Triads of politics

Arnold Kling in his book ‘Three Languages of Politics’ mentions that the reason why our political discourse is dysfunctional is because we see the world through perspectives that differ from those of our political foes. Liberals view society as a scuffle between oppressors and victims. Conservatives believe that humanity is engaged in a conflict with atrocity. Libertarians believe that freedom and coercion are at war in the world.

Take almost any dimension, and you can see how the discussion develops along these lines. Consider the bedlam over black people being shot by police. According to liberals, young black men are the victims and the police are the oppressors. Naturally, the liberals are correct. There have been so many ludicrous deaths of African-Americans at the hands of the police.

Law and order is cardinal to conservatives. To stave off chaos, the police’s authority is essential. The job of the police is challenging. They must constantly deal with dangerous, violent, and repeatedly armed individuals. Naturally, the conservatives are correct. Particularly in many troubled neighborhoods, police play a crucial role in maintaining the conditions for normal life. Libertarians fret with the intimidating power of the state. Drug laws that restrict people’s freedom to purchase what they want and take responsibility for their own decisions taint relations between the police and the communities where they work.

Or consider labor laws: Liberal hypothesize the protection of the poor, conservatives say Capitalism is God’s way of deciding who is poor or not. Libertarian: They have compassion for the underprivileged and think that helping them is important. They think some government policies should be changed because they inevitably harm the poor. However, they think that instead of the government, private citizens and non-governmental organisations should be primarily responsible for aiding the poor.

You can actually sympathize with other groups’ viewpoints once you realize that they have different starting points from your own. You can actually see your ideological rivals as decent people who have a different perspective on the world than you do, though it might not be as much fun.

All three of them (liberals, conservatives and libertarians) have their own flaws which may truncate the confidence they hold in their beliefs.

Liberals: They run the risk of making the victim into an object rather than a free actor in their eagerness to empathize with the victim. According to the liberal perspective, poor people are so oppressed that they don’t just have little freedom of choice or opportunity to lead fulfilling lives.

The libertarians. The influence of economic freedom is often romanticized. They find it difficult to comprehend that some people are not well served by markets, that some business dealings involve taking advantage of people’s ignorance, and that market self-regulation can occasionally fail. They frequently overlook the good that government accomplishes in our haste to de-romanticize it, especially in situations where freedom might not perform well.

Conservatives are in some ways dehumanizing. They demonize those they perceive as posing a threat to civilization in their fervor to protect it and the American way of life. They can disregard the fact that the majority of immigrants are devoted people who desire a better life for their offspring. They may forget that those who are poor experience severe disadvantages and that, although some may take advantage of their circumstances to find opportunities, many poor people find it extremely challenging to do so, even in America.