Before I show you my (albeit pitiful) attempt to create my version of a political spectrum model, I want to share with everyone a fantastic book by Arnold Kling. It is entitled “The Three Languages of Politics – Talking Across the Political Divides” and can be obtained free from the Cato institute at https://cdn.cato.org/libertarianismdotorg/books/ThreeLanguagesOfPolitics.pdf or purchased from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Three-Languages-Politics-Talking-Political/dp/1944424466 .

The reason I bring this up is that it explains the perspective I have used in creating my model. In many ways this book is similar to Thomas Sowell’s book “Conflict of Visions” available from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Conflict-Visions-Ideological-Political-Struggles/dp/0465002056 .

Sowell breaks down the origins of political thought to today’s conservative and liberal views. Kling takes it further by identifying the different languages used by each group.

Kling divides the factions into:

  • Libertarian (L)
  • Conservative (C)
  • and, Progressive (P)

Each circle of believers has language that is based on their origins in history. From the book:

“(P) My heroes are people who have stood up for the underprivileged. The people I cannot stand are the people who
are indifferent to the oppression of women, minorities, and
the poor.
(C) My heroes are people who have stood up for Western
values. The people I cannot stand are the people who are
indifferent to the assault on the moral virtues and traditions
that are the foundation for our civilization.
The Nature of Political Arguments
(L) My heroes are people who have stood up for individual rights. The people I cannot stand are the people who
are indifferent to government taking away people’s ability to
make their own choices.
The central claim of this book is that (P) is the language of
progressives, (C) is the language of conservatives, and (L) is the
language of libertarians. If the theory is correct, then someone
who chooses (P) tends to identify with progressives, someone
who chooses (C) tends to identify with conservatives, and
someone who chooses (L) tends to identify with libertarians.
I call this the three-axes model of political communication.
A progressive will communicate along the oppressor-oppressed
axis, framing issues in terms of the (P) dichotomy. A conservative will communicate along the civilization-barbarism axis,
framing issues in terms of the (C) dichotomy. A libertarian
will communicate along the liberty-coercion axis, framing
issues in terms of the (L) dichotomy.”

Alan Kling, “The Three Languages of Politics – Talking Across the Political Divides“, page 16.

From this analysis I can claim to write from the (L) view.

Before I present my model, a short break to cover a few more logical fallacies and cognitive biases….

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