Recapturing the Single-Plane Left/Right Political Spectrum

The Roadmap Toward Liberty

by Chuck McGkawn chuckest@aol.com

I am trying to reestablish and I do mean reestablish that “right”, “rightist”, and "right-wing" is the advocacy of less government. I am going to open with a quotation from Murray Rothbard. It will be repeated and sourced later. “The modern American Right began, in the 1930s and 1940s, as a reaction against the New Deal and the Roosevelt Revolution, and specifically as an opposition to the critical increase of statism and state intervention… “

Among the things I want to touch on here and cover in the full article are:

1.     How the left and right got their names and meanings. The confusion starts here.

2.     How realities created a NEED for a Single Plane Left/Right Political Spectrum.

3.     What is the Left Right Political Spectrum is Supposed to Measure? Confusion here can send you in every direction.

4.     How earlier thinkers staked their claim on the name.

5.     How confusion took root, to muddy the waters.

6.     How clarification works for us in our efforts to promote liberty on every front.

7.     And lastly, To show how you, yes you can begin clearing up the confusion and begin to recapture the single plane left/right political spectrum as the Roadmap to Liberty.

For the full article email chuckest@aol.com 

The following is not an opinion. Karl Marx chose “LEFT” as the designation for his movement, Lenin and Trotsky continued to refer to Communism as a movement of the left. Now, stay with me here, if advocating more government (as Communism did) is “Left” and 100% government is the “extreme left”, then the advocacy of less government would have to be “Right” and 0% government would be the “extreme Right”, on a Single Plane Left/Right Political Spectrum.

Conveniently the English Language has words that substantiate this assertion. Please note, that 100% government is Totalitarianism, where the government makes all major decisions for individuals & businesses. (Note the word “total in totalitarian.), and Anarchy is derived from the Greek meaning “no rule” or no government where individuals and businesses are free to make all of their own decisions

An advocate of more government is not necessarily a communist or fascist or Nazi but is calling for a move toward 100% government on the left. An advocate of less government is not necessarily an advocate of anarchy but is calling for a move toward 0% government on the right.

Confirmation of this hypothesis can be found in two articles by Murray Rothbard. (and many others that preceded and followed him) In The Transformation of the American Right First published in Continuum, in summer 1964, pp. 220–231. Murray Rothbard correctly observed,

The modern American Right began, in the 1930s and 1940s, as a reaction against the New Deal and the Roosevelt Revolution, and specifically as an opposition to the critical increase of statism and state intervention…

A reinforcement of this concept is found in “Confessions of a Right-Wing Liberal” published in 1969, Rothbard further observed: “…we adopted the standard view, let me repeat that “…we adopted the standard view, of the political spectrum: “left,” meant socialism, or total power of the state; the further ‘right’ one went the less government one favored. Hence, we called ourselves “extreme rightists." Rothbard’s standard view of the left right political Spectrum would be a horizontal line with 100% government on the left and 0% on the right

100% government ß------------------------------------------------------------------------------------L---I --B--E--R---T--A--R--I --A-- Nà 0% government.

^{Left  (Totalitarian Communist Socialism Fascist Nazi) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Anarchy . Right}

Note: Because of different Libertarians believing in different amounts of government, we have spread Libertarian over the right end of the chart.

Additional confirmation is found farther along in that same article where Rothbard said, “Originally, our historical heroes were such men as [Thomas] Jefferson, [Thomas] Paine, [John] Cobden and [Richard] Bright and [Herbert] Spencer. As our views became purer and more consistent, we eagerly embraced such near-anarchists as the voluntarist, Auberon Herbert, and the American individualist-anarchists, Lysander Spooner and Benjamin R. Tucker.”

Shockingly the “extreme rightist” Murray Rothbard authored the first Political Platform for the Libertarian Party. This should make those who say that Communism is authoritarianism of the left and Fascism is authoritarianism of the right squirm in their seats a bit.

In conclusion, what we have here is a “Think About It” moment: If the total variation of Earth’s temperature was just three degrees. From summer to winter from The North Pole to the equator, from night to day no one would have ever invented a thermometer. Additionally, if Communism is authoritarianism of the left and Fascism is authoritarianism of the right no one would have ever invented the single plane left/right political spectrum to gauge political thought. And David Nolan would have had nothing on which to improve upon.