The New Slogan

Posted on June 2, 2003 in Citizenship Identity Site News

Some people may be wondering about the new slogan I’ve written across the top. For one thing, they may be wondering how I determined this. I took a quiz: The Political Compass back in March. (It was briefly fashionable and will undoubtably be fashionable again.)

I scored:

Economic Left/Right: -8.38

Authoritarian/Libertarian: -7.64

By their own chart, I am down in the lower left hand corner, beyond Gandhi (who wanted, perversely enough, to retain the caste system. This hurt his libertarian score.)

For an idea of how people fit:

• Hitler: Very Authoritarian, slightly capitalist
  
• Stalin: Very Authoritarian, quite socialist
  
• Thatcher: Authoritarian, quite capitalist
  
• Gandhi: Quite socialist, libertarian
  
• Friedman: Very capitalist, libertarian (less so than Gandhi)
  
• Sax: Very socialist, very libertarian

Excuse me you may ask? How did you get to be socialist and libertarian?

Because I think like this: I believe in community. People are the most important resource that a society has. I believe that central services such as roads, electricity, telephone service, health etc. should be either owned or regulated by the state. I am for National Health Care and workfare projects which allow those who can to repay society for the housing that they receive. I am not so socialist that I will ban free trade in most consumer items. I believe that the accumulation of large amounts of wealth in the hands of individuals is a great threat to individual freedom because it allows them to buy multiple voices to push their often authoritarian views. There are very few capitalists (if any) with strong libertarian leanings, in my experience. For this reason, I support a progressive income tax, campaign spending limits, and a wealth tax.

I unequivocably support freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to petition the government for grievances, freedom to peaceably assemble and associate as we please. The State must be secular and entirely neutral on issues of personal conscience covered by the four freedoms of the first amendment. Because of my communitarian perspective, I support regulated gun ownership. No society will prosper that represses freedom of speech because new ideas keep a society healthy. I support full enfranchisement of all persons over the age of 18. I am for strongly limiting the power of government and for the free exchange of information. I am for a diversified media and access to media for all. I believe in one person, one vote and one person, one voice. I oppose efforts to define sexual mores (except when they result in harm to others) and I strongly affirm the right to privacy. I oppose slavery. I support free trade unions. I oppose violence, both state and personal.

These things define who I am, what motivates my views. It is for a society like this that I yearn. There is no contradiction. It’s a matter of balance.

As for the rest of the slogan: that’s the poet and the writer. He likes to be brief.