Jim Ostrowski brings us a political spectrum based on support for centralizing or decentralizing political power:
The two dimensional Nolan Chart never did gain mainstream acceptance mostly due to the fact that people have a hard time thinking in terms of anything other than left, right or somewhere in between. This new spectrum appears to solve that problem by basically representing the same concepts on the traditional, and easier to understand, one dimensional line.
[…] Federalism – states rights; decentralized power; Jefferson; libertarian Federalists support Totalitarianism – centralized power; statist; fascist; nationalist; Lincoln; Lincoln; […]
[…] way associated with the “far-right” when it is obvious that, if anything, it is on the extreme opposite end of the spectrum? That is, if you are only capable of conceptualizing in one […]
There is a good chart by Jim Dines. It is “up and down” where up is less control and down is collectivism. Doesn’t seem to provide for left and right. Doesn’t matter in present-day terms, because many people parrot “left – right”, but few understand the meaning.
Centuries ago, those who were involved in a revolution petitioned a king. The kingly response was those who support me get on my right; those who oppose get on my left. So, it was originally that right stood for supporting present govt and left stood for opposing it.
Now, that has been turned around to define one type of government and another type. Real meaningless in today’s world, but still useful in agitating for this or that action.