False Left-Right Paradigm

Explanation of the false left-right paradigm (and results of):

Picture the two political philosophies as lying on a circle: to the right are conservatives and to the left are liberals. Follow the conservatives far enough and you encounter fascism. Follow the liberals far enough and you encounter communism. Follow fascism and communism to their roots and you find yourself on the opposite side of the circle, at precisely the same place. You begin with individualism and personal freedom and end up with total collectivist lockdown, regardless of whether you follow the liberal or conservative path.

Collectivism equals control. Arguing about differing economic models or the different political parties means engaging in the wrong argument completely. Regardless of the form of societal organization, the degree of individualism versus collectivism is what really matters.

The left-right continuum is a lie, crafted by liars for the purpose of recruiting the gullible to their murderous causes.

Left-Right Paradigm: Basics

The “political spectrum” and the parlance of “left-wing/right-wing” is firmly embedded in the minds of most Americans. However, the left-right dichotomy that is typically used to categorize political views in the media and elsewhere does more to obfuscate than illuminate differences in political thought.

Some argue that the U.S. political spectrum has shrunk to the point that there is effectively no difference between Democrats and Republicans on economics and few notable differences on social issues. That they differ at all matters very little when both have the same ultimate goals.

Most opinions about what constitutes the left and the right makes it difficult for folks to make sense of political positions that fall out of the narrow mainstream--Noam Chomsky and Ron Paul are examples of well known political figures who cannot be accurately characterized on the left/right political binary.

The left/right binary can alienate, marginalize and confuse many who fail to see a place for their own political views in the “objective” framework of what consitutes politics, so they do not participate (not just in voting or elections, but the failure to image themselves as having political agency in the broadest sense of the concept).

While models/tests/quizzes Nolan Chart, Political Compass, Political Spectrum, Spectrum Test [multiple], etc. have their limitations, they can be useful pedagogical tools for those wanting to encourage others to think about politics beyond the oversimplified right/left divisions that dominate mainstream media (this also provides a good starting point for thinking critically about the MSM and the interests they serve).

"From the point of view of the victims, the only political continuum that makes sense is that of collectivist tyranny on one end and the individual religious and political liberty, free markets, right to property, right to arms and rule of law represented by the constitutional republic. Take your left-right line, if you like, and pull each end down and make it a circle, ends touching. Now at the bottom of the circle you have Stalinism, Maoism, Hitlerism and Mussolini's fascism cheek by jowl. That is where they belong, together. By their fruits ye shall know them, and that is how we should classify them.

"Farther up each arc of the circle you may place monarchism, socialism (remember, the difference between socialism and communism is that the Commissar has a gun). Throw tribalism in there. Arrange your militarists, monopolists, Christian theocrats and Islamofascists as you please. At the apex of my circle is the minarchist constitutional republic.

"There government is small, safe and unburdensome. That government does not execute people for reasons of the collective unless they've committed a real crime against another citizen. And people are citizens there, not slaves, not servants, neither 'Lords' nor 'Comrades.'

"The only forces served by the adoption of the left-right continuum are those of the collectivists. Only in such an artifical construct could bolsheviks pretend to be the enemy of predatory imperialist monopolists, Nazis pretend to be the bulwark of Western Civilization againt Stalinism and the Ku Klux Klan pretend to be defending "patriotic America" from the Nation of Islam, and vice versa. They are all power-hungry murderers seeking excuses for more murder to slake their tyrannical hunger." ~Mike Vanderboegh

sources: Blog With No Name: Nolan Chart; Mike Vanderboegh