The Three Blind Spots of Politics (oldie but goodie)

Medium ^ | 6-26-2017 | Russ Roberts

[Sir Napsalot]

One of the shortest, simplest yet deepest books I have read on politics is The Three Languages of Politics by Arnold Kling. ..

Kling argues that our political discourse is dysfunctional because we look at the world through lenses that our political opponents do not share.

Liberals see the world as a battle between victims and oppressors.

Conservatives see the world as a battle between civilization and barbarism.

Libertarians see the world as a battle between freedom and coercion.

(snip)

In this essay I want to add a twist to Kling’s original vision. I want to speculate about the three blind spots of politics. Liberals, conservatives, and libertarians each have a blind spot that should give them pause and maybe reduce the confidence they have in the correctness of their position. (OK, that’s a bit of a fantasy, but I can dream.) Each of these blind spots is a natural outgrowth of the lens that each group adopts.

(Main point of the article)

(snip)… I write these words at a time when I find it increasingly unpleasant to read the newspaper and my twitter feed. The level of disdain for those we disagree with runs high. It is a good time to remember the three languages of politics and to consider our blind spots as well. We look at the world in different ways. Each way has its own strengths and flaws. This is a good time in American history to keep that in mind.

[Sir Napsalot]

See if you have different views, especially about the conservatives' blind spot.

[mjp]

Liberals see the world as a battle between victims and oppressors.
Conservatives see the world as a battle between civilization and barbarism.
Libertarians see the world as a battle between freedom and coercion.

The world is a battle between value destroyers and value parasites vs value producers

[aquila48]

Bookmark

[DIRTYSECRET]

This article makes sense but communism killed 100 million. Pinochet killed a few thousand. I bring this up because there are riots in Chile over bus fares. Do they need another Pinochet. The current leader’s brother designed the new pension system, a model we should follow. His name is Pinera.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The Righteous Mind:

Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

is a book which defines six moral pillars of conservatism:

Care        Liberty      Fairness    Loyalty    Authority      Sanctity

harm     oppression     cheating    betrayal   subversion    degradation

In this link to a reply to a thread about the book, I note that “liberals” have only three moral pillars: care, liberty, and fairness. So liberal is a conservative minus loyalty, authority, and sanctity.

Any conservative has to consider any liberal a cynic.

[stinkerpot65]

The core motive of liberals is hatred of morality in general and Christianity in particular.

[VRW Conspirator]

So liberal is a conservative minus loyalty, authority, and sanctity.

Lefties have one sanctity. Abortion!