Politics - Best methodolgy of altering the status quo for the better

[RainDog]

What I'm curious about here is which one of the following methods is best in achieving desirable political change:

1. Develop a personal ideal of what politics should be and move to change anything in the status quo so that it may better fit your ideology.

2. Develop an understanding of the present political system and its weights and balances. Change things in a manner that will allow for the status quo to remain but work better.

Example of this dilemma:

You live in the U.S.
Let's say you are Libertarian to the most radical extent. Hence you believe in free-enterprise and open immigration. You advocate the following:

Open the border with Mexico. People have a right inherent in their autonomous nature to find liberty in the U.S. We are selfish to keep it to ourselves. The immigrant presence here will create more jobs. Businesses will thrive because they can competitively hire at wages comparable to to China's. Freedom from big government is what made us successful in the first place, why are we leaving our principles?

Now, let's assume that the libertarian schema will work perfectly in its absolute nature. Let's also assume that this influx of immigrants could have devasting effects in the status quo. Let's assume that the initial surge in immigration would undoubtedly lead to racial hatred with those in the U.S. that don't understand that this is for the better. Whether or not it is actually happening, people will claim that immigrants are taking their jobs and they will feel as if they are losing their cultural identity. So now we've hypothetically developed a race war, along with any other ill-gains from the implementation of this libertarian principle.

So you see, all I'm trying to suggest here is that maybe there are many political systems that "work". Some are probably better than others, but is it effective to force an immediate ideal on a "working" system. Some might say this is what the U.S. did with Iraq.

Disclaimer: I'm going to take a step back and say I'm not arguing for method 2 necessarily. Just doing my best to provide an example. I want to know your opinions. I'm also not making any arguments pertaining to immigration or libertarianism. I would be happy to do so in a different thread and my views may in fact tend towards what it seemed I was arguing against here. I'm merely offering hypotheticals.

[pvn]

Good post. However:

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Some are probably better than others, but is it effective to force an immediate ideal on a "working" system. Some might say this is what the U.S. did with Iraq.

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Sudden, radical change *is* problematic. People don't like it. You get unpredictable results.

But here's the thing... sudden, radical change is not the only alternative to maintaining the status quo.