An alternative to Left vs. Right in politics

The perennial Left vs. Right model in politics is terribly misleading. It presents a false dichotomy, and therefore a false choice. I thought it would be interesting to come up with a diagram that more accurately expresses the spectrum of political choices:



The X axis is the traditional Left vs. Right model. The Y axis shows the degree of sacrifice that's required from a particular political party or system. The political parties are shown in green, political systems are black, and the targets of sacrifice are red.

What I'm trying to show here is that the fundamental difference between the Left and the Right today is not, say, the support of individual rights vs. collectivism. Rather, they both advocate sacrifice, just to different targets. The Democrats want us to sacrifice ourselves to our neighbors, so they support egalitarianism, welfare programs of all kinds, and uses of taxation for both purposes. They are also strong supporters of various racist agendas, such as "equal opportunity" (a misnomer if there ever was one) and multiculturalism. The Republicans want us to sacrifice to corporations and the country (endless wars), and they have a strong religious agenda too.

[[MORE]]You can see where the fringe parties and political systems of today fall. The Greens want more sacrifice than the Democrats, by having us sacrifice ourselves to the environment. Anarchists advocate less sacrifice than Democrats, while often still preaching egalitarianism or other forms of sacrifice to your neighbor, or sacrifice all-to-all. The Tea Party wants a little less sacrifice than  Republicans, by being against sacrifice to corporations, but they would be happy to sacrifice to God and country.

Although there are certainly atheists in the Libertarian camp, my experience with them as a group is that they tend to support sacrificing themselves to God to some degree. Since they adopt the non-initiation of force principle as a primary (rather than in an appropriate context), they also tend to be pacifists who support sacrificing themselves to their enemies. However, they generally prefer eliminating sacrifice to both corporations and the country.

As we move down the Y axis, true socialist governments take sacrificing to your neighbor to even greater extremes with actions such as government ownership of major industries. The people of Nazi Germany sacrificed themselves to the Aryan race; that was the true name in which many of their atrocities were committed. Italian-style Fascism demanded sacrifice to the country (Nationalism) and happily created a marriage of corporations with the State. Theistic states such as Iran demand sacrifice to God.

At the level of total sacrifice, we have communism on the left, such as in the Soviet Union, where private property and working for profit ("speculation") were outlawed. On the right, we have totalitarianism, which would be a type of feudalism, where a King rules by fiat.

At the top of the diagram's triangle, not sacrificing to anyone means supporting individual rights as a primary, which leads to laissez-faire capitalism. This is a "hands off" type of capitalism, limited mainly by laws against the use of force or fraud, but free of modern regulation.

The diagram also helps to illustrate the tendency of humans when it comes to politics to move down the Y axis, toward increasing levels of sacrifice -- which also naturally leads to increasing violence and war. Jumps up the Y axis are relatively rare, yet also very powerful when they do happen, such as with The Enlightenment.

Tea Party mission statement

I would like to suggest adoption of a Mission Statement for the Tea Party. The idea is that actions taken on behalf of Tea Party candidates, such as developing a platform, composing advertising or position statements, etc, should be measured against the Mission Statement prior to public distribution. It could also be an easy way to introduce new people to the campaign and the larger movement.

The following draft was given to me by someone from the Florida Tea Party. They have adopted it as their own. I really like it, and would like to hear what others think.

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Tea Party Mission Statement

We uphold and affirm the natural rights of every individual, regardless of race, creed or national origin, to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness; rights to which the founders of our nation pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.

We hold that the proper role of government is to protect the rights of all citizens at the expense of none; to protect its citizenry from force, fraud, and breach of contract, thereby allowing all citizens to dispose of the products of their thoughts and labor as they see fit.

We recognize that free trade and free markets—the voluntary exchange of goods and services—are responsible for the unprecedented wealth and prosperity of our nation; and that such are both practical and morally necessary for human dignity, prosperity and enjoyment of life on earth.

While we respect the generosity of individuals who willingly give to charities and causes, we reject the premise that one person's “need” constitutes an enforceable claim on another's life, and that such a claim can or should be fulfilled through government force or coercion. We advocate the principles of fiscal responsibility in government policies.

We acknowledge and support all who through their courage and loyalty have served in any of the armed services of the United States of America and through their efforts have secured our country's existence and safety for this and future generations.

To further this vision of the United States of America, we pledge to provide a common ground for civil discourse for our members and like-minded individuals and encourage them to support candidates for—and holders of—public office whose positions are consistent with these principles.