The Political Spectrum – Definition and Description
By David R. Young, Author of  “THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM: Freedom vs. Enslavement”

The political spectrum is defined as political philosophies (such as communism, democracy, etc.) positioned on a scale of freedom to the extreme right and enslavement on the extreme left, thus showing the degree of freedom afforded to those being governed by any particular political philosophy.

By freedom is meant able to freely express who one is, able to follow one’s dreams and purposes and able to own what one’s intelligence, creativity and industry brings.

By Enslavement is meant, inhibited from expressing one’s individuality, following one’s own pursuits and being prohibited from owning the rewards of one’s intelligence, creativity and efforts, and which always includes duress or threat of physical or mental harm for non-compliance to another’s demands.

The political spectrum is not very complex, the variety of philosophies may be.  But once the fundamentals of the spectrum are established, the spectrum becomes quite understandable and very useful.

You are a member of a very large group called the United States, or possibly some other country.  In order to live free, there must be some agreements by which we operate within the group to ensure individual freedoms and rights are not harmed or eliminated. This would constitute the basics of a free society government.

In our Republic, we have a branch of government which attempts to solve issues and problems by creating laws (agreements to protect freedoms and rights), another branch to ensure the laws are followed and a third branch to ensures the laws and enforcement of the laws do not violate the basic tenets of The Constitution (the basic agreements that establish our natural freedoms and rights for all human beings.) That, simply stated, is our government.

Our government was designed to protect freedoms and rights of the individual and groups, providing equality under the law. It, to date, still guarantees the greatest rights and freedoms to any group of people on earth. That being the case, a republic is positioned on the far right of the spectrum under freedom.

The political philosophy which may seem appealing in its expressions of equality for all and which seems to provide group support and security for the individual, none the less, in application, requires policed boarders (not to prevent illegal immigration but to keeps its own citizens from escaping), suppression of individualism, imposed labor as “required” for the good of the “group” and the inhibition of ownership to prevent an imagined imbalance of “equality”. It is best known as communism (though it is modernly cloaked behind other names), and is placed in it’s usual and uncontested position, the far left of the spectrum.

Though political conditions may exist further to the left or right of these two philosophies, these two political systems will serve for now as the two extreme anchors on the political spectrum.

All  political systems fit somewhere on this spectrum, between these two extremes. Other political systems applicable to the United States and the rest of the world today, can be summarized under: Fascism, Democracy and Socialism.

With the two extremes established above, where would these three major system fit on the scale? How would these relate to a gradual reduction of independence and freedom and the gradual increase of dependence on government?

In socialism, democracy and a republic, citizens have varying degrees of choice and a say in what their government does. But under both Fascism and Communism, the only voice that matters is that of the dictator and his police state or the party chairman and his secrete police.

Notice the terms “conservative” and “liberal” do not appear on the spectrum. These are not in themselves political philosophies, but attitudes toward the politics system in use and attitude toward issues of importance at any specific period of time. In a communist country, there will be conservatives and liberals. It has been an error to place these terms on the political spectrum for that reason.

The full text, research and documentation on the subject of the political spectrum can be found in the book – “THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM: Freedom vs. Enslavement.”

You should know the political spectrum. Then you will truly understand your politicians and how they will represent you in government.