in his critique of the modern state of our democracy Bill Bonner illustrates a very interesting fact about earlier Democracy.
The word ‘democracy’ arose in small, Greek city states, where the voters actually voted on the concrete issues, not just the slippery candidates. Citizens voted to go to war…knowing not only that they would have to pay for it…but that they could be killed in the battles themselves. War was a matter of life and death, not just a campaign slogan of a chubby, middle-aged draft-dodger.
The Italian city states practiced real democracy too. In 15th century Florence, for example, citizens voted on whether or not to build a cathedral… Then, they voted on what shape it should take.
A scale model was built. Citizens knew what it would look like. They understood how it was built and how much it would cost them. They cast their ballots and took responsibility for the outcome.
American democracy, circa 2012, has no more in common with real democracy than American capitalism has in common with real capitalism. Both are degenerate…corrupt…and geriatric.
The issue with RINO's is not one of the building of a Cathedral dedicated to Saint Ronaldus Magnus (blessed be his name) where there is a perfected checklist. Rino's do not fail to assemble. But the people who are critical of those who rebuke them clearly believe that is the story. They say the homolies that honor the Sainted Ronaldus Magnus to try to get the poor serfs to come to the church and place themselves in awe of the great and mighty men. The people who have told these homolies to recruit the serfs: Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum (Disclosure: I voted for Rick Santorum), Newt Gingrich, Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain, and Rick Perry. Where I disagree with Bill Bonner the problem with our Democracy isn't that its geriatric, its that it has been infantalized. During the rise of modernity (The Progressive Movement, Socialism, Communism, Fascism, The Labor Movement) there was a great white father who would lead all of our people to prosperity. He became the high priest of the temple of the civic religion of state. And so the people lacked education and depth to fully understand the nature of the world turned to the Great White Father.
Professor Walter Russel Mead described this as a process from Great White Hope to Great White Shark (or Whale)
The cult of Ronaldus Magnus has a value however because this was the last time that anything resembling a Cathedral had been presented to the voters. A vision of building a Sacred Temple of an idea of the American Civic Religion. And this is what people crave. I know what people say "But Social Security is popular. Student Loans are popular." I will grant you all of that. They are popular in a lack of an idea of governance. Governance that can be brought before people that they could take into their own lives and elect people to represent on their behalf in state and local governments.
We had an idea that the National Government and companies of National scope should inter-relate. This came as a product of the rise of modernity. This has now fallen into crony capitalism. The idea of National Health Insurance is done at part to give these companies the ability to write off employee health care from their employee compensation (as they have done with retirement thanks to Social Security.)
These policies in part are bogging down government at a state and local level. If we are to take an approach worthy of the citizens of Florence we would have politicians asking the question: Is this what we want for America for the next 25 years? For the next 50? For the Next 100? They would answer what this would actually mean. But our government is infantalized and participates in a phony debate. So what are you to do when the Government does not address reality but instead believes that the discourse over these ideas, not if the ideas are GOOD, is all their is for the government. So what people have done is found the camp that presents the narrative that gets us closest to the type of governance we desire.
This is why the Tea Party was a good start. It was the beginning of a process Milton Friedman once described
The important thing is to establish a political climate of opinion which will make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing. Unless it is politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing, the right people will not do the right thing either, or it they try, they will shortly be out of office.
So in summation: What makes some one a RINO is they embrace the weaselly nature of debate, discussion, and culture that dominates our age. The people who say nonsense that "Reagan would be a RINO today" say it because they are unwilling to provide people with the sort of honest democracy that bloodthirsty Italian bankers provided their own people for many years. What make men who clothe themselves in the vestment of Saint Ronaldus Magnus part of the problem is they know we want something but they are two afraid to stand up for the politics we need. And as Milton Friedman told us: When we don't stand up for the politics we need, we end up getting the politics we deserve.
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