Defining a New Political Spectrum

    The Inadequacies of "Liberal" and "Conservative"

    (C) 1999, William A. Levinson


    Overview

    "Liberal" and "conservative" are often used as political labels- often derogatorily. Second Amendment supporters often refer to gun control supporters as "gun grabbing liberals." Prayer in schools and a ban on burning the American Flag are considered "conservative"- or "reactionary" by people who oppose these things. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is often considered "liberal" for supporting controversial free speech issues and affirmative action, while not supporting the Second Amendment.

    "Liberal" isn't a dirty word; neither is "conservative." There are good guys and bad guys in each category. This article proposes a new, far more descriptive political spectrum: "Libertarians" and "Coercive Collectivists." The following table shows the difference.

    The Libertarian vs. Coercive Collectivist Political Spectrum
     

    Issue
    Libertarian
    Coercive Collectivist
    Affirmative Action For equal opportunity
    • Compulsory preferences for members of certain racial and ethnic groups (a position typically classified as "liberal")
    • Compulsory exclusion of members of certain racial and ethnic groups (a position associated with very extreme "conservatives"- actually racial supremacists, Nazis, and the KKK)
    Conscription (the draft)
    • Armed forces should be all-volunteer
    • Private citizens should be encouraged to learn how to use firearms
    • Practical Libertarians (as opposed to "pure ideological" Libertarians) recognize the need to pay taxes for collective national defense.
    		 For conscription (a position typically classified as "conservative")
    • Possession of firearms should be limited to soldiers and police, i.e. people should bear arms only on behalf of the State. A position currently classified as "liberal," but also adopted by Nazi Germany.
    Flag Burning Finds it personally offensive, but does not believe it should be punishable by law. Wants it to be illegal (a position typically classified as "conservative")
    Gun Control Against it
    • Citizens can own weapons for individual defense against domestic enemies (criminals) and foreign enemies (terrorists), or, as an army, for collective defense against hostile foreign nations.
    Modern nations must, as a practical matter, issue their citizen-soldiers weapons that are suitable for modern warfare. The State also must issue arms if it does not want to restrict military service to those who can afford weapons (e.g. Greek hoplites were at least middle class because the bronze armor was expensive, and a medieval knight's panoply was even more costly).    		 For it (a position typically classified as "liberal")
    • Slaves, e.g. the Scythian archers who served as ancient Athens' police force, or the Mamelukes (state-owned soldiers), are issued weapons to use on the State's behalf.
    • Private security guards for the wealthy elite (e.g. Ted Kennedy) are, like the liveried servants of "the lord of the manor," issued weapons with which to serve their masters.
    The "lord of the manor" may want to consider the fact that you cannot pay a man (or woman) enough to die for you. Machiavelli pointed out this problem with respect to mercenaries. Firearm expert Jeff Cooper ("To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Speak the Truth") says that the principal should take responsibility for his/her own protection and not rely on bodyguards.
    Prayer in Schools The right to pray in a school or anywhere else (as long as it's nondisruptive) is already guaranteed by the First Amendment. 
    • School clubs often include Bible study and similar activities in which interested students can participate voluntarily.
    • Wants expressions of religious faith in public places to be illegal (a position typically classified as "liberal")
    • Wants school prayer to be mandatory, or at least led by a faculty member with students who do not wish to pray being allowed to remain silent (a position typically classified as "conservative," specifically "Religious Right")
    Socialized Medicine Against it. For Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) For it, e.g. Hillary Clinton's national health care plan
    Social Security Wants participation to be optional. For private retirement accounts. Wants participation to be mandatory (a position typically classified as "liberal")
    Women's reproductive rights Generally pro-choice, with the standard Libertarian provision that "doing your own thing" must not hurt others- when a fetus becomes an "other" is open to discussion.
    • Mainland China (Communist): compulsory abortions
    • Nazi Germany (Fascist): selected women are required to serve as "breeding stock."

    Libertarians are good guys and coercive collectivists are bad guys. Note that certain issues like gun control are good litmus tests of whether a politician is a libertarian or a coercive collectivist. Most gun control supporters (e.g. Ted Kennedy, Dianne Feinstein) are "liberals," but New York Mayor Rudolph Guliani is a "conservative." (Given his particularly hard-nosed method of policing his city, some might call him something else.) Note that the Clinton Democrats also support things like socialized medicine and mandatory participation in Social Security.

    "As Easy as ABC": Rudyard Kipling on Coercive Collectivism

    Rudyard Kipling's "As Easy as ABC" (1912) is, as far as I know, his only science fiction story.* The story is set in the year 2065, and the world's only government is the Aerial Board of Control. "The A.B.C., that semi-elected, semi-nominated body of a few score persons, controls the Planet. Transportation is Civilization, our motto runs. Theoretically, we do what we please, so long as we do not interfere with the traffic and all it implies."

    Among the worst offenses in this Utopian civilization is "crowd-making and invasion of privacy." This meant that the lives and activities of "self-owning men and women" "should be submitted for decision at any time... to anybody who happened to be passing by or residing in a certain radius, and that everybody should forthwith abandon his concerns to settle the matter, first by crowd-making, next by talking to the crowds made, and lastly by describing crosses on pieces of paper, which rubbish should later be counted with certain mystic ceremonies and oaths. Out of this amazing play... would automatically arise a higher, nobler, and kinder world, ... based on the sanctity of the Crowd and the villainy of the single person."

    This is the position of the Coercive Collectivist, whether Fascist, Communist, Socialist, Nazi, or even Bill Clinton Democrat- "a higher, nobler, and kinder world based on the sanctity of the Crowd and the villainy of the single person."

    The story refers to the bad old days in which coercive collectivism was the source of war and a myriad of social problems. The people of 2065 still remember MacDonough's Song, which describes the days of coercive collectivism- and what was finally done about it- but they rarely recite it because they do not like the memories. Since the story was published in 1912 (more than 75 years ago), I am assuming that MacDonough's Song is in the public domain, and it is worth displaying:

    MacDonough's Song
    by Rudyard Kipling

                    Whether the State can loose and bind
                      In Heaven as well as on Earth
                    If it be wiser to kill Mankind
                      Before or after the birth-
                    These are matters of high concern
                      Where State-kept schoolmen are;
                    But Holy State (we have lived to learn)
                      Endeth in Holy War.

                    Whether the People be led by the Lord.
                      Or lured by the loudest throat:
                    If it be quicker to die by the sword
                      Or cheaper to die by the vote-
                    These are things we have dealt with once,
                      (And they will not rise from their grave)
                    For Holy People, however it runs,
                      Endeth in wholly Slave

                    Whatsoever, for any cause,
                      Seeketh to take or give,
                    Power above or beyond the Laws,
                      Suffer it not to live!
                    Holy State or Holy King-
                      Or Holy People's Will-
                    Have no truck with the senseless thing.
                      Order the guns and kill!
                          Saying- after- me:
                     

                Once there was The People- Terror gave it birth;
                Once there was The People and it made a Hell of Earth.
                Earth arose and crushed it. Listen, O ye slain!
                Once there was The People- it shall never be again!


    * a note refers to "With the Night Mail," which also refers to the Aerial Board of Control


    Meet the Sheeple!

    "Sheeple" is a combination of "sheep" and "people," and it's pretty descriptive. Rudyard Kipling described them as Serviles in "As Easy as ABC." "Our Serviles got to talking- first in their houses and then on the streets, telling men and women how to manage their own affairs. (You can't teach a Servile not to finger his neighbor's soul.) That's invasion of privacy, of course, but in Chicago we'll suffer anything sooner than make crowds."

    From A Note on Labels: Why "Libertarian"?: "In the 1820s the representatives of the middle class in the Spanish Cortes, or parliament, came to be called the Liberales. They contended with the Serviles, the "servile ones," who represented the nobles and the absolute monarchy. The term Serviles, for those who advocate state power over individuals, unfortunately didn't stick. But the word liberal, for the defenders of liberty and the rule of law, spread rapidly. The Whig party in England came to be called the Liberal party. Today we know the philosophy of John Locke, Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, and John Stuart Mill as liberalism."

    Serviles, therefore, "advocate state power over individuals." They believe in "...the sanctity of the Crowd and the villainy of the single person." Now, go to George Orwell's Animal Farm online to meet more sheeple...

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