R: Think Inside the Box

From a young age, our teachers and mentors have often encouraged us to test the limits of our imagination and creativity. They push us to expand our intellectual and social boundaries until they are boundless. Not to do so, it seems, can only lead to a mundane, unsuccessful and unfulfilled life.  But is this necessarily the case? Perhaps thinking outside the box leads one to discard tried-and-true practices. Did history’s great visionaries—Pericles, Newton, Washington, Einstein—actually experience genuine bursts of inspiration, or did they instead corral the rich traditions of their respective disciplines to move humanity forward? Einstein himself said that imagination is more important than knowledge. 

With many unsolved issues plaguing our country—immigration, government surveillance, gun control—many disgruntled Americans are demanding that our policymakers think outside the box. With a citizenry constantly demanding that this country move forward, do conservatives need to think outside the box to ensure political survival? Or have liberals tricked the American populace into thinking their hip policy innovations have done great deeds, when in fact they have done nothing at all?