Today, The National Review, put out a list of political definitions for 'left' and 'right'. Forgetting the 'left and right' are often used erroneously, let's assume they mean left = economic statists and right means cultural traditionalists.
Since I, predictably, find myself disagreeing with the paradigm of both sides, I've decided to fix some of their definitions and add my own libertarian definition. I didn't do every single one, that would get tedious.
The Source of Human Rights
Left:The Collective
Right: The State or God
Libertarian: Nature/The Individual
Human Nature
Left: Good but Greedy
Right: Bad but Redeemable
Libertarian: Irrelevant. Individuals should be judged on an individual basis.
Economic Goal
Left: Equality
Right: Upward Mobility
Libertarianism: Prosperity and Liberty
Primary Role of the State
Left: Facilitate equality and proper behavior
Right: Defense and Morality
Libertarian: Protecting individual liberty
Government size
Left: Large
Right: Large
Libertarianism: Small as possible
Family Ideal
Left: Any situation where everyone is content
Right: Mother, Father, and children
Libertarian: Any situation where everyone is content
Guiding Trinity
Left: Class, Collectivism, Equality
Right: God, Tradition, Nationalism
Libertarian: Liberty, Individualism, Prosperity
Good and Evil
Left: Relative
Right: Fixed
Libertarian: Based on Non-Aggression Principle
Humanity's primary divisions
Left: Rich and Poor/Strong and Weak
Right: Good and Evil
Libertarian: Free and Oppressed
Primary Identity
Left: World citizen
Right: American Citizen
Libertarian: Individual
How to make a good society
Left: Abolish inequality
Right: Develop each citizen's (homogeneous) moral character
Libertarian: Maximize freedom without violating the Non-aggression principle
Gender Identity
Left: A social construct
Right: Male/Female and fixed at birth
Libertarian: Up to the individual to define as well as up to the individual to accept
Most important trait to cultivate in a child
Left: Self-esteem
Right: Self-control
Libertarian: Self-reliance
Primary source of crime
Left: Poverty, social flaws
Right: Moral failing on the part of the criminal
Libertarian: Sometimes social factors and sometimes moral failing. American crime cannot be separated from the war on victimless crimes (like Drugs)
Role of religion in society
Left: Individual homes and churches
Right: Government and a guiding principle for all of society
Libertarian: Individual homes and churches
Biggest threat to the world
Left: Economic Inequality, environmental disaster
Right: Terrorism, evil, moral bankruptcy
Libertarian: Statism and the loss of individual liberty
International Ideal
Left: Cooperative international organizations who function on the economic model of Sweden or Denmark
Right: American exceptionalism and superpower status
Libertarian: Countries existing autonomously with open borders so that people can move to whichever country best represents their interests.
Guns
Left: Lax gun laws are why we have high rates of gun violence.
Right: Gun ownership is a fundamental right.
Libertarian: The right to defend yourself is a fundamental right, including with guns.
Race
Left: Social construct that continues to create systemic inequity
Right: Social construct or not, everyone is basically equal today and racism is rare
Libertarian: Social construct that creates systemic inequity OR people are basically equal today (depends on the individual's personal perspective on the topic)
Black America's primary problem
Left: Racism and inequity stemming from historical injustice.
Right: Laziness, lack of family values
Libertarian: A matter of perspective of the individual. Some libertarians agree with the right and some with the left on this issue. (I agree with the left)
War
Left: War is not the answer unless you are attacked (or unless a President you like is in office)
Right: War is the tool of Peace
Libertarian: War is not the answer unless you are attacked.
Purpose of judges
Left: Pursue social justice
Right: Pursue moral justice
Libertarian: Uphold individual liberties
National Borders
Left: Important for sovereignty and national security
Right: Impenetrable lines that protect society
Libertarian: Markers of territory that should not stop people from crossing
View of Undocumented Immigrants
Left: People just trying to make a better life for themselves
Right: Criminal infiltrators
Libertarian: People just trying to make a better life for themselves.
Nature
Left: Has intrinsic value
Right: Made for man to use and appreciate
Libertarian: Has intrinsic value and is useful to man
No comments:
Post a Comment