I think the basic gist is that the problem with a lot of ideologies is that they claim to offer a magic pill to the world's solutions. And these sorts of movements almost always go pretty wrong.
Compare the American Revolution with the French Revolution.
The American revolution is more conservative. It uses the old British system as a starting point and adjustments are made. The founders were very cautious (pragmatic is a bit too positive), and were almost anti-democratic in a way when they set up our government. But I think the key is that they knew the system was imperfect, and made it so that the constitution and nation would be able to change and adjust as time went on.
French revolution was more liberal. It completely undid all the traditions and promised huge changes. The result is chaos, and eventual order by force.
I can try to go on with this theme by pointing out others who made big promises and ended up being disasters. But my point is: There is no magical pill. The best option is to have conservatives (in the true sense of the word) who are willing to enact some rational changes in order to preserve the rest of the system.
This is how I characterized the leaders of WWII and the post-war era. Now, just turn on the TV and it's almost like a dark comedy. Absolutely disgusting filth. Tea party, occupy wall streets. It's extremism, and the media is acting like fucking clowns (CNN), or trying to monetize it (FNC/MSNBC).
