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The Political Plane

TheBigC

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I've found that in discussing politics with people, the traditional one-dimensional model of "right" and "left" is too restrictive, so I wish to propose an alternative model, a political "plane".

If you draw or imagine the traditional Cartesian plane, with its X and Y axes, this forms the foundation of my model. At the extremes of the axes, you have:
Negative X: Progressive (corresponding to the traditional "Left" label)
Positive X: Conservative (corresponding to the traditional "Right" label)
Negative Y: Individual orientation (new concept)
Positive Y: Collective orientation (new concept)

With this model, you find the extremes of political philosophy at the corners, not at the poles. This model explains "oddities" such as the so-called "Religious Right" who are willing to abandon Conservative values because their personal position on the Collective axis is so high, or the New England Catholic who will vote Democrat until the day they die, or the Libertarian whose orientation is fiercely Conservative and Individual.

The extremes would correspond to:
Far Left, High Collective: Socialist
Far Left, High Individual: Humanist
Far Right, High Collective: Religious Traditionalist
Far Right, High Individual: Libertarian

Thoughts?
 
MrFungus420 said:
Someone beat you to it.

Check out: http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html
That's sort of it, but their proposed Y axis is fiscally oriented. To narrow. It still doesn't encompass spirituality.

Mine is more broad, as it simply measures ones' individual to collective orientation, which can be applied fiscally or socially.
 
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