Right Wing politics. Left Wing politics. Libertarians.
Pulled from every dimension of the universal sphere of political thought, libertarians posses the center of the political spectrum. There is a right wing and left wing in Russia, Iceland, Zimbabwe, the USA, and Switzerland - it means different things in every instance, an always shifting concept.
Politics is no more relativist than life; there are absolutes. The political extremes are populated by those that demand government regulate all life on one side, and those that want no government at all on the other side. At the core of the globe of politics are those that just want to do what is right, without bosses telling them what that means.
"Liberals want the government to be your Mommy. Conservatives want government to be your Daddy. Libertarians want it to treat you like an adult." - Andre Marrou
Gary Lloyd
"When the government's boot is on your throat, whether it is a left boot or a right boot is of no consequence."
Libertarianism says you can run your own life better than anyone else, and you have that right.
Libertarianism is a personal form of politics, and therefore can achieve nothing except by compromise. A government that achives nothing but protecting individual rights is worth compromising on special interests.
Wecome to the extreme Center.
"If you want government to intervene domestically, you're a liberal. If you want government to intervene overseas, you're a conservative. If you want government to intervene everywhere, you're a moderate. If you don't want government to intervene anywhere, you're an extremist." - Joseph Sobran
The idea of left and right wing as currently used is inaccurate, and purposely so. Far left in one country may be right wing in another - all politicians however, favor expanding their own personal power.
"A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim." - L Neil Smith
Thomas Jefferson
"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others."
Games can help us illustrate the differences in political theory.
"There is all the difference in the world between treating people equally and attempting to make them equal." - F.A. Hayek
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Gold Edition
Strong and complected rule set - yet still a great game. This is equivalent to doing business in the US; heavily regulated, and expensive in time and maneuvering around burdensome rules to achieve success. You progress from where levels where you have an advantage, to ones where everyone else is favored, to deity level where it is impossible to compete.
This is akin to what Bill Gates was playing when he and a few friends created Microsoft - starting the company at a simple level, and growing to where he could challenge Deity (the governments) - until they kept changing rules in the middle of a game. The answer was of course to "invest" in government relations, and the pressure subsided.
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Risk
Too close to the real world to be comfortable; so we will look at history. Hitler and Stalin were allies, as Hitler swept through Europe. Both had extreme "government knows best" countries under control, and the swept through other nations. Hitler got his three other armies for "owning" the continent, and thought to challenge for Russia; instant loss of friendship.
Hitler tossed the dice and lost. Where are the dice being tossed today?
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Monopoly
Like modern western democracies that claim to have free markets, there is no easy access to startups challenging established players. Regulations insure that only these items are in play, and only to players that were there when the game started. Controlled by a rule set that every nation modifies to house rules, the results are always the same - "them what has - gets."
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Clue
Get a clue - you are being gamed by your government. "Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under." - H.L. Mencken
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St. John Chrysostom
"The desire to rule is the mother of heresies."
"More laws, less justice." - Marcus Tullius Ciceroca (42 BC)
"The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire." - Robert A. Heinlein
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages. Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow citizens." - Adam Smith in his book "The Wealth of Nations"
P.J. O'Rourke
"If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free."
back at me
"The single most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence, because it's so rare." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Democratic Senator from New York
"Government never furthered any enterprise but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way." - Henry David Thoreau
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byA little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them. - P. J. O'Rourke
KentE says:
Great Lens and Lovely Quotes.
Right up my street.
For years I have asked myself "What do we need politicians for?" I can only come up with answers like "To have something to moan about" or "To separate fools and their money".
Posted August 07, 2009
Let's go all or nothing, either you trust your government of you don't
Ronald Reagan
"The Government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other."
"Politics is a strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. " - Ambrose Bierce
"It stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there's someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master."
"From the fact that people are very different it follows that, if we treat them equally, the result must be inequality in their actual position, and the only way to place them in an equal position would be to treat them differently. Equality before the law and material equality are therefore not only different but are in conflict with each other; and we can achieve either the one or the other, but not both at the same time." - Friedrich von Hayek
Charles Peguy
"Tyranny is always better organized than freedom."
Here's my favorite link:
Maybe I'm wrong, maybe.
I know - the left wing is those that want to give away what you own, the right wing is those that don't want you to take away what you think they should give. You are the center of your universe.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." - C. S. Lewis
Where is the center of politics?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byMaybe some libertarians occupy the center of that arena.
KentE says:
What is the difference between Socialism, Facism and Extreme Capitalism? - The spelling. All have a ruling elite and downtrodden masses.
I think the Founding fathers of America came pretty close to the Center of Politics - Keep Government as small and powerless as possible!
Posted August 07, 2009
There is a right and left wing, and I want to let nut jobs like you know where the center lies.
Robert A. Heinlein
" Under what circumstances is it moral for a group to do that which is not moral for a member of that group to do alone?" <
get further ideas
"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." - Plato
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Americans, do you recognize this flag?
I didn't think so.
This is the civil flag of the United States Of America.
It was created by Alexander Hamilton for the Customs department and any other civil (as in not military) institution. It was also flown by merchants and any other American, when the USA was not at war.
Don't see the American civil flag much any more.
I really liked what Hamilton told the custom's collectors that worked under this flag:
"They [the officers] will always keep in mind that their Countrymen are Freemen and as such are impatient of everything that bears that least mark of a domineering Spirit."
Want to tell that to the IRS?
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"If there are several opposing opinions on an issue, all of them can't be right; however, all of them can be very wrong." - Allan Wallace
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