Strengths and Weaknesses of Various Ideologies

A friend of mine has said to me: "Show me your strength, and I will show you your weakness."

It has been my own personal observation that more or less all ideologies suffer from some key defect that adherents are often unable to see. In American politics, there is so-called Left vs. Right thinking. While the validity of such labels as Left or Right accurately depicting political ideologies can be questioned, we can at least speak in some general terms. In general, both sides tend to view the world from an almost polar opposite perspective. It is an old story told in the fight as told in the struggle between the Morlock vs. the Eloi. At the center of this fight is an old ideology, that is again being reborn. Yet it is as a chick struggling to break free from its proverbial egg shell.

Proponents of Libertarianism often use the mantra "Taxation is theft". Proponents of Barry Sanders proposals seem to use the very opposite thinking and want their "Fair share", with the benefits being provided via the taxation system. It seems that one common thread shared by both parties is unrealistic expectations concerning funding. The mantra, Taxation is Theft, is true - there is no argument there; however, the question for those outside the movement is what degree of this theft is reasonable to avert outright civil war and the resulting loss in life as well as continue to live their existing lifestyles or have some improvement. The masses increasingly unite in the principle of obtaining their "fair share" - but their fair share of what is the question.

I'd say what is needing is a single operating principle that can then be embodied through the various factions each in their own way, as well as a simple table which presents some of the strengths and weaknesses of each idealology. It has been my experience that ALL ideologies have their blind spots. It seems to me that the libertarianism is fundamentally based on decentralization of power and type of idealism. For a long time I struggled to understand why Bernie Sanders voters would be drawn to Libertarian candidates, when it finally occurred to me, that the common ground has something to do with expectations and the realism of those expectations. In my view, the idealism focused on decentralization and privatization is precisely what prevents the LIbertarian movement from focusing and gaining more traction than it has. Does this mean it should sacrifice its ideals? Hardly. All it means it that the principle of least-government would need to be coupled with the principle of doing the best you can with what you have at the time.

Perhaps another failing of the Libertarian mindset is that the very bureaucracy that it would oppose is what many of its adherents have become. How so? By engaging in pedantry.