Destroying the Myth of the Radical Left

Political Alignment Graph

Dispelling the Myth of the Radical Left in America

  There is no Radical Left in America! This is a myth that was cooked up by a very active Radical Right. The Political Alignment Graph reveals that the Democratic Party solidly occupies the center.

  The proof is in how the Progressives and the Conservatives handle these 2 domains of freedom.

• Economic Freedom - How the government controls or regulates the economy.
• Social Freedom - How the government controls or regulates your daily choices.

On Social and Economic Freedoms the

center belongs to the Democratic Party.

Economic Freedom

   The spectrum of economic freedom runs from

• Communism - Government owns and controls all the means of production.
• Corporatism - Corporations are unregulated and act as de facto private government.

  The GOP seeks to privateer publicly owned resources, like military functions (Blackwater), and defund and destroy publicly held infrastructure and services. In their view corporations should be free to pollute, surveil, sell your information, etc. without regulation.

  Democrats seek regulation in order to fulfill the moral mission of government, to protect and empower the people. That means sensible regulations to prevent pollution of our common air and water, and fair taxation for use of the common wealth like roads. These sensible regulations with no efforts to own factories, and the means of production puts them in the center.

  If there were a left in America is would be like seeing advocates for the failed economic policies of the Soviet Union. There are very few communists in America. 

Social Freedom

  The spectrum of social freedom runs from:

• Authoritarianism - Government monitors and controls what you think, do and say.
• Anarchy - No restrictions, including no protections from others (eg. Mad Max).

  The GOP is very authoritarian. The GOP seeks to devise a police state where you will be monitored and controlled. They seek to control who you can marry and what you can talk about. They also work to limit women's working rights and reproductive rights. They line up around issues that give more drastic powers to law enforcement to the military including powers to detain American citizens.

  Of note is the Right Wing Libertarian who is loosely defined but is being co-opted by radical corporatists like Ron Paul. If the libertarian cares more about social liberty he will vote for a Democrat. If he cares more about freedom for corporations to concentrate wealth and to become the de facto private government then he will vote for the GOP.   

  The Democrats work to maintain and increase freedom wherever they can. They work to protect the people by having sensible laws that prevent or limit harm to others while increasing freedoms to do things that don't limit the freedoms of others. If what you are doing is not a significant harm to others or your community it will often be supported.

The Myth of the Center

  The myth of the center is that by ignoring the real spectrum the center is shifted towards the right. Democrats are solidly in the center.

  Now, imagine the so called moderate who exists in the mythical space between the Democrats and the GOP... what do they look like? Is this moderate someone who wants a little less regulation of corporations and a little more authoritarian control over their social lives? Moving the debate so that Democrats represented the Left and even painting them as Radical Left is ridiculous. It is either misinformed or a calculated lie.

Is the mythical moderate someone who wants a little less regulation of corporations and a little more authoritarian control over their social lives?

Independent voters don't fit nicely into this mythical space. They mostly fall all over the spectrum and even vary on different issues. By letting this myth continue the Democrats do a great disservice to America.

America is historically Progressive. We cannot be ashamed to say it. In a time of Kings America decided that it could form a democracy. Our task is as plain as when Lincoln declared at Gettysburg "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."