Reccommended Reading and Basic Definition List

[Comrade Tortoise]

Hello Folks.

As a new mod (it came as a shock to me that I was named mod of this forum. May the Lord Saints Preserve us) I figure I should start a thread regarding recommended reading and basic definitions of political thought

First, I recommend everyone here read A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell, famed economist. It is basically a massive explanation of political thought, and how both sides will never agree on anything because of a fundamental conflict of basic premises regarding the functioning of humans and the nature of government, as well as differences in prioritizing.

Laels like "Liberal" and "Conservative" mean different things to different people, and I would prefer they not be used. Political systems are to complex to put into a single graph axis

There is an economic right, and an economic left. Being Rdued and Increased government control over matters economic respectively.

There is an Authoritarian/Anarchistic axis. Being Autocratic and Anarchistic respectively, with the various degrees in the middle.

Two major american political parties

Democrat: Falls left of center economically, and slightly authoritarian of center socially

Republican: Falls right of center econimicaly, and more authoritarian than the democrats.

This applies to only current political parties, and past incarnations of even the same parties were probably a lot different on this axis.

Selected minor parties

Libertarian Party: Falls very far right of economic center, and far toward anarchistic on the. Not to be confused with libertarians, notice the lower case, who may not be politically aligned, who fall between the Republican party, and the Libertarians economically, and somewhere between center, and Anarchistic on that axis

Green Party: Far left economically, and probably about as authoritarian as the Republicans, just regarding different stuff

Constitution Party: Like Libertarians, with a religious fundamentalist twist, they are more authoritarian than the Libertarians for that reason. Probably moreso than the Republicans for that matter

More coming as I think of it... Please feel free to add stuff.