Political Spectrum 2.0
Everyone wishes to visualize themselves on a political spectrum and many visual representations exist, however most are wrong or miss the point. You are probably familiar with the square and the four quadrants or the even more disappointing circle that sells the notion that political extremes start on polar sides, but end up in the same point.
Presenting: Political Spectrum 2.0
No complicated gages, arrows or meters. Presented are several major political ideologies read from left to right. As you approach the right government grows and this is all that matters. Where does one stand in respect to size of government? Overlaid are examples of policies and prominent leaders/thinkers of the past 100 years, the examples or not refined and are quite subjective in terms of what or who belongs where, but they do serve to nudge the general idea forward (there were also space limitations).
Why does bigger government matter? The bigger the government, the:
- Smaller your paycheck
- Smaller your freedoms
- Smaller your decisions
- Smaller your opportunities (unless you are part of government)
Update: There still appears to be a pull to establish a left-right prism. The spectrum has been slightly modified with a left-right fan. The idea is that it really does not matter what side you are on, because only an expansion of federal control allows someone to be left or right. As can be seen, moving along the spectrum one ends up in the same place most Americans fear - total control. Whether you prefer to call Stalin 'left' or Hitler 'right' makes absolutely no difference from a political aspect. Either does it matter whether you want to prevent people from smoking marijuana or eating a hamburger. The smaller the government, the more left-right neutral you become, the bigger the government the larger your left-right exaggeration. Religion should not play a role in a political spectrum.
Note: I recognize that Libertarianism is often described as a component of liberal social policy and conservative fiscal policy, but this is precisely the wrong message being distributed. We need to recognize that the fight is to reduce government from our lives and return it to it's more or less original charter. While the war on drugs is mind boggling for conservatives to support given it's catastrophic failure, the same can be said about liberal ideas espousing drug freedoms while defending fast food regulation. How can the two be reconciled? Simply speaking, we either find lawmakers to fight reduction of government or we will see it encroach further and further stripping us of our money, property, personal choice and freedom.
Presenting: Political Spectrum 2.0
No complicated gages, arrows or meters. Presented are several major political ideologies read from left to right. As you approach the right government grows and this is all that matters. Where does one stand in respect to size of government? Overlaid are examples of policies and prominent leaders/thinkers of the past 100 years, the examples or not refined and are quite subjective in terms of what or who belongs where, but they do serve to nudge the general idea forward (there were also space limitations).
Why does bigger government matter? The bigger the government, the:
- Smaller your paycheck
- Smaller your freedoms
- Smaller your decisions
- Smaller your opportunities (unless you are part of government)
Update: There still appears to be a pull to establish a left-right prism. The spectrum has been slightly modified with a left-right fan. The idea is that it really does not matter what side you are on, because only an expansion of federal control allows someone to be left or right. As can be seen, moving along the spectrum one ends up in the same place most Americans fear - total control. Whether you prefer to call Stalin 'left' or Hitler 'right' makes absolutely no difference from a political aspect. Either does it matter whether you want to prevent people from smoking marijuana or eating a hamburger. The smaller the government, the more left-right neutral you become, the bigger the government the larger your left-right exaggeration. Religion should not play a role in a political spectrum.
Note: I recognize that Libertarianism is often described as a component of liberal social policy and conservative fiscal policy, but this is precisely the wrong message being distributed. We need to recognize that the fight is to reduce government from our lives and return it to it's more or less original charter. While the war on drugs is mind boggling for conservatives to support given it's catastrophic failure, the same can be said about liberal ideas espousing drug freedoms while defending fast food regulation. How can the two be reconciled? Simply speaking, we either find lawmakers to fight reduction of government or we will see it encroach further and further stripping us of our money, property, personal choice and freedom.
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