Monday, April 21, 2014

The Politics of Left and Right in the US

There is a lot of thought given to the state of political debate in the US, and I think a lot of the analysis misses the true mark. I've boiled down the basic state of things to the following argument.

Throw all arguments based on big government vice small government, taxes, Nanny state, states rights; and any other stated ideological arguments out the window. All of these are smoke screens, red herrings.

The real difference in ideology between the left and the right in the US is that the right supports policies that maintain or strengthen the existing white, Christian, (and maybe most importantly) corporate power structure. In essence, they support policies that benefit those already in power.

The left, by contrast, supports policies that are aimed at benefiting all. Policies that are intended to level the playing field between the powerful and the not so powerful or powerless.


That clash of those two ideas are at the heart of all political debates.

This is a real thing.