00:00Our liberty versus equality U.S. political spectrum is more accurate and less divisive.
00:08Still, some prefer the traditional spectrum.
00:12Why?
00:13What are their objections?
00:15How do we respond?
00:18The Political Spectrum Part 3
00:20Questions
00:22Welcome to Into the Desert, exploring the wilderness of ideas.
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00:40In the Political Spectrum Part 1, we looked at a common U.S. political spectrum spanning the far left, which focuses on equality, and the far right, which focuses on control.
00:52Yet this spectrum did not match the U.S. political landscape, had problems, and was divisive.
01:01In Part 2, we suggested an alternative view, one based on equality and liberty.
01:09If you haven't seen these videos, we highly recommend checking them out first, and then come back.
01:15The links are in the description.
01:16Some have raised objections to the equality-liberty spectrum.
01:22Some object to removing communism, authoritarianism, and fascism.
01:27For example, there are communists, even a few in the U.S.
01:32Since equality is the goal of the left in both spectrums, they fit in their traditional position on the far left of the equality-liberty spectrum as well.
01:40So, why drop them?
01:43There are a few reasons that apply to all three.
01:46As a U.S. spectrum, including them adds very little.
01:50The main result of including them is to lend some justification to their main use as a derogatory attack on political opponents.
02:00In short, including them causes far more harm than the little good it brings.
02:05There is also the problem of the other two terms, authoritarianism and fascism.
02:11The U.S. has a democratic form of government, and authoritarianism does not fit anywhere on a democratic spectrum.
02:20As for equality-liberty spectrum, it does not go on the left with its goal of equality, as it does not care about equality.
02:29It does not fit the right with its goal of liberty.
02:32So, if it is included, where would you put it?
02:37There is a similar problem with fascism.
02:40As a totalitarian form of government, one could place them on the far left near the other totalitarian government communism.
02:47But many will object to this.
02:50Historically, this is not as unusual as it may at first seem.
02:54While its intellectual roots are long and varied, coming from both the left and the right,
03:02fascism as a political movement emerged from the Italian left's fracturing in response to the First World War.
03:10Its founding political leader, Benito Mussolini, was a socialist and a member of the Italian Socialist Party.
03:18After the war, Mussolini came to value nationalism in addition to socialism.
03:25The intellectual philosopher of fascism, Giovanni Gentile, rejected liberal capitalism, international socialism, and thus communism.
03:36He wanted a new understanding of socialism, a national socialism.
03:43For some, this made it an alternative to both capitalism and traditional socialism.
03:51Still, it does not fit on the equality-liberty spectrum.
03:56As a totalitarian government, it certainly does not fit on the right with its emphasis on liberty.
04:03As you move right on the spectrum, from conservative to libertarian, you find a smaller and more decentralized government.
04:12The more to the right, the smaller the government.
04:15So how do you make a leap back to totalitarianism?
04:18Likewise, its national socialism, and thus rejection of capitalism, also does not fit the right.
04:29Another question would be how a group of socialists seeking to fix traditional socialism following World War I,
04:36and rejecting liberty and capitalism, end up with something on the right.
04:41Fascism, at least, in its political origin in Italy, originated as a modified view of socialism,
04:51and thus, if it fits anywhere, it would fit on the left.
04:55But adding it gains you little in the U.S. spectrum and causes more harm than good.
05:01Thus, with no good reason to include them, all three are dropped.
05:06Another similar objection is what to do with racism.
05:10Where does it go?
05:13Sadly, like control, racism is found across the spectrum and, in fact, often exists independent of politics.
05:23Historically, in the United States, racism has been an integral part of the Democratic Party,
05:30whose support for slavery ended in the Civil War.
05:33Following the war, it resisted attempts to establish equal rights for blacks.
05:38And then, following the infamous Compromise of 1877, undermined Reconstruction by pushing Jim Crow laws.
05:47In the early part of the 20th century, the newly revitalized KKK became the de facto arm of the Democratic Party in the South.
05:57Democrats staunchly resisted Republican attempts to push civil rights until the 1960s,
06:04when, under the leadership of LBJ, enough Democrats changed their view to allow civil rights legislation to pass.
06:12This is not to say that racism exists only on the left.
06:18Sadly, it is found on both sides.
06:21But it is more difficult to maintain on the right, given that it focuses on the individual,
06:26as opposed to the left's focus on the group.
06:29Another objection is to liberty being the value on the right, opposite the left's equality.
06:37The objection is that while the right does value economic liberty, the left values personal liberty.
06:44Granted, any one-dimensional spectrum will have issues.
06:49While liberty works well as a counterbalance to equality, it is not perfect.
06:54Still, the left pushes for larger and more centralized government,
06:59which by definition comes at the cost of liberty.
07:04Liberty is more accurate and less demonizing than control.
07:09So one question would be, if not liberty, what?
07:14So a U.S. political spectrum based on equality and liberty meets the goals we set out to achieve.
07:20It is more accurate and less demonizing than the more traditional spectrum of equality and control.
07:29Using it as a basis for political discussion should lead to a better understanding of various views
07:35and lower the current overheated nature of political debate.
07:42So what do you think?
07:44Do you agree that an equality versus liberty spectrum makes more sense?
07:48Do you disagree?
07:49Do you have a better suggestion for the defining value of the right other than liberty?
07:56Tell us why in the comments.
07:58We do read your comments and often post replies.
08:01If you made it this far, consider watching one of our other videos and supporting our channel on Patreon.
08:07Thank you for watching Into the Desert, Exploring the Wilderness of Ideas.
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