Jonah Goldberg thinks that the word “ideologue” means nothing more than that you have an ideology. But Merriam-Webster defines “ideologue” as “an impractical idealist” or “an often blindly partisan advocate or adherent of a particular ideology.”
It’s a pejorative term. It’s an insult. That Johah could write a whole book premised on the idea that Democrats deny that they are ideologues is almost stunning. People sometimes admit that they are impractical or idealistic, but they never admit that they are ideologues. And it’s a totally separate question from whether or not someone has an ideology that informs their politics.
