Musings of a Patriot

Tag: political philosophy

  • Multi-Dimensional Political Perspectives

    photo credit: mkandlez Jane Hamsher wrote about the 11 Dimensional Chess approach to health care legislation that the Obama administration tried. That sent me back to some earlier thoughts I had shared about how we visualize the political spectrum. The simplest way to view things is one dimensional. Like the opening image here it breaks…

  • What Are Your Fundamental Assumptions?

    photo credit: quarksteilchen In the midst of a recent comment the author revealed a fundamental assumption that he and I don’t share that clearly explains why we have differing views on government: Federal mandates are about the only power the government has to prevent a race to the bottom. . . THE only way to…

  • A Fundamental Difference Between Conservatives and Progressives

    photo credit: Marcin Porwit Late in October a comment by Jason sparked my brain to recognize a subtle but fundamental difference between conservatives and progressives. Perhaps it should have been obvious simply by comparing the definitions for “conservative” and “progressive” but the implications seem to be  both subtle and profound. The word “conservative” can be…

  • Laboratories of Democracy

    I have been thinking about the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution (FF&C) and how that has played out in some areas of public policy. Specifically I have been thinking about how some areas of policy allow for states to pick and choose what faith and credit they apply to the policies of…

  • Legislated Equality

    I have been thinking about the “equality” that we equate with the American dream – the one that we want our government to guarantee for us. This has lead me to consider the difference between equality of opportunity and equality of outcomes. I don’t think that many people would openly argue for equality of outcomes…

  • “Republican” Does Not Equal “Conservative”

    I was excited to hear The Fall of Conservatism on Radio West and to read the article being discussed. All through the show there was a concern lurking in the back of my brain. When I finally identified it as the unfortunate interchanging of the movement called conservatism with the political party called republican I…

  • Mapping Politics

    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)…

  • Political Spectrum

    I liked the discussion over at KVNU’s For The People about how labels can be misleading regarding someone’s political philosophy. As always, there are quizzes to help someone figure out their own philosophy. KVNU linked to The Political Compass. Another popular one is Worlds Smallest Political Quiz. I’ve seen both of them before, but it’s…