First night of school, Right vs Left

School was dismal. This class is going to be hard. Problem with night classes: The bookstore is closed when I am on campus. I have homework due wednesday but don't have the right book. Hmmmm. I'll have to figure this out in the morning.

In other news I read this article about the recent popularity of Nazi-ism in Germany. The thing that caught my attenttion was the first line in which the author refers to the "far right". This is one of my pet peeves.

If you and I were to sit down and talk for a while you would probably say "Wow! Matt is a right wing nut job." But I have nothing in common with the Nazis. I am neither a nationalist nor a socialist. (the contraction of those two words in German is the origin of the word Nazi.) How is it that I, a libertarian (or a classical liberal it you prefer that label) and strict constructionist can be far right, and neo-nazis can also be far right? Simply put, it isn't possible.

What is the origin of right and left in politics? For that you have to look back to France before the Revolution. In the States-General of 1789 (the first States-General since 1614) the noblemen who supported the king sat on the right side of the room. Those who opposed the king sat on the left. That's it. Pretty easy, huh?

Both Germany and the U.S. are federal republics. Which means there is no king to support or oppose. So what are journalists talking about when they write about the right or the left? I think "far right" is code for "people we don't like". Now look at this: Both the Naziz and the Communists believe in state socialism. But one is typically called far right and the other is typically called far left. (except, I remember when I was a kid Breszhnev was called far right and Solzinitzen was called far left. Oh, this is confusing.)

Here is how I look at it. I don't even bother with right and left because outside of 18th century France the terms are meaningless. I prefer a liberty scale. Here is how it works:
There is a number line. ZERO is complete anarchy. TEN is complete totalitarianism.

I'm not aware of any ZERO societies but I suppose that in theory there could be one. But in practicality, people like to excercise power over each other so it is unlikely that there ever was or ever will be a society that earns a ZERO on my liberty guage. Any society with a Zero rating can not survive. Anarchy is destructive to society. Even angels have ranks and orders. Sinful men simply can not exist in anarchy. Even self-described anarchists will admit this if you can get then to stop blowing things up and talk in a normal speaking voice. (Actually, self-described anarchists are rarely true anarchists. They want someone to have power, just not the people who currently have it.)

Now let's look at the other end of this spectrum: TEN I'm not sure any state has ever made it all the way up to TEN either, though the Communists and the Nazis both tried really hard. I suppose I would give the Soviet Union a 9.6 and to Nazi Germany I'd give a 9.5. Well, maybe the Spartans deserve a 9.6, too.

How I would rank the various political parties on the liberty scale:

Peace and Freedom Party at 9.6
German Greens at 9
US Greens at 8
Israeli Labor Party at 8
British Labor Party at 7.5
German Christian Democrats at 7
British Torries at 6.5
British Republicans 5.9
U.S. Democrats at 5.2
U.S. Republicans at 5
US Constition Party at 4.5
US Libertarian Party at 3