Left, Center, Right. What do those things have in common? Well, there are too many similarities, so I'll just tell you about them: they are all words in the title of a game. But you know what else?
It's also part of a political labeling system that everybody uses.
I'll go over it briefly. There's not much complicated about it. (Just kidding, it's one of the most nuanced parts of politics ever.)
Let's start with the left, or liberalism. According to the world's smallest political quiz, "Liberals usually embrace freedom of choice in personal matters, but tend to support significant government control of the economy. They generally support a government-funded 'safety net' to help the disadvantaged, and advocate strict regulation of business."
For some odd reason, liberals tend to dislike civil liberties. I have no idea why. Either that or they keep mislabeling themselves.
Either way, liberals tend to dislike capitalism, or economic freedom, and prefer personal freedom. Not all liberals are like this, however. If you were to get into an argument with a liberal, ask him his position. It gets confusing.
And then there's the right. I'm skipping the center for now. But the right is conservative. And again, according to the world's smallest political quiz, "They oppose excessive government control of business, while endorsing government action to defend morality and the traditional family structure. Conservatives usually support a strong military, oppose bureaucracy and high taxes, favor a free-market economy, and endorse strong law enforcement."
Okay, I know there are some conservatives who don't fit into this category exactly, but this is pretty much true. Conservatives favor economic freedom, but not so much social freedom.
Let's take a quick review: liberals like personal freedom, and dislike economic freedom. Conservatives like economic freedom, but dislike personal freedom.
Again, not all liberals or conservatives fit into this mold, but that's the standard for each.
Now we take a look at the middle, the most interesting.
Let's start off with centrism. It's a simple concept; centrists are undecided. They like to be open minded, and like "practical" solutions to problems.
Now things get interesting, with the statist. Statists basically say "yes, you're both right" to liberals and conservatives. They like big government. They love it, they thrive on it, because they think it works. Here's what the world's smallest political quiz has to say about them (a lot):
Statists want government to have a great deal of power over the economy and individual behavior. They frequently doubt whether economic liberty and individual freedom are practical options in today's world. Statists tend to distrust the free market, support high taxes and centralized planning of the economy, oppose diverse lifestyles, and question the importance of civil liberties.
That's what statists are. All civil liberties gone. Basically, they're fascist; the government must do what it deems necessary.
We get to libertarianism. They agree with statists, but to an extent. This doesn't make sense until we look at the similarities.
According to the world's smallest political quiz, "Libertarians support maximum liberty in both personal and economic matters. They advocate a much smaller government; one that is limited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence."
That's it. How is that like a statist? It's the polar opposite, true. But look at it this way: statists believe that both liberals and conservatives are correct. Libertarians believe that both liberals and conservatives are correct. They just disagree on what's correct about each.
Now the last bit: a recap, and finally, what does each philosophy mean for you personally?
First, we have liberalism. Economic freedom, no. Personal freedom, yes.
Second, we have conservativism. Economic freedom, yes. Personal freedom, no.
Third, we have centrism. Economic and personal freedom, "open-minded."
Fourth, we have statism. Economic and personal freedom, absolutely not. Government should be huge.
Fifth, we have libertarianism. Economic and personal freedom, absolutely. Government should be small.
What does each one mean? Well, all except for centrism and libertarianism, they are all statist, really. They all think government should be in control over your life. They just disagree on the details.
The left is more dangerous to your wallet, because it advocates high taxes. The right is more dangerous to your privacy, because it advocates governments have to know personal matters if they want to enforce them.
The statist is more dangerous to everything. They are fascist, end of discussion. We can see how well that worked out in WWII.
Finally, we are left with the two most interesting, centrism and libertarianism.
Centrism is an odd category. It almost seems that centrists have no philosophy, nothing which they can base any opinions on. If it seems like it will work, they do it. Which is essentially the same thing as statism, only much, much more dangerous, because it's harder to recognize. And because it can justify any power it wants, it can slowly deteriorate into fascism or anything it wants. A bad choice of politics.
That was really long, but finally we get to libertarianism. What does it mean for you?
There are lots of sub-views, but everyone who is a libertarian agrees that we all need to distrust the government. As Thomas Paine said in Common Sense, government is, at its best form, a necessary evil. We have to give it as little power as possible, while still maintaining enough power so that it can do its job. The libertarian knows that there are laws higher than governments, or no political system has any right to say it is the correct system. The libertarian is the best friend of both your wallet and your civil liberties.
I'll let you decide which is the correct system.
Left, Center, Right.
No comments:
Post a Comment