TCC Analysis • June 13, 2024
By Art Harman, Senior Vice President – Policy · June 13, 2024
I’m sure you’ve been called a ‘right-winger’ many times, and certainly you’ve called Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) ‘left-wingers.’ The media uses the epithet, often with ‘extremist’ as an additional dehumanizing label, not too different from the purpose of Hitler’s Jewish stars.
Actually, this is a trap. ‘Left,’ ‘Center’ and ‘Right’ are not just wrong, but are used by the media as propaganda and psychological warfare to discredit conservatives; to make us appear dangerous.
If you look at the ‘spectrum’ of politics as commonly taught, you’ll see how unworkable it is.
On the far left is Communism. Next to that they place ‘socialism.’ Then there’s some undefinable ‘center’ or ‘liberalism’ that is just a mild version of socialism—big government.
Then on the ‘right,’ they lump together liberty-loving, free-enterprise conservatives with totalitarian fascism and the Nazis (“National Socialists”).
Being a “centrist” is sold as the only safe place to be. Yet what the media defines as a centrist government is really a big-government, liberal or semi-socialist government.
Therefore, the more you believe in liberty, the more (according to the media) you are closer to Nazism, which is a genocidal rebranding of Communism. In truth, an ‘extremist’ conservative is a good thing, and it’s the opposite of both Nazis and Communists
That’s how they can control us and make freedom sound like tyranny. Sound familiar? Read or reread “1984” by George Orwell, where all language is rigged with traps and thought control.
Where would a ‘left-center-right’ system place governments throughout history? Were Genghis Khan or the Pharaohs in Egypt left or right? Was Aristotle a right-winger? Was a medieval peasant who secretly longed for freedom from the king’s tyranny a right-winger or a centrist? How about a caveman society ruled by the most brutal–would that be left or right? Stop laughing, you know it’s impossible to score governments that way.
How do you unscramble all the ideologies, speeches and philosophies and be able to actually score governments and ideologies? And not make those who believe in liberty somehow associated with the fascists and Nazis who believe the opposite. By the way, this will win arguments and debates with liberals; they won’t admit it, but any audience will get it.
Let’s strip away all the names of systems of governance and tyranny. Strip away the armbands and dictator’s books of quotes. The slogans, names and flags. The political parties and their platforms. And especially all the propaganda that can make evil look lovely.
To the man in the street, it mattered little if the jack-booted soldier shooting them read Mein Kampf or Karl Marx or Mao’s little red book. If the symbols on his uniform were in German or Russian.
Let’s rank them only by one single factor. The amount of government control of citizens.
That’s all.
Lay them out, not on a scale that has no place for a low-government, high freedom government, but on a simple 0-100% scale of government control. Again, leave out the names, slogans, propaganda and other features that the media focus on to the exclusion of the level of government control. Or look at this as ‘who owns you?’ You? The government? Something in between?
Using this scale, you can plot any system of government in history from anarchy to liberty to big government to tyranny. And various proportional stages in between.
Some of the measurable factors would include: low or high taxation. Business regulation—how easy or hard is it to start and run a business? Freedom of speech or censorship? Freedom of faith? Justice or kangaroo courts? In tyrannies, government becomes the ‘god’ the public must worship.
Here’s the scale from 0% to 100% government:
0% government control: This is anarchy. There’s no functioning government. Perhaps a utopian dream, but it can never work in reality. Anarchy might appear momentarily following the collapse of a government, but it’s inherently unstable because without police and a system of justice, thieves, warlords, gangs and terrorists will always take over. Witness Haiti, Libya, Somalia and other failed states ruled not by a real government but by armed thugs and gangs. There’s always one or two percent of any population that will seek to plunder or murder their fellow men. Even a small group living in the wilderness will find it necessary to establish some degree of order.
10% government control might be where our Constitutional republic began. Just sufficient governance to protect people from criminals, defend the nation from war, and promote free trade. Strict limits on the role of government. The burden of taxation is very low. This is incredibly rare in history, and may not exist anywhere in the world today. Think Jefferson, Washington and Adams.
20% government control could be mid-to late 1800s America. A growing level of government and regulations, but taxes and regulations are very low, starting and running a business is incredibly easy. Swift but fair justice. Belize may be an example today.
30% government control could be the US from about 1900 up to about 1930 before the welfare society and regulatory state grew. Justice was still fair and swift, so crime was low. But taxes were very high. Taiwan may be at about this level today, where starting a business is incredibly easy, resulting in very low unemployment levels. Examples include Presidents Kennedy and Reagan, Milei’s Argentina, and Texas, Florida and Alaska.
40% government control This is about where the U.S. government could be placed at present, though state censorship and assaults on our constitutional rights are pushing the U.S. towards 60% or even higher. Tightening restrictions on everything. EV mandates, government-directed censorship and spying, courts becoming kangaroo courts, great burdens on businesses to start and operate. In spite of these, most Americans still feel generally free.
Examples in addition to the U.S., could include some eastern European countries and Israel.
50% -60% government control: This is about where European-style socialism lives. The restrictions are greater and more intrusive. Speech becomes criminalized. It’s nearly impossible to fire bad employees or start a business. Taxes are so high people live in tiny flats and a gallon of gas for their tiny, underpowered cars exceeds $8.00 per gallon—mostly in taxes.
Examples could include Western Europe and liberal US states like California and New York.
70%-80% government control is seen in authoritarian regimes where government openly takes on the color of repression. Less pretense of freedom. Elections may be rigged and freedom of speech and the press are increasingly controlled. Justice is largely gone. Free enterprise is stifled or requires bribes to do any business. Disappearances of dissidents.
Examples include most Middle Eastern and African countries, Brazil, the Democratic Party, Presidents Biden and Obama, the European Union, Ivy League universities and climate change advocates.
90-100% government control is tyranny at its ultimate power. You are a slave and you know it. Human life is treated as worthless; populations are slaughtered or sent to concentration camps for slave labor or murder. There is no justice; courts are shams entirely favoring the government. Elections, if held, are phony. Famine is often widespread. News, media, entertainment and education are completely censored as thought control and to deny the ability for citizens to unite and overthrow their tyrants. Total surveillance. Social credit scores. The Soviet Union took over all businesses, farms and shops, and used scarcity as a weapon of repression. China allows apparent freedoms, as long as you never say a bad word about dictator Xi Jinping. And they are watching and listening.
Examples include the Communist China, the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, Gaza, George Orwell’s ‘1984.’ Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, the Iranian Ayatollah, Hitler, Castro, Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini, Castro, Chavez, Maduro, Lula, terrorist leaders, etc. U.S. radical demonstrators who advocate for Communism, terrorists, anarchy, criminals, etc. The United Nations—a captive of the tyrannies, not the free world. George Soros, Klaus Schwab and others who promote tyranny in the disguise of democracy.
This scale is the only way to score governments, political parties, leaders, media, and even popular culture. Use this next time you are called an ‘extreme right-winger.’
As an exercise, especially useful for students, plot out governments of various countries, states, political parties, leaders and candidates, etc. Make a game of it—take this to a gathering of friends or students and see who can most accurately place different countries and leaders.
With this ranking system, you’ll more easily spot lies about political spectrum and unmasked the various ideologies and beliefs, you can be a better judge when voting—or when advising your friends how to vote.
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