Economic spectrum

There is a lack of accurate information about the economic spectrum as opposed to a plethora of information about what constitutes a political spectrum. The difficulty of understanding each is that they are two separate spectrums and any effort to merge the two will generate inaccuracy.

ECONOMIC SYSTEMS SPECTRUM

Centrally Planned_________________________________________________Market

Definitions

MARKET ECONOMIC SYSTEM (Capitalism): No government involvement in the economy. (Economy: the allocation of scarce resources)

;CENTRALLY PLANNED ECONOMIC SYSTEM(Socialism): Government control of the economy.

POLITICAL SYSTEMS SPECTRUM

Anarchy____________Democracy____________________________Totalitarian

Definitions

;ANARCHY: no government, or no government with the power to get anything done.

DEMOCRACY: The people of the society control the government. The majority rules while the minorities rights are protected.

TOTALITARIAN: Complete government control of almost everything(maybe everything).

RATE OF CHANGE SPECTRUM

Radical_________Liberal___________Conservative_____Reactionary

DEFINITIONS

RADICAL: Complete, total and immediate change. The present situation is to be completely changed--NOW.

REACTIONARY: Wants to return to a condition that existed in the past. Reactionaries never recognize that going back in time is advocating complete change. As the two opposite ends of the sprectrum are approached the more rapid and immediate the change advocated. A circle rather than a straight line would more appropriate here. Most reactionaries call themselves "conservative". Real conservatives are more likely to refer to themselves as "middle-roaders" or centrists. Liberals frequently refer to themselves as progressives. Radicals are more likely to call themselves radicals.

LIBERAL: Willing to accept change. Evolutionary change as opposed to the radicals revolutionary change.

CONSERVATIVE: Opposed to change. Prefers to maintain the status quo.

Conservatives always maintain that the definition is inaccurate,i.e., they are all in favor of change--they just want to make sure it is the "right thing to do before doing it". The difficulty is finding the "right thing". What they really mean is that they are looking for the "perfect" solution to a major social problem. Perfection doesn't exist, therefore conservatives never are able to find a solution to any major problem. The only solution acceptable to the conservative, an exception dictated by the liberal ideology, is less government and lower taxes. See the record of the conservative forces in the US in opposing the abolition of slavery, women voting,labor unions, child labor laws, minimum wage, unemployment compensation, anti-trust laws, food and drug laws, social security, civil rights laws, voting rights laws, environmental protection laws, gay rights laws,etc. Basically, they are opposed to any hindering of capital under the guise of protecting the rights of the individual.

In a democracy the people(the government) can have any kind of economic system they want as long as it is achieved by democratic procedures of majority rule and the minorities rights being protected. If they cannot have any type of economic system the people want, it is not a democracy. Therefore, it is possible to have a democratic poltical system and a centrally planned economic system or a democratic poltical system and a market economic system. Extreme totalitarian political systems usually have centrally planned economic systems. Less totalitarian(authoritarian) may have something approaching a market system. It is not true that centrally planned economic system is to be equated with totalitarianism. To believe that equation is to ignore the fact that there are separate economic and political spectrums. Where a country is located on the economic spectrum does not dictate where it will be located on the political spectrum. THIS IS CONTRARY TO THE IDEOLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES. The US has a liberal ideology that is so deeply ingrained that the society doesn't know the ideology exists. Instead, it is considered "human nature" to be greedy, competitive, and self centered not realising that it is the liberal ideology that causes this view to exist.

IDEOLOGICAL SPECTRUM

SOCIALISM__________________LIBERALISM_________CONSERVATISM

DEFINITIONS

IDEOLOGY: A belief system tantamount to being a secular religion. It is the underlying belief system that controls just about every thought and action. Every society has an ideology (even though they don't recognise that fact). Ideology is to a society what our bones are to our bodies.

CONSERVATIVE IDEOLOGY: a society based upon inequality,you are born into your station in life, i.e., medieval Europe, Saudi Arabia, absolute monarchies, etc.

SOCIALIST IDEOLOGY: a society based upon complete equality for all-political, economic, social. This has never existed on a large scale. The USSR was actually a very conservative society.

LIBERAL IDEOLOGY

1). Private ownership of property. *2). Individuality. *3). Competitive. *4). Limited government.

;The  liberal ideology preaches "equality of opportunity". But a competitive society means there will be winners and losers in the competition. Everyone cannot be a "winner" in the economic competition. If everyone is a winner it is not a competition. Poverty is built in to the system. This means that in most cases a person who is born into a wealthy family will have the best chance to go to the right schools, meet and/or marry the right people, get the best jobs, and will gravitate to the the sources of wealth/power. Those that are born into the lowest rungs of the economic ladder are more likely to end up being in the margins struggling to survive. Those that end up being the losers will be blamed for being losers according to the dictates of the "individualism" nature of the ideology. Given enough time, a society with a liberal ideology, will be very much like a society with a conservative ideology, i.e., your position in life is pretty much determined at birth. Inequality is the inevitable result of a society operating with a liberal ideology.

Within each ideology you will have the RATE of CHANGE spectrum operating as mentioned above. So you can be a conservative operating within the liberal ideology of the US. You can be a liberal operating within the conservative ideology of Saudi Arabia. You can be a reactionary operating within a socialist ideology. A socialist ideology has never existed except in theory. The 21st century U.S. seems to be controlled by reactionary forces bent on achieving a conservative society much like Saudi Arabia. Their definition of "freedom" is an economic consideration of a market economic system not the democracy of a politcal system. The characteristics of a liberal ideology of "limited government" cause them to think of government as an evil and not the tool of the people. They are, basically, not as concerned about democracy as they are preserving a market economic system(capitalism) which, to them, is one and the same thing. To them DEMOCRACY=CAPITALISM and SOCIALISM=TOTALITARIANISM. This ignores that each is on a different spectrum and you cannot make those automatic determinations. In fact, if you are going to have a socialist ideology in existence--SOCIALISM=DEMOCRACY.

To have a rational discussion on the subject of spectrums be they economic, political, ideological, or rate of change, the participants should be cognizant of the above. If this knowledge does not exist the individual and the society is more likely to be at the mercy of the opinion makers. In the US, it is the mass media, generally controlled by the conservative (reactionary?) forces playing to the dictates of the liberal ideology.