By DAVE HAMRICK

Staff Writer

This is the fourth in a series in which we are examining the basic philosophies at work in politics, just for the fun of it. How many columns will be included in the series is anybody's guess.

In the last three weeks we've examined socialism and communism and why they don't work, and we've dabbled around the edges of American politics.

So let's dive a little deeper into the forces that shape our nation today.

We tend to think in terms of a very simplistic model in which Democrats are “liberal” and Republicans are “conservative.” Democrats who are more conservative than most and Republicans who lean to the liberal side are referred to as moderates.

Keeping in mind that “liberal” generally translates as socialist, you can envision so-called liberals at various points on the left side of a horizontal scale, with conservatives all along the right.

The farther to the left they are, the more people advocate government takeover of the economy, through taxes or regulation or both. The more toward the center, the more “moderate” they are, thus advocating more government control than we have now, but not as much as their more socialistic brethren.

On the right side of the scale, conservatives would be similarly arranged according to how much central government control and what level of taxation they would be willing to tolerate.

This is a far cry from older definitions of the words, when “liberal” meant you believed in change and “conservative” meant you resisted change.

But this simple left-right model is woefully inadequate. Imagine instead a circle with dozens of political philosophies represented along the perimeter and lines intersecting all over the place. Four major philosophies — liberal, conservative, libertarian and the religious right (a term we haven't dealt with yet) — occupy the left and right, top and bottom points if you divide the circle into equal fourths, but there are many other systems of thought that could be included.

With me so far? Good.

We have two dominant political parties trying to represent a complex maze of political thought.

Many fiscally conservative Republicans have no use whatsoever for the religious right, although those who would define themselves as proponents of the religious right are a strong element in the party. Though they might agree on all the economic issues, fiscal and religious conservatives may disagree violently on the role of religion in politics.

Those on the religious right range from some who would, if they could, set up a theocracy — a government controlled by religious teachings of their choosing — to others who simply want to elect leaders who themselves are governed by a strong religious conscience.

Some merely fiscal conservatives will go part way with the religious right, and others actually would fit better in the Libertarian Party. And then there are many in the Democratic Party who agree with the religious right on issues of morality, but they believe in the religious admonition that one ought to help the poor, and they want the government to enforce that deeply held belief.

Libertarians also come in all shapes and sizes. Their central point is that the government exists only to provide for defense and law enforcement (and they believe there should not be nearly as many laws to enforce), and for a few other narrowly defined purposes. They oppose any law that limits individual freedom of choice unless one's choice directly interferes with someone else's freedom of choice.

There are extremists and moderates among libertarians, just like there are in other philosophies. I lean toward libertarianism myself, but not too far. For instance, I favor laws that protect the public health, like public smoking restrictions, whereas extreme libertarians wouldn't even allow a health inspector into a restaurant to count the roach parts in the pancake batter. In fact, they wouldn't allow a health department to exist.

So where are you on the political circle?

Don't be so hasty to label yourself “liberal Democrat” or “conservative Republican.” You might be a fiscally conservative, morally liberal Republican with libertarian tendencies and just a touch of Darwinist cynicism and a smattering of authoritarianism, depending upon the issue.

If you claim to espouse a certain political belief, but can't accurately define it, the Libertarian Party has a dandy little test that can help. It's not biased... really. It just asks you a series of questions and plots a place on the political circle based on your answers.

Take the test. You might be surprised. (On the Internet, the test is available at http://www.lp.org.]

Now think about this. In most cases, the extremes of any political party usually don't define the party's agenda, yet those in the other parties tend to react mainly to the extremes.

Next week I'll wrap up this rambling series by telling you how I believe the extremists in one party did gain control, and what that has done to our country.

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