Four Fallacies Regarding the Political Spectrum
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As long as people conceive of political left and right in terms of undefined (or vaguely defined) words, package deals, false alternatives, frozen abstractions, or stolen concepts, their thinking about the political spectrum will be discombobulated. The only solution to this problem is to establish and promote clear, objective definitions.
Ayn Rand wrote in 1971:
Since, today, there are no clear definitions of political terms, I use the word “rightist” to denote the views of those who are predominantly in favor of individual freedom and capitalism—and the word “leftist” to denote the views of those who are predominantly in favor of government controls and socialism. As to the middle or “center,” I take it to mean “zero,” i.e., no dominant position, i.e., a pendulum swinging from side to side, moment by moment.
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As long as people conceive of political left and right in terms of undefined (or vaguely defined) words, package deals, false alternatives, frozen abstractions, or stolen concepts, their thinking about the political spectrum will be discombobulated. The only solution to this problem is to establish and promote clear, objective definitions.
Ayn Rand wrote in 1971:
Since, today, there are no clear definitions of political terms, I use the word “rightist” to denote the views of those who are predominantly in favor of individual freedom and capitalism—and the word “leftist” to denote the views of those who are predominantly in favor of government controls and socialism. As to the middle or “center,” I take it to mean “zero,” i.e., no dominant position, i.e., a pendulum swinging from side to side, moment by moment.
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I loved the line about package dealing retarding thought. I was going to say I loved Mr. Biddle's choice of words until I follow the link and found he was paraphrasing (with attribution by hyperlink) Ayn Rand.