Idealism v. Realism

I have no idea of the directions this blog will go nor the issues it will address.

As of now I see addressing lots of political issues, especially those global in scope since I do have a Masters in Political Science: International Affairs. I will also address a variety of educational topics since my career is high school education and my undergraduate degree is Secondary Social Studies Education. I'm pretty sure that history, religion, culture, geography, and music will also become important themes.

But I do know that a central theme throughout all of what I envision for this blog space is the conflicts between idealism and realism. There are a whole variety of ways that each of us think the world "should" be. You and I will probably agree on some of these points and disagree on others. But there are a whole host of reasons for why things are the way that they are. We have all kinds of institutional processes and expectations for why we do what we do and, unless we formally change these, we must morph our idealistic goals so that they legitimately fit within what is allowed.

For example: in an ideal world (at least from my perspective) I should be able to drive from Oklahoma City, OK to Dallas, TX in an hour-and-a-half or less. However, the reality is 1) there are firmly established speed limits along I-35 and these change while going through highly urban areas and 2) I'm not on the road alone so my driving "skills" must be balanced against the safety of others.

But through this forum, perhaps my idealism can spark some brainstorming into ways of overcoming those institutionalized barriers or convincing others for the need to eradicate such barriers.