The false Left-Right paradigm

[compguygene]

The issues that I raised about the Republican and Democratic party I will elaborate on in this topic.

This article best summarizes my views on the 2 parties in power in the USA.

At the root of the political circus of the western world, at the root of our dysfunctional and corrupt electoral system is a very clever little lie that prevents the people from regaining control over the government. Once you see that lie for what it is you will never be fooled again, and you may find yourself insulted by the audacity of the proponents and maintainers of this lie. I am of course referring to the paradigm of Left vs. Right, Liberal vs. Conservative, Republican vs. Democrat.

The most effective lies have an element of truth. A little truth gives the lie a foothold in the mind and prevents the less vigilant from looking deeper. The false Left / Right Paradigm is no exception. The power elite of this country and the world over have capitalized on common points of contention among world views of the citizenry and have managed to polarize them into two political categories : Liberal and Conservative. This is not to say that these disagreements aren't real. It should be obvious that some people are fiercely for abortion while others are fiercely against it. However, what may not be so obvious is that these points of contention, these wedge issues are little more than distractions that prevent us from uniting.

Let me make this perfectly clear, I vote for the person, not the party. So, in good conscience, I have voted for candidates from the Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and third parties. But, I view both parties as having really lost their mission and focus that actually cared about the plight of the Citizens of the United States. At this point, they mostly serve the interests of International Bankers that have been the largest donors to their campaigns.

Let's try to analyse these guys from the viewpoint of tryanny vs. freedom. Supporters of the Patriot act? Most of the Senators and Congressmen from both parties. And that is just one of many issues of this type.
And let's not forget that Barack Obama pledged to not renew the Patriot act, which requires periodic Presidential Signature to renew. In case you did not notice, he renewed it. In many ways, we could say that on these issues, it has been one set of growing tyranny from George Bush to Clinton, to George W. Bush, to Barack Obama.

[chrisd]

The prime confusion seems to be that being economically left/right is identified with being socially liberal/conservatie. This is in general not at all the case. A more accurate approach uses two axes for this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_spectrum . Actually, I think this confusion is most predominantly present in the US.

[compguygene]

I completely agree with your statement, chrisdD. This is mostly a US thing as an outgrowth of our unofficial 2 party system. I would not say that this is the only false paradigm. From my personal viewpoint, it appears that whenever a debate has been simplified and crystallized to only two options, neither is the right choice. From the standpoint of those that wish to control the debate, and the masses, by keeping us fighting against each other, the real unity we should develop to cause real, worldwide, positive change is avoided.

[Lucifer]

I completely agree with your statement, chrisdD. This is mostly a US thing as an outgrowth of our unofficial 2 party system. I would not say that this is the only false paradigm. From my personal viewpoint, it appears that whenever a debate has been simplified and crystallized to only two options, neither is the right choice. From the standpoint of those that wish to control the debate, and the masses, by keeping us fighting against each other, the real unity we should develop to cause real, worldwide, positive change is avoided.

Gene, stop that. You're finally starting to discover logic. If you do too much of that, you'll stop being a nutter.

(The logical fallacy you've tried to pass off as your own personal viewpoint is the false dilemma, the presentation of two options and insisting that they are the only two options available. When people use the fallacy, they aren't just being illogical, they're trying to force their opponent in a debate to choose between their side and a bad side. It's related to the straw man fallacy.)

[chrisd]

I completely agree with your statement, chrisdD. This is mostly a US thing as an outgrowth of our unofficial 2 party system. I would not say that this is the only false paradigm. From my personal viewpoint, it appears that whenever a debate has been simplified and crystallized to only two options, neither is the right choice. From the standpoint of those that wish to control the debate, and the masses, by keeping us fighting against each other, the real unity we should develop to cause real, worldwide, positive change is avoided.

Stephen Covey has written a book about there always existing a better alternative when only two options are presented. The book is called "The 3rd alternative". I don't think it is true in all cases, though. In cases like giving voting rights to women or the abolishment of slavery these issues were solved by rejecting one of the two options.