Ideology and Anthropology

It has been said that "every ideology assumes an anthropology".  What this means in a nutshell is that our idea about the nature of man has a controlling influence on our social theories, philosophies,and favored forms of government. If we assume as does a strict materialist that man is without a "divine spark" ie no soul then we may conclude that life has no meaning and our moral choices are arbitrary at best and have no real consequences now or in the future.  If we assume that man is created "in the image of God", we tend to place great value on life, and live as if our moral choices have very real consequences now and in the hereafter.  Bad behavior tends to increase when no one is watching.  Nietzsche's famous observation that God is Dead was more than a theological construct it was an observation that 19th century European society lived as if their was no cosmic judge.  Many feel that he was prophetic in foreseeing the tragic consequences in the 20th century of the rise of Nationalism and the death of man.     
Much has happened in Europe since Dr. Pangloss stated in Voltaire's classic that  "all is for the best" in the "best of all possible worlds."  We have even more reasons to doubt the optimism of Leibniz than had Voltaire, but we still shrink from the outright pessimism of Schopenhauer. The rise of post modernism is one way to deal with the problems of modernity, but it has it's own issues.  The reemergence of radical Islamofascisim  and the conflict with liberal democracy is a radical conflict of world visions. It is politically incorrect to talk of current events as a holy war, but what other explanation exists for the atrocities that are paraded on You Tube, Facebook, and the evening news?  
 Modern political discourse has left us sharply divided along a progressive/liberal/Democratic vs. traditional /conservative/Republican axis.  I discussed in an earlier blog Sowell's book about different visions.  When discourse is limited by our ability to use language that we agree upon it is impossible to change another s views  on any matter of import.  There seems to be no way out of the impasse.