Friday, November 26, 2010

Politics Does Not Have to Be "Us v. Them"

A new more human way of thinking

David Nolan just died at age 66. What he did in 1970 was create a whole new way of thinking in politics. The world does not have to be Us versus Them, right versus left (or left versus right) as has been the tradition in political choice in modern politics since the beginning of constitutional democracy. Nolan had the idea that both the left and right wanted statism when it suited them (big government on the right for national defense and imperialism and big government on the left for welfare and social programs) and both sides decried statism when it wasn't in their interest though supported it when it was.

Nolan cut to the chase on this thinking and created what is today known as libertarianism, where we know that BOTH sides want the state to intervene when it suits their own special interests. And that the key to human freedom is to minimize the coercion of the state, no matter left or right.

This idea was made manifest in the "Nolan Chart", the world's smallest political quiz, where one could see where they stand on interventionism. This quiz has been taken by many millions of people to help clarify their thoughts on political philosophy. Where do YOU stand ? :-)

The welfare state is bancrupt (and here Workers means fiscally not morally, though that is another story) witness the huge budget deficits and near bancruptcies in the EU, and the USA with our devaluing dollar.

Thanks to Nolan (RIP) we can see a way forward. Nolan's ideas hark back to the ideas of classical liberalism and the Enlightenment, though these ideas have been distorted as played out in the modern state, Nolan helps us to understand why.