Thursday, September 24, 2009

The Liberty Dial

When George Mason, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington talked politics, they didn't use words like "Right" and "Left" to describe loyalists to King George vs. those who wished to cast off the shackles of British rule. They knew the real situation in the colonies was liberty vs. tyranny, freedom of the individual vs. the heavy hand of an all-powerful central government, limited government vs. the unlimited governments of the statists.

For at least the past half century we have let the statists, those who believe in unlimited government, control the dialog when it comes to describing the political spectrum using the terms "Left" and "Right" and we have fallen for the ruse.

By placing two forms of statism, communism and fascism, on opposite ends of a bar they have been successful in demonizing those who appose statist policies. Those who see themselves on the left, accuse those that reject their policies as being the radical right wing. The inference is clear, if we appose the policies of the left, then we must be on the 'right' and, thus, close to being Fascists. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Those who appose socialism do so on BOTH sides of the Left/Right continuum as currently defined by political pundits. The premise of left and right is so fatally flawed, being completely unable to describe limited government advocates properly.

It's time to take back control of the political dialog with a new way to describe the political spectrum and reintroduce the people of the United States to the terms of the founding fathers.

The real political battle can't be described by the terms 'Right' and 'Left'. It can only be correctly described by the very words of the founding fathers of the United States of America used in describing their fight for freedom. The real dichotomy is between Liberty and Tyranny, just as it has always been.

Statists would have us believe that Communism and Fascism are entire spectrum's apart. They are simply two different sides to the same coin... statism. And, the proof to this can be found in a man that was both a communist and a fascist. The statist, Benito Mussolini became the editor of Avanti! the largest communist newspaper in Italy in 1912, increasing readership by 5 times. In 1919, Mussolini traded one form of statism for another, founding the Italian Fascisti. In both cases, Mussolini apposed democracy and called for an elite to rule over the people.

So, a FAR more accurate way to use the above Left/Right bar is to BEND IT, so that the two ends almost meet... for they truly are only a few degrees apart in political policy. BOTH communism and fascism are statist, big government philosophies. They belong together if we are to truly understand the political spectrum.


The Liberty Dial accurately describes the true political landscape. This tool evaluates political systems in terms of where they fit on the spectrum from liberty to tyranny. Both communism and fascism are brought together where they belong... as the ultimate statist, tyrannical political systems and poles apart from freedom. Any movement from the top center position slides us away from liberty and freedom and towards statism in any of its incarnations.

The opposite of communism is NOT fascism. It is FREEDOM and LIBERTY.

Every bill, every government program, every political philosophy can be accurately charted on the Liberty Dial by assessing whether it moves us toward Liberty and individual freedom or toward statism and loss of Liberty. Not only do the old dichotomies of "Left" and "Right" go away... so does the distinction by political parties. Both major parties are the home of Statists. And, both major political parties are the home of those that love Liberty. The policies of George Bush and Barack Obama can be equally judged without regard to party. And, that is probably the greatest value of this tool.

We need to take back control of the political discourse. We need to return to the terms of the founders. Once again, we, the people, are faced with a choice... Liberty or Tyranny and we cannot allow ourselves to be fooled by the "left"/"Right" ruse.