Expanding the political spectrum (and getting to know the LP)

This is a followup on Jackie's last post. :)

One of the great myths in American politics is the "left vs. right" conflict theory. It's true that there are differences between the left and right, but this is a broad generalization that oversimplifies the political realities.

Often times I get asked whether I am a Democrat or a Republican--whether I am a liberal or a conservative. That there might be a compromise between the two ideologies does not even cross the mind of the questioner. It's either one or the other in this country and there can be no in between. And I think that's a sad reflection of this country's political system, what we call "American democracy." Indeed, you have two dominant political parties, the Democratic and Republican Parties, that have controlled this country for well over the past 100 years. Yeah, sure, you can say that's better than a one-party system, which was often characteristic of some countries we dare not mention. But it's only marginally better.

True, in theory, we have a very open and democratic system with a wide spectrum of political parties that we can vote for. But the established power--the Democratic and Republican Parties--have very tight control over the election process. In a recent Newsweek article, Evan Thomas describes establishments: "By definition, establishments believe in propping up the existing order. Members of the ruling class have a vested interest in keeping things pretty much the way they are." And this is precisely what the two parties do. An easy example to point out is the "Commission on Presidential Debates," which is essentially a bipartisan ("bi," meaning two, rather than nonpartisan, which would have no political affiliation) body that dictates how, when, where, and who gets to participate in presidential debates--an important process in electing our presidents. Naturally, they limit the access third-party candidates have (or even some members within their own party, with whom they may disagree), which I consider an affront to democracy. And that's just one example; there are countless more.

Anyway, I'm going a bit off course. We are aware of the two dominant political parties and ideologies that have monopolized politics in this country for a long time now. But, surely, this can't be all that there is. In American politics, we typically call a person who favors free markets and capitalism but regulation of personal and social issues a conservative. But what do we call a person who favors state control in both social and economic issues? We typically call a person who favors state intervention in the economy but little control over personal and social issues a liberal. But what do we call a person who favors no intervention in either the economy or social issues?

The simplistic model has a straight line to describe those on the left, liberals, and those on the right, conservatives. This model has been expanded, however, to include the vast political ideologies that are ignored in this model. One that I like is the political compass:


(Source: www.en.Wikipedia.org)

This comes from www.politicalcompass.org, a nifty little site where you can see where you fit on the ideological chart. As you can see, a vertical axis was created with the addition of Libertarian and Authoritarian. On the far right, you have neoliberals who believe in unregulated markets, and their position is moved up or down depending on how much regulation there should be with social issues (abortion, drugs legalisation, homosexual marriage, etc.). On the far left, you have communists or collectivists who believe in regulated markets, and their position would be moved up or down depending mostly on how much they believe the state should be involved in making decisions. People on the upper left, the likes of which include Stalin, believe in strong and totalitarian state control in their quest for "communism." People on the lower left would be advocates of stateless communism and voluntary collectivism, along with other anarchists.

The domain of the libertarian is the on the bottom half of the chart. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to be a leftist libertarian, the likes of which include Noam Chomsky and Neslon Mandela, who oppose the state but do not necessarily agree with capitalist markets. However, in America, libertarians and the Libertarian Party are most closely associated with those on the bottom right. People who have championed the belief in free markets and personal freedom include people such as Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, Ron Paul, Ludwig Von Mises, Murray Rothbard, Friedrich von Hayek, most of the Founding Fathers, and many others.

The ideology of the Libertarian Party argues against state power (that is, opposite of authoritarians), and instead focuses on individual liberty. It strongly supports the U.S. Constitution, liberalization of the market, the expansion of civil liberties, and is against state aggression and interventionism. This is just a simple and quick description, but it should give you a feel for what we're about. Try taking the World's Smallest Political Quiz to see where you stand. ;-)

Benjamin Seghers