differences between left and right
Michael Crane at
Political Junkie emailed me a list of 25 diffences between the left and the right in the USA:
THE ISSUE: LEFT/RIGHT
Abortion: My Body, My Choice / It's a Child, Not a Choice
Animal Rights: "A Rat is a Pig is a Dog is a Boy" / Man is the Pinnacle of Creation
Child Raising: It Takes a Village / It Takes a Loving Mother and a Devoted Father
Crime: Crime is an Economic Problem / Crime is a Moral Problem
Education Policy: Outcome-Based Education / Back to the Basics
Favorite Celebrity Spokesman: Alec Baldwin / Charlton Heston
Favorite Motivating Factor: Power / Liberty
Favorite President: Franklin Delano Roosevelt / Ronald Reagan
Favorite Term for People Who Illegally Enter Our Country: Undocumented Workers / Illegal Aliens
Central Goal: Pursuit of Equality / Pursuit of Excellence
How They View Each Other: Believe Conservatives Reactionary / Think Liberals Utopian
Individual Modality: Self-Expression / Self-Control
Achieving Peace: Visualize Peace / Peace Through Strength
Politics: The Personal is Political / The Political is Personal
Popular Saying: Do Your Own Thing / Do Good and Avoid Evil
Public Policy: All Social Problems Have Solutions / All Policy Involves Trade-Offs
Rights: Group Rights / Individual Rights
Societal Motivator: Cooperation / Competition
Human Nature: Human Nature Can be Modified by Public Policy / Human Nature is Unchangeable
The Constitution is: A Living Document / An Inviolable Pact of and for the People
The Military: The Military is a Vehicle for Social Change / The Military Objective is Simply to Defend and Protect this Country
The Three R's: Racism, Reproduction and Recycling / Reading, Writing and 'rithmatic
Wages: Government Should Assure a Fair and Living Wage / Wages Must be Based on Productivity
Wealth: Wealth Must be Redistributed / Wealth Must be Created
Which Side on the Reading War?: Whole Language / Phonics
On the whole I would have to agree with Crane, that this is a pretty good split between left and right in the USA. However, the split between left and right is less and less relevant as time goes on. The bulk of the votes are in the political center, and it is the candidate who can attract the most of those centrist votes that wins an election.
This left/right dichotomy has been a tool of oversimplification in political discourse for far too long.
This test which I have mentioned
before) shows that there is a lot more going on in politics than a simple left/right split. There is at the least a second political axis, at right angles to the left/right axis. This second axis represents state authority versus individual liberty.
The two main political parties in the USA are quite close to one another, both close to the center in terms of left/right, and both more authoritarian than libertarian. It is this second axis which will gain more attention in the years to come, with the competition for the vast centrist vote dividing the populace along statist/dynamist lines.
