The Laughing Wolf

The Mythology of the Left Right Political Spectrum

Several recent conversations, or at least e-mail exchanges, have centered around the concept of wings. As in “left-wing” or “right-wing.” That fallacious meme has probably done more to dissuade honest discourse and provide a refuge for incompetents or those who want to avoid debate than almost anything else around. Along with the myth of the two-party system, they need to be taken on and destroyed.

Now, I know I am probably not breaking new ground here in the blogosphere, but I want to do it anyway. The purpose is to both make me feel better and to put some more philosophy out there where a lot of important points and memes are all in one easy to find location.

Since others have done this, part of what I am going to do is rely on them to tell the tale for me. The historian in me will set the stage for them by recounting some facts that used to be taught in grammar school, but appear to have fallen by the wayside.

America was not developed as a two-party system. There was no left and right in the beginning. What there was tended to be “over here,” “over there,” “over yonder,” and “there.” There were numerous political parties that ranged from single-idea causes to well-thought-out (if not completely relevant) multi-issue parties. The republicrats did not exist. Yes, that is right. The democrats and the republicans did not exist at the time.

Indeed, what happened was that many of the parties merged or formed alliances so as to better go after voters and power. This caused Tories, Whigs, and more to mutate, and at one point we ended up with the Democratic-Republican party as part of it. Over a hundred plus years, it finally worked out to two parties, but for the first 50 or so years it was interesting.

For the last 100 years, the two parties have dominated the political scene. Viable third parties, such as Theodore Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party (and what a rampaging bull moose that was) were the exception rather than the rule. The two main parties have managed by hook and by crook to keep the power and discourage third parties. In fact, it has not been until the last 30 or so years that viable third parties have begun to emerge. For those who want to have some fun, take a look at the “rules” to be considered to be viable and how those rules have changed over the last 30 years. It is really fun to plot them against parties such as the Libertarians, and I will leave you to draw your own conclusions.

While I would never want to see us descend into the quagmire that many parliamentary systems face, there is no law and no reason that America has to be a two party system. Just as in the beginning, there are today a range of issues and philosophies that need to be considered and addressed. This is not being done within the two major parties, so third parties are seeing a rise in interest, funding, and membership.

It is equally obvious that all these ideas can not be plotted on a single line. You have people that want no income tax but a strong national defense. You have people that want social freedom, but also demand welfare rights for all. How can you plot all the different ideas on a short line that says Left or Right. You can’t.

One of the first people I know of who tackled this was Dr. Jerry Pournelle. His work later became a column for Jim Baen, and can be found here. It covers some of what I have, and a good bit more besides. It is well worth the read.

There are also several quizzes out there that will plot you on a similar set of axes. Unfortunately, I just found out that I have misplaced the bookmarks for them. This means, of course: HOMEWORK. You have to go find them for yourself. At least it is fun homework. Take the time to also go read some of what others have written. There is a lot of good information out there.

Remember also that there are more than two parties, and we might well be better off if at least one more party becomes truly strong. Then we are less likely to see state and national governments hijacked and held up for partisan politics. You do have a choice, so think about it.

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