Freedom, Swerve, Conservativism, Progressivism

Like Swerve, Dewey's concept of Impulse is a variation of a prior condition--of Habit, just as the former presupposes motion in a straight line.  In contrast, the concepts of Freedom that are typical in Modernity reflect their Theological origins: like the creativity of their bestower, they, too, are ex nihilo.  Consequently, so, too, are the Political Theories in which such Freedom is the foundation, as is reflected in their a-historicality.  Correspondingly in contrast, the concept of Society that Dewey bases on Impulse is inherently historical, as is implicit in the term that he occasionally uses to characterize the concept: 'Reconstruction', i. e. which entails a prior condition that is being varied.  The contrast is actualized in the ongoing conflict of American Political ideologies: Conservativism, which seeks to maintain as changelessly as possible the ex nihilo construction of 1789, and Progressivism, which seeks to indefinitely repeat that Swerve from an antecedent status quo.