Let's be Politically Correct

There are a few nuances in political science that the vast majority of Americans don't understand.  Terminology is one of the biggest differences.  For example, the terms country, nation and state do not mean the same.  For those of you who are wondering, a nation actually refers to a nationality; if you are saying "My nation is the United States" or "My nationality is American" than you're technically incorrect.  The United States is both a country and a state and while saying that you are American is technically not a nationality, it can be if you adhere to the idea of civic nationalism.  Is your mind blown yet?  A state usually refers to the geographic area that a government has authority over.  A country is very similar in that it also adheres to geographic limits, but is not necessarily restricted by a government, but rather by a regime.  The term regime usually has negative connotations - thank the news - but it actually refers to who is running the country.  An example of this is the Obama Administration, that is a regime; Fidel Castro in Cuba his administration is a regime.

Is everybody doing ok?  If I haven't lost you yet, continue reading.

One of the first things I want to address is that of political ideologies.  Political ideologies range across a linear spectrum.  At one end you have anarchy - complete and utter lack of government - and at the other you have totalitarianism - the total control and domination of government.  All other political ideologies fall in between these two extremes.  A difficulty that arises is personal bias in this matter as well as associating one ideology with another or even giving both the same definition; one example of this is communism.  Communism is sometimes associated with totalitarianism or even socialism, when in actuality, it is its own entity.  Some of the confusion that arises with communism revolves around its usage and application.  I'll talk more about communism later to better help you understand.  A final problem that arises is when we try to link ideologies to actual political parties.  While the terms left and right wing are applicable, calling a Democrat a socialist isn't always appropriate, let alone correct.  The last problem, and I promise this is the last, is associating ideologies with actual government organization; a republican government doesn't denote a conservative government.  I'll probably talk about government organization either later in this post or another post.

Alright, back to that spectrum. I'll start on the left and work my way right, just like reading a book.

Totalitarianism: This is the farthest left.  In essence, it represents complete domination by the government such that the only thing they can't control is the minutia of your life.  Totalitarianism translates into set prices for all products and services, set amount of products that will be produced, how much "property" you are allowed to possess, use, or borrow.  It allows the government to control the interest rates of banks, if there is even more than one bank for that matter.  Think of this like the U.S.S.R. back in the days of Stalin.

Communism: This is second from the left.  Communism actually has two parts, a political aspect and an economic aspect.  I am going to ignore the economic aspect since we are focusing on the government organization in this post.  Communism is similar to Totalitarianism in that it usually translates into set standards from the government.  However, it is not so far to the left in that it allows the people as a whole, as a "commune" to determine what the standards and limits will be.  This is supposed to allow them to enjoy the benefits of life together (and potentially the failures as well).  The way that Marx and Engels outlined this government organization requires economic failures of capitalism to bring about Communism.  With that being said, there has never existed a true communist government in the history of the world as we know it.

Socialism: This government organization does not possess as much control over the lives and economy as the former two.  It has some of the same goals as Communism in that one of its main purposes is to improve the lives of those under this ideology.  Socialism is meant to have the government regulate, but not intervene to improve life.  If there is no service offered that does not improve life or if the current services offered can't or won't improve their ability to improve life, then the government will step in.  Welfare programs are generally seen as Socialism in practice and there is usually a high tax that supports these programs.  Most of the states in the European Union adhere to this ideology.  Redistribution of wealth is another ideal that exists under Socialism.

Liberalism: This takes another step away from the left to the point of the idea of progress within a country or state, but even less regulation and limited involvement.  There might exist a social program here or there, but it is not as well funded like under socialism.  As such, there is usually back-lash from the people against the government regarding these programs (sound familiar?).  Not much else needs to be said about Liberalism as it is almost like a gray area between Socialism and Conservatism.

Conservatism: This is "technically" the middle ground on the spectrum.  What makes it difficult to say whether or not this is the true middle is the gray matter between each of these ideologies.  There is no set starting or stopping point for each ideology.  What makes Conservatism the middle is the lack of progress, but not retrogressing either.  Conservatives are the people that like to keep the status quo.  If progress does occur under this ideology, it usually takes a long time to accomplish.  This ideology probably makes sense to you if you have grandparents that are part of the baby-boomer generation.

Retrogressionism: Spell check hates me right now because Retrogressionism isn't really a word.  There's a few other words within the field of political science that aren't spell check recognized that I have to add to Microsoft Word's dictionary.  This ideology has other names as well like radical conservatism, but I prefer the term Retrogressionism because it is fairly straight forward in the name.  It is the government ideology that you should go back to an older method of governance.  Most politicians don't adhere to this ideology, but once in a while you might see a comment from a politician about retrogressing on the action to take on a policy.  This doesn't mean they are a retrogressionist, but rather just hold that belief for a certain policy.

Libertarianism:  This relies on economic policy in relation to government operation.  Libertarianism is the ideology that government should step back out of the scene and just perform the very basic tasks and essentials.  More specifically, they want the economic market to function on its own.  They believe that by government staying in the sole sphere of making laws, carrying out laws, and judging based on laws that everything else will work itself out.  Government doesn't need to be influencing things such as environment preservation or protection, so if they make a law, it better be about criminal activity.

Fascism: This is like the right-wing version of Communism.  It involves strong national identity emotions.  This is the type of ideology that dominated Germany post World War I.  Usually fascism comes about as a result as disparaging conditions within a country; as people band together to eliminate the problems of society, the nationalism aspect dominates the front and the search for solutions and scapegoats commences.

Anarchism: This far right side of the political ideology spectrum holds the concept of no government whatsoever.  Let everyone fend for themselves.  Some see this as an extremist form of Libertarianism; that argument is pretty much valid, but is given the name of Anarchism so you don't have to say extreme Libertarianism.  Anarchism is what English philosopher Thomas Hobbes called the state of nature.  The world is a giant free-for-all.  In case you were wondering, the only progress that is made is if you live long enough to get something done, but don't expect it or anything else to last long anyways.

So now you know the different ideologies of government.  If you think I made an error or missed an ideology, let me know and I will remedy this post ASAP.  I'm sure you will find your ideology or political philosophy in the mix of all that I have thrown at you.  I will discuss different government organizations at a later time.  If you're wondering when will I talk about a current event or something of a similar nature, I will once I find something worth discussing, but I also want to run the basics by you as well.  Enjoy!