Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The Political Spectrum in 1 Lesson

Let’s straighten out some terms. Libertarians do not have some conservative views and some liberal views. It’s the other way around.
To explain:
The political spectrum is not left-right, liberal-conservative, Democrat-Republican. The political spectrum runs from complete government control on one end to total individual freedom on the other. So it’s: Control……….Freedom.
On the far Control end are the hard-core totalitarians. The really nasty guys who would cut out your tongue if you criticize the government at all. A bit in from there are the fascists, socialists and communists, who might allow you some freedoms just because it’s too hard to control everything.
On the far Freedom end are the radical anarchists who don’t want any government and believe in a dog-eat-dog world where you can do anything you can get away with. A nudge towards the middle from there are the Libertarians, who do believe in the need for some order in society, but basically think you should be able to do what you want as long as you aren’t hurting anyone against their will.
Mixed around in the middle are the liberals and conservatives who can’t figure out quite which freedoms should be okay and which things should be controlled, so they kind of bounce back and forth without a really rational, coherent, cohesive philosophy. Basically, personal opinion of what should and shouldn’t be allowed holds sway with both groups.
Therefore, it’s not that Libertarians have some liberal and some conservative views; it’s that liberals and conservatives have some Libertarian and some Totalitarian views.
I hope we won’t have any more confusion on the matter.

No comments:

Post a Comment