Download Political Spectrum terms

Political Spectrum
A.
Radical: Seen as being on the far left of the political spectrum, radicals call for widesweeping rapid change in the basic structure of the political, social, or economic
system. They may be willing to resort to extreme methods to bring about change,
including the use of violence and revolution.
B.
Liberal: Liberals believe that the government should be actively involved in the
promotion of social welfare of a nation’s citizens. Liberals usually call for peaceful,
gradual change within the existing political system. They reject violent revolution as
a way of changing the way things are, often called the status quo.
C.
Moderate: Moderates may share viewpoints with both liberals and conservatives.
They are seen as tolerant of other people’s views, and they do not hold extreme views
of their own. They advocate a “go-slow” or “wait-and-see” approach to social or
political change.
D.
Conservative: People who hold conservative ideals favor keeping things the way
they are or maintaining the status quo if it is what they desire. Conservatives are
usually hesitant or cautious about adopting new policies, especially if they involve
government activism in some way. They feel that the less government there is, the
better. They agree with Jefferson’s view that “the best government governs least.”
E.
Reactionary: Sitting on the far right of the ideological spectrum, reactionaries want
to go back to the way things were—the “good ol’ days.” Often reactionaries are
willing to use extreme methods, such as repressive use of government power, to
achieve their goals.
Some background information that you need to know.
 Right refers to people who hold traditional values.
 Left is used to describe people who support change in society.
These terms originated from the French National Assembly during the French Revolution
(Remember your World History class). All those who supported the monarchy went to the right
of the speaker, while those who supported the revolutionaries moved to the left.
The terms republican and democrat have different meanings when written lowercase.
 A person who supports a republican form of government wants elected leaders rather
than a monarch.
 A democrat supports a democratic form of government, or a government where the
people rule through elected representatives.
The Republican and Democratic political parties have evolved over the years.
 The early political party of Thomas Jefferson was called the Democratic-Republicans,
and they were the liberals of their day. That party developed into the Democratic Party of
Andrew Jackson, which championed the rights of the common person.
 The Republican Party was formed to fight the spread of slavery during the 1850s, and
their views were seen as quite liberal, if not radical, during the time of Abraham Lincoln.
The modern Republican Party, with its conservative reverence for big business, emerged
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during the economic boom of the 1920s under the presidential administrations of Warren
G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge.
There are two key factors in determining a person’s political ideology:
 How much change in government the person is willing to allow, and how quickly he or
she believes that change should take place.
 How much government interference in the lives of citizens should take place, especially
in the area of the economy.
Note: "The outdated one-dimensional political spectrum" - The traditional political spectrum
of liberal-moderate-conservative. It is outdated because it doesn’t measure the degree of
government seen in the new two-dimensional political spectrum of liberal-moderate-conservative,
libertarian-moderate-autocrat.
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Up versus Down "Peg" Spectrum
Because of confusions arising from propaganda and contradictory definitions, perhaps we should
abandon the left-right spectrum and instead, have a VERTICAL "spectrum" of UP and DOWN -Up to the maximum of individual liberty consistent with law and order, or Down to the maximum
of political interventionism (and minimum of freedom).
"Extreme
Right"
10 The Laissez-Faire Republic (No Meddling with Peaceful Citizens)
9 U.S. Libertarian Party
8 Thomas Jefferson; U.S.A. prior to 1914 (no income tax, no Fed); "Right"
7 Rush Limbaugh; National Review; American Spectator; Young Americans for
Freedom
6 U.S. Republican Party (Average Position)
5 U.S. Democrat Party (Average Position)
4 European Welfare States
"Left"
3 Mussolini's Italy; Franco's Spain
2 Nazi Germany under Hitler; Yugoslavia under Tito
"Extreme
Left"
1 Red China under Mao; the former USSR; Castro's Cuba; N. Korea
0 "Ingsoc" as described in Orwell's book 1984 (Total Control over the Citizens)
Since Individual Liberty is generally inversely
proportional to the Degree of Government
Intervention in the private affairs and voluntary
(market) relations of peaceful people, the highest
level of freedom is at the top of the spectrum and
the lowest level of freedom is at the bottom (where
maximum government intervention is). Note that
the vertical line comprising this spectrum
measures one thing: the degree or extent of
encroachment or intervention by the political state
on the private affairs or voluntary relations of
peaceful people, regardless of WHO or HOW
MANY rule the official government (monarchy,
oligarchy, democracy, etc). It is a onedimensional scale which measures the overall
SCOPE or extent of government intervention
regardless of the FORM of government.
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