Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - What are the worlds most liberal countries?

Yakk · 12-12-2004, 06:39 PM

A good left-right axis is how do you believe rewards and power should be concentrated, under their ideals (if not their practices).

On the far left, communism theoretically believes that the good of the individual people in the society is the #1 concern.

At the far right, fascism theoretically believes individuals are irrelivent, and the power of the society as a whole is the #1 concern.

This particular left-right axis has the nice property that communism and fascism are on opposite ends of the spectrum. It places socialism on the left side, and free-market capitalism -- or even libertarianism -- on the right side, but neither as far as fascism.

Free market capitalism, with ideal markets, has the property that it maximizes the total wealth of society. Communism, ideally built, prevents any person from exploiting another.

Practically, both the far-right and the far-left do not live up to their ideals.

Those that run Fascist societies end up running the society for their own benefit, and those that run Communist socieities end up running the society to maximize the glory of the society (and hence themselves).

On the other hand, there are so many different axis along which you can compare political thought, left-right makes very little sense.

12-12-2004, 06:39 PM	#18 (permalink)
Yakk Wehret Den Anfängen! Location: Ontario, Canada	A good left-right axis is how do you believe rewards and power should be concentrated, under their ideals (if not their practices). On the far left, communism theoretically believes that the good of the individual people in the society is the #1 concern. At the far right, fascism theoretically believes individuals are irrelivent, and the power of the society as a whole is the #1 concern. This particular left-right axis has the nice property that communism and fascism are on opposite ends of the spectrum. It places socialism on the left side, and free-market capitalism -- or even libertarianism -- on the right side, but neither as far as fascism. Free market capitalism, with ideal markets, has the property that it maximizes the total wealth of society. Communism, ideally built, prevents any person from exploiting another. Practically, both the far-right and the far-left do not live up to their ideals. Those that run Fascist societies end up running the society for their own benefit, and those that run Communist socieities end up running the society to maximize the glory of the society (and hence themselves). On the other hand, there are so many different axis along which you can compare political thought, left-right makes very little sense. __________________ Last edited by JHVH : 10-29-4004 BC at 09:00 PM. Reason: Time for a rest.