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arbilad


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Political Spectrum
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We're all taught in school that the political spectrum starts at the left with Communism, and goes all the way right towards Fascism. All political philosophies fall somewhere along this line, supposedly.
I don't buy it, though. I much farther right than most people I know, but the principles and practices of Fascism are foreign and repulsive to me. In fact, the Nazis were the National Socialist party of Germany.
My theory is that the political spectrum is best represented on a sphere, rather than a line. There are many dimensions to political belief. For instance, I am critical of Bush, but I'm supportive of the war. And the reasons that I am critical of Bush usually aren't the same as the reasons the democrats are critical of him.
What thoughts do you have?

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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!
- Samuel Adams
Cat Herder


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Well, from what I've understood, the name isn't really the indicator of the political swing. The one side is ultra "liberalism" and is classified as, well, I don't know... liberal? Communism is an example of it, because it seeks to destroy the traditional and replace it with something completely new. And on the other side, the ultra "conservatism" that gets classified as reactionary. Facism is the example there, because it didn't seek to destroy the traditional, but to replace the current with the so-called "traditional". Now, was / is there a significant difference in the ideologies and how they are implemented? Not really. But, the approach and extreme view of thought are radically different.

Of course, this is just me saying this. I'm not a political scientist, so maybe some of our esteemed educated folks can comment on it.

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Roper


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This week, I've been listening to a fascinating series on All Things Considered called "Exploring the Language of Post-Sept. 11 U.S. Policy"


The series provides insghts to the terms that have entered common usage with the War on Terror.  The piece on "Islamofascism" was particularly enlightening--drawing parallels with radical Islam and the fascist movements in Europe of last century.


You can find the series here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6406405 


eta:  apologies for being off-topic here.  The term "fascist" prompted a series of thoughts...



-- Edited by Roper at 18:02, 2006-11-03

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arbilad


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Well, the reason I view it more as a sphere is that the more extreme a person seems to become in a view, the more they seem to match the other side on that view, as if they had come full circle. For instance, on the conspiracy theory laden radio station I listen to, there is one host that is so far "right" that he opposes the war as an unconstitutional power grab by Bush. I consider myself to be very right, but I fully support the war. I have talked to people that have been over there and know what good is being done. If you were to only use the left-right political spectrum, that wouldn't make sense; we're both far right, but he agrees with a far left position, whereas I don't. In my mind, the sphere explains that better.

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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!
- Samuel Adams
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