Is the size of government the only key political issue? Is the Nolan Chart the best way to chart this... a first foray into the fray... by DrLarsen
(libertarian)
Friday, December 17, 2010
I'm sure you've all seen it... it's all over the web, that Nolan Chart with all the political labels and symbols of the American scene handily plugged in for reference, with a handy little slogan plugged in: "Evolve Beyond Left and Right." I refer to the one with the hammer-and-sickle & swastika in the bottom corner, the elephant & donkey in the right & left center, Green Party logo in the far left and a bit HUGE, friendly & patriotic Statue of Liberty logo (of the Libertarian Party, of course) at the top. The kicker, though, what makes it all come together as a propaganda piece is the big, friendly letters in the middle saying "Evolve Beyond Left & Right."
The thing about this chart is that it seems like Libertarian propaganda to me. Not that there's anything wrong with that (per se) but it does seem to me that there's another perspective on this. I mean, putting a hammer-and-sickle and swastika on the bottom end and a Libertarian Party symbol at the top seems to overlook something important: You're just not going to find too many folks advocating Nazism and Stalinism like you will advocating Libertarianism. Using labels like "Authoritarianism" or "Statism" in-between helps some... but there's no party (and no party symbol) for those labels. And isn't there an extremism of the top that we should be concerned about. I speak here of Anarchism. It makes me think, perhaps the chart should look more like this:
1. Shrink the Libertarian logo down to size (make it smaller than the elephant & donkey, rather than two or three times the size.) I mean, hey, why should the smallest party get the most space?
2. Move the Libertarian logo down a bit, maybe just a bit above the bit friendly letters saying "Libertarian." (Of course, right now, it practically fills up all the space above "Libertarian," which is why shrinking it first is the first thing.
3. Add an Anarchy sign at the tippy top. After all, if there's an extremism of the left, right, and bottom, why should we assume that there's no extremism at the top.
I tried making my own little version of the chart. It's a little rough, though. (Hey, I'm no graphic artist... all I have to work with is Windows Paint.) But it's all good; the very roughness of my "top modifications" gives a little hint of graffiti, the kind of graffiti you'd expect of... well, an anarchist. [Note: if and when I figure out how to add pictures to these articles, I'll add it here for y'all to see.]
Anyway, in such a version, then, we have an equally controversial symbol at the top as those on the bottom. "Evolve Beyond Anarchy?" Perhaps it might be better to say, "Evolve Beyond Up and Down." Of course, this is intended to be semi-satirical, but like all things semi-satirical it has a point. What say you all to that point?
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Posted By: Walt
Date: December 17, 2010 09:26:01 AM
In my opinion, the only key issue is the monetary and banking system, although I'm not sure how I'd design a chart around it. Pro-legalized-fraud at the bottom and anti-legalized-fraud at the top, perhaps?
In any event, I think you've misread the chart. The chart isn't about the Libertarian Party vs. the Nazi Party. To the contrary, far more libertarians are not members of the Libertarian Party than are members. Similarly, just because someone is liberal or conservative doesn't necessarily mean they're Republican or Democratic.
The north/south pole of the chart is about liberty vs. anti-liberty (aka statism, authoritarianism, or what-have-you-ism). Big government vs. small government is one aspect of this pole, but it's not the sole aspect.
Besides, why are you so worked up about this? Why is it so important to you to come up with a different way of mapping it?
