: I'm sorry, but I don't agree with his spectrum. The question he uses to ste up the spectrum is "To what extent does the state, or the people collectively, have control over individuals/" I regard that as a question of measns,not ends, and therefore as a secondary question. : My spectrum would be based on the question,
: "To what extent do you agree that freedom and equality are the natural state of man? homo liber aequalis or homo servus inaequalis."
: The more you agree, the farther you are to the left. The idea of "freedom" can be confusing, because neither conservatives nor communists uphold absolute freedom. Marxists like Barry believe in the laws of dialectical materialism, conservatives in the laws of market forced. Teh both uphold specific types of freedom. What differentiates them is that Barry believes in equality while Gee, for example,doesn't. So therefore....
:
: I would put communists and anarchists on the far left, fascists and libertarians on the far right.
Further point, something that i was just reading;
John Locke himself has a very interesting passage which suggests the connections that would arise in the twentieth century between fascism and "freedom". So even on Frenchy's own terms, in which the right is dintified with freedom and the left with subordination to the collective, Hitler is STILL a right winger.
In the passage, Locke (a reactionary bastard of whom I'm not a big fan) describes absolute monarchy, the Elightenment version of fascism. YThe problem he identifies with aboslute monarchy is one of TOO MUCH freedom, not too little. The man on top is free to do absolutely anything he chooses, not subject to teh constraints and laws that bind us as civilized beings. Hence Locke says that an absolute monarchy is nt fully civilized, because the man on the top enjoys unrestricted freedom.
This is exactly tha same thing that happened with teh Nazis. It's been said before that for upper class white reactionary germans, Nazi Germany was a very free state. All of us are in favor of freedom, the question is, freedom to do what? Will it be, as in socialism, the freedom to partoicipate as a n equal member of society? Will it be, as in capitalism, the freedom to exploit your fellow man? or will it be, as in Nazism, the freedom to indulge your darkest, basest animal instincts of bloodlust and hatred.
To draw a political spectrum on the basis of freedom is, therefore, pointless. equality is a far better differentiating factor.
