The Difference Between the Left And Right

I was reading the comments in a blog early this morning. I in one of them I discovered a profound a thought as any I've seen lately. It is simplicity itself...the fundamental difference between the two major political parties in the United States of America is this: Economic Policy. They both spring from the era known as the enlightenment, though they have very different lineages.

The modern political Left's ancestry comes from the French enlightenment, while the Right descends from the Scottish enlightenment. Liberals highest goal it supremacy of the government over every aspect of life. To put it plainly, they want to "give you someone else's fish, so that you might eat for today." While the Right, on the other hand, desires to empower the individual..."teach you how to fish, so you may eat for a lifetime." These beliefs have some very profound connotations so far as civic responsibilities and obligations are concerned. Try reading from Hayek, von Mises or Bastiat for further information.

While both of these political beliefs profess to be the "correct way to live and govern", either can have its deadly extremes. On the left, socialist and communist governments in the last century directly or indirectly caused the deaths of hundreds of millions of people. National Socialism is in fact left wing movement. The full name is National Socialist Workers Party, im der deutche: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei isn't the name a conservative movement would take. Try reading an excellent essay by John J. Ray, Ph.D. "Hitler Was A Socialist" for a much fuller description. Other members of this elite went even further than Adolf Hitler would have dreamed, Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse Tung and Pol Pot all made significant contributions to the body count. This isn't meant to imply that the Right doesn't have its own distinguished members of the butchers list. Kaiser Wilhelm Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albrecht von Hollenzollern (Wilhelm II of Germany), Tsar Nicholas II Romanov as well as Agusto Pinochet have a place on this list, but I digress.

What those on the right believe is that by limiting the scope of governmental power and intrusion upon the populace to within that given by the frame work of the US Constitution, and by using the market, many problems can be solved both efficiently and economically. This is simplistic in the extreme, but we're not going into detail here. What the Left believes is that government can solve many if not all problems much more effectively than can an open market. By mandating what is permitted and what is prohibited government can better allocated goods and services better than any other system.

Both viewpoints have their adherents, and which side you choose to abide with is your choice alone. I do urge you not to choose blindly or because "my father/mother was a XXXXX", but an educated choice, because an educated electorate is the heart of democracy. One last thought...be respectful of those who believe differently than yourself. Don't hurl insults merely because "they" have different views, different isn't good, nor is it bad...it's merely different.