This is

the fourth in a series in which we are examining the

basic philosophies at work in politics, just for the fun

of it. How many columns will be included in the series is

anybody's guess.

In the last

three weeks we've examined socialism and communism and

why they don't work, and we've dabbled around the edges

of American politics.

So let's

dive a little deeper into the forces that shape our

nation today.

We tend to

think in terms of a very simplistic model in which

Democrats are "liberal" and Republicans are

"conservative." Democrats who are more

conservative than most and Republicans who lean to the

liberal side are referred to as moderates.

Keeping in

mind that "liberal" generally translates as

socialist, you can envision so-called liberals at various

points on the left side of a horizontal scale, with

conservatives all along the right.

The farther

to the left they are, the more people advocate government

takeover of the economy, through taxes or regulation or

both. The more toward the center, the more

"moderate" they are, thus advocating more

government control than we have now, but not as much as

their more socialistic brethren.

On the

right side of the scale, conservatives would be similarly

arranged according to how much central government control

and what level of taxation they would be willing to

tolerate.

This is a

far cry from older definitions of the words, when

"liberal" meant you believed in change and

"conservative" meant you resisted change.

But this

simple left-right model is woefully inadequate. Imagine

instead a circle with dozens of political philosophies

represented along the perimeter and lines intersecting

all over the place. Four major philosophies -

liberal, conservative, libertarian and the religious

right (a term we haven't dealt with yet) - occupy

the left and right, top and bottom points if you divide

the circle into equal fourths, but there are many other

systems of thought that could be included.

With me so

far? Good.

We have two

dominant political parties trying to represent a complex

maze of political thought.

Many

fiscally conservative Republicans have no use whatsoever

for the religious right, although those who would define

themselves as proponents of the religious right are a

strong element in the party. Though they might agree on

all the economic issues, fiscal and religious

conservatives may disagree violently on the role of

religion in politics.

Those on

the religious right range from some who would, if they

could, set up a theocracy - a government controlled

who simply want to elect leaders who themselves are

governed by a strong religious conscience.

Some merely

fiscal conservatives will go part way with the religious

right, and others actually would fit better in the

Libertarian Party. And then there are many in the

Democratic Party who agree with the religious right on

issues of morality, but they believe in the religious

admonition that one ought to help the poor, and they want

the government to enforce that deeply held belief.

Libertarians

also come in all shapes and sizes. Their central point is

that the government exists only to provide for defense

and law enforcement (and they believe there should not be

nearly as many laws to enforce), and for a few other

narrowly defined purposes. They oppose any law that

limits individual freedom of choice unless one's choice

directly interferes with someone else's freedom of

choice.

There are

extremists and moderates among libertarians, just like

there are in other philosophies. I lean toward

libertarianism myself, but not too far. For instance, I

favor laws that protect the public health, like public

smoking restrictions, whereas extreme libertarians

wouldn't even allow a health inspector into a restaurant

to count the roach parts in the pancake batter. In fact,

they wouldn't allow a health department to exist.

So where

are you on the political circle?

Don't be so

hasty to label yourself "liberal Democrat" or

"conservative Republican." You might be a

fiscally conservative, morally liberal Republican with

libertarian tendencies and just a touch of Darwinist

cynicism and a smattering of authoritarianism, depending

upon the issue.

If you

claim to espouse a certain political belief, but can't

accurately define it, the Libertarian Party has a dandy

little test that can help. It's not biased... really. It

just asks you a series of questions and plots a place on

the political circle based on your answers.

Take the

test. You might be surprised. (On the Internet, the test

is available at https://www.lp.org.]

Now think

about this. In most cases, the extremes of any political

party usually don't define the party's agenda, yet those

in the other parties tend to react mainly to the

extremes.

Next week

I'll wrap up this rambling series by telling you how I

believe the extremists in one party did gain control, and

what that has done to our country.

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