They are expressions of chosen phases and factors among those facts, but they are also something more: namely, forces which have shaped those facts and which are still contending to shape them in the future this way and that.
This quote illustrates how political ideas not only reflect but also actively shape societal facts and dynamics.
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More from John Dewey
Is the public much more than what a cynical diplomat once called Italy: a geographical expression?
They are made that way; it is “the nature of the beast.” We do not gain anything by inserting instincts to run, creep, swim and fly between the structure and the act.
Mistakes pile up and consolidate themselves into laws and methods of administration which are more harmful than the consequences which they were originally intended to control.
If one wishes to realize the distance which may lie between “facts” and the meaning of facts, let one go to the field of social discussion.