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Thanks to the observations and perspective of Obi wan Liberali I think I can accurately place some political parties on my 2 dimensional political spectrum.
Not only can I place the labels for our two major parties and some other political philosophies but I would also go on to say that the Republican party (GOP) started off approximately level with the Democratis party (DNC) vertically and that GOP party leadership seems to have been drifting downward. American society as a whole seems to have been drifting leftward – a trend which is also visible when looking at the GOP candidates. If left unchecked, these two forces would combine to land the GOP in the area of Fascism – though I don’t believe that it will be left unchecked.
The supposed breakup of the Reagan coalition is more like the abandonment of the Reagan position (somewhere near the intersection of the GOP, DNC and Libertarian positions on this spectrum) by the party that once represented that position, leaving most moderate members of that quadrant undecided on who to support.
3 replies on “Mapping Politics”
Thanks for giving me credit, but I’m still trying to figure out the political currents in our Republic right now. I do think that the reason we sometimes don’t understand those who we caucus with is because there are different reasons to be a conservative or liberal and those labels at times are meaningless.
Also, one commonality of authoritarians is the need to have a common enemy. Liberalism, has been to some extent that “common enemy” and is defined less by liberals themselves, than by self-proclaimed conservatives who are in fact authoritarians.
You also have the dimention of how you rank certain beliefs on the continuum. To what extent does a belief in workplace safety regulations, environmental regulations, public expenditures for education and roads, and government funded research grants push you over to the “planned economy” vrs. the “laissez faire” continuum. Some conservatives would argue that I am a socialist if I take those positions and should be considered way over on the planned economy area. Coming from a different perspective, I would argue that the fact that I believe in a robust private sector and government action being more involved in regulation rather than ownership, I would be more towards the laissez fair side of the continuum.
I guess the only point I would make is that where we are may be based upon where we stand relative to others, rather than how we actually percieve ourselves.
That reminds me of something I once said, that you could tell whether someone was liberal or conservative based on whether they viewed the media as having a liberal or conservative bias. (Conservatives view the media generally as liberal etc.)
You make some good points that there are different reasons that bring people to the positions they hold and that people who might be viewed similarly by others might see great differences between themselves.
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