October 14, 1999

Frequent times during a debate over gun control with a liberal, a moderate, or a socialist, the classification of the gun-owner's position on the political spectrum is brought up. It isn't brought up directly, as a subject to be discussed reasonably; but rather, is used by the anti-gunner as a means to legitimize their name-calling supported by their erudition.

If you are a libertarian, conservative, or are a believer in limited government as the Framers intended, or if you are a "patriot" (one who seeks to preserve the Constitution against forces which seek to erode it); then from time to time you will be labeled as a Nazi by your debate opponents.

I remember when this happened to me the first time. The topic was gun control and when I voiced my pro-2^nd Amendment views and my support of the Constitutional right of the individual to bear arms, my opponent said, "Oh, you're a Nazi, then."

Where in the hell did that come from?

Nazi? I hate Nazi's! How can that be? How can I, as a person who loves limited government, be accused of embracing Nazism? So I asked.

"You're a Right Wing Extremist, aren't you?" came the answer.

Okay, say that I am; so?

"Well, extreme Right Wing people are Nazi's by definition."

Huh? Who's definition?

"The majority-accepted definition of the political spectrum, of course."

To understand why liberals and socialists are so cock-eyed politically, you must understand what they have been taught in our finer colleges and universities about the definition of the political spectrum. And what they have NOT been taught.

Left Wing started at the extreme Left as being defined as all forms of Totalitarian Government: Caesarism, Pharaohism, Absolute Monarchs, etc. A Left Winger was a person who believed in the State, and the "divine right of Kings", and the like. The individual was a peasant or a surf; meant to be property of the ruling aristocracy. In the view of a pre-socialist Left Wing, the individual had no inalienable rights and no right to govern.

The Right Wing extreme was all forms of anarchy. Societal groups that were tribal or villages with no recognizable forms of government or ruling system. Here individual liberties were in excess to the point of license. Individuals had all the power, and as with all anarchy, there was no ruling authority.

As you moved across the spectrum from Left to Right, you would see how totalitarian regimes gave way to parliamentary systems (kings are still kings, yet the people have a say according to law). The Rule of Law replaces the divine right to rule by a dictator or the state, and the individual gains more freedom under Law. Further to the Right would come the more restrictions upon the power of government and more freedom to the individual, until on the extreme, theoretical Right, there is no government-- only license.

The limited form of government known as a Constitutional Republic is to the Right of Center. To continue going Right continues to erode the power and authority of government (and in the concept of Law), and gives more power to the individual.

This political spectrum was turned on its head with the advent of Marx and Socialism. Marx declared that all societies and governments are in some form of socialism or other.

The individual didn't matter, nor did totalitarianism. What mattered was the social relationship between the workers and the capitalists, the "haves" and the "have-nots." The concern of the definition was to state where a socialistic system was in relation to the development of the ideal communist state (which is no "state" at all-- the "communist utopia").

Therefore the political spectrum was re-defined:

Left Wing is Communism, Marxism, Leninism, Maoism; in other words all forms of total government where the ideal is based on the stage of socialistic government in transition to the utopia. Left Wingers have a more global orientation and accept Marxist principles of the oppression of the worker by capitalism, redistribution of wealth, etc.

Right Wing is Fascism, National Socialism, Nazism. These are statist societies where the government controls the resources and uses capitalism to create national structure and complete national objectives. [The current People's Republic of China is more like Nazi Germany than a true communist state, since they endorse private enterprise while nationalistically controlling large corporate concerns, banking, and governing with severe restrictions on individual liberties.]

But where is a Constitutional Republic? It lies somewhere in the Center in a place called Fabian Socialism.

In the liberal's political spectrum, there are no individual rights, no limited government, even anarchy doesn't exist-- it's all socialism, from Left to Right.

And remind them that you reject the socialist definition of Nazi-Right-Wing, because you aren't on the same scale!