Diversity in politics

There are so many strains of thought and ideology in secular democracies around the world, exemplified, perhaps best, in contemporary American political life. Some of these strains of thought are compatible with others and may even be subsets of others. Many of them are violently opposed to others. In the American context, we see, at least, the following : 

• environmentalism
• cultural progressivism
• economic socialism
• progressive-lite Keynesian welfare + neocon warfare hawks = the establishment / moderates / centrists
• civil libertarianism
• non-interventionism
• social conservatism
• Constitutional conservatism
• free-market libertarianism
• populism, protectionism & nativism, anti-progressivism, anti-establishment

A neat left-right divide no longer makes sense. Most people find themselves on a spectrum between very different political philosophies and emphases.

The two major political parties represent uneasy marriages that exist because for historical reasons or current tactical alliances. The fragility of the parties have been exposed this election year and the diversity of political ideologies among the people has clearly been evidenced by the sharp ideological divides within the parties.

In the following illustration, I highlight a variety of spectra on different issues (indicating the closest alignment to my own anarcho-capitalist libertarian views with a shaded box for each issue). Most of the issues have a bi-polar spectrum, except for social issues, on which there is an emerging tri-polar spectrum. At the bottom of the illustration, I describe a variety of syncretistic ideologies.

#ideologicaldiversity

#politicaldiversity