Re: [OT] Ideologies, was Re: Starship Troopers (was RE: Mission to Mars)

Oerjan Ohlson wrote:
> <Chuckle> The problem comes when political parties name themselves
> after an ideology... and then the times change, and the parties don't
> :-/

In the spring 1980 issue of DESTINIES, Jerry Pournelle
published an articled called THE PROPER STUDY OF MANKIND.
It had an appendix that had a facinating classification system
for political organizations.
 It had two variables. (Pournelle makes clear that he didn't
think then nor does he think now that these two are all there
is to political theory. But they have the property of mapping
every major political philosophy into one unique place)

R	       ^	     A: Max Stirner, Ayn Rand 
a +2	       |	     B: Various Libertarians
t	A      |     E	     C: Welfare Liberals
i +1	       |   D	     D: Socialists
o	     B | C	     E: Communists
n  0<----------+--------->   F: Classical Anarchists
a	       | H	     G: American "counter culture"
l -1	 G     |   I	     H: Various Conservatives
i	       |     J	     I: Fascists
s -2	F      |	     J: Nazis
m	       v 
      -2  -1   0  +1  +2
	    Statism

VARIABLE ONE: "Statism"
This is the attitude towards the State. Is the government
an object of idolatry, a postitive good, a necessary evil,
or unmitigated evil?
Put this on the X axis, with umitigated evil at -2,
and object of idolatry at +2.
(Anarchists would be at -2. Reactionary monarchists would
be at +2. American political parties would cluster around
0. Both Communists and Fascists are from +1 to +2.
Both American Conservatism and US Welfare Liberalism
are from 0 to +1. Don't be fooled into thinking that
Conservatives are anti-statits, they may want to dismantle
the Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare, but they
would strengthen the police and army.
Ideological libertarians are from -2 to 0)

VARIABLE TWO: "Rationalism"
This is the attitude towards planned social progress.
It maps the belief that society has "problems" and
these can be "solved". 
Put this on the Y axis, with "all social problems
have findable solutions" at +2, and with
"problems, what problems?" at -2.
(Fascism is at about -1, since they appeal to
"the greatness of the nation" or volk, and to
the fuhrer-prinzip. Communism belongs up around
+2, since they have all the answers to social ills.
Welfare liberals are from +1 to +2 ("all crime
is caused by poverty thus when we end poverty
we'll end crime...")

Note that this arrangement does explain some political
anomolies. Pournelle gives an example of
the two kinds of "liberal" who hate each other.
Both liberals have a Rationalism from +1 to +2,
but the XIXth Century Liberal has a profound
distrust of the state (a negative Statism),
while the mondern kind wants to use the state
to Do Good for all mankind.

Jim Baen liked this arrangement of politics.
He estimated that Ted Kennedy was at +2.5, +2.5,
Regan was around +1, -1, and George Bush was
at 0,0.