Horseshoe Theory

Column #317     October 1, 2021

Civilization depends on integrity. Today though, there’s a bunch of very powerful folks in the Radical Far Left who don’t have any integrity. They are driven by an ideology that defends and increases their positions of power at all costs. But they aren’t alone. In the mix of extreme views are radical folks on the other side of the isle—the Radical Far Right.

It may have been in the late 1960s when I read a commentary Jim Dines’ wrote in his financial letter about liberals and conservatives. In it was a circle with labels for various political factions around its circumference. What struck me was how the left and right were basically the same at the top and the bottom. I never forgot that image.

The picture heading this column illustrates what’s called the Horseshoe Theory. The image below is the circular depiction of basically the same thing. Of course not everyone agrees with the labeling, but let’s just assume that both illustrations seem to fit on a general sense.^{1 2}

Bernie Sanders goes beyond FDR’s Social Liberalism by a good measure even though he says he’s not comfortable with cancel culture. He definitely encourages Senator Schumer and Congressman Pelosi to be like AOC and the squad who want a “party for the people.” Yep, a full-on Stalin’s-Communism-style of government. There are also the ANTIFA and BLM folks who are a combination of Stalin’s Communism and the Authoritative Left. Everyone must agree with them or off with their heads.

Since all Democrats in Congress mostly vote as one body as dictated by Pelosi or Schumer, am I correct in assuming they are all radical leftists? For sure they want the federal government to “provide” the people’s needs which then gives the government more control over the people who depend on the “freebies.” That’s what the $3.5 or $4 or $5 trillion plan to fund a massive expansion of multiple government dependency programs is all about. In other words, the “progressives” believe in control coming from an army of bureaucrats at the top. They seemingly don’t understand that it was abuses by a top down government that motivated the American Colonies to wage war against King George III’s monarchy. The colonists wanted the top to be controlled by the bottom—with the bottom consisting of people, like you and me, who live under God’s rules and therefore have natural, God given, inalienable rights.

But the villains aren’t all on the left. There are also some radical folks on the Authoritative Right who strongly believe in cancel culture and that governments and the people should run and live by their rules or take the highway—or else. They don’t seem to realize they’re just as messed up as the ANTIFA and BLM folks they hate so much while they act out like the Taliban. When you read their slants on life you really have to wonder what they’re smoking. They’re as wacko as the radical leftists.

So, I wonder, where are the American people on the political spectrum? Naturally there are some in every category. But in terms of numbers where are they? I think Trump can be classified as a Madison’s Democratic-Republican. Oddly enough, that party was the forerunner of the Democratic Party which, today, is nothing like Madison’s Democratic-Republican party of old.³

The Blue-Dog Democrats of 110 years ago were for fiscal responsibility, a strong national defense, and commonsense solutions to practical problems. Then along came Woodrow Wilson with his League of Nations, the income tax, the Federal Reserve, and WWI. Soon after FDR took away the right of Americans to own gold which transferred fiscal power from the people to the government. Then he got us into WWII and America has been at war ever since. Not long after FDR there was Lyndon Johnson and his “Great Society” programs to end poverty once and for all.

Obviously, the Democratic Party changed a lot in the past 110 years. Many folks, like Ronald Reagan, used to be Democrats. Later in his life Reagan would say the party left him, he didn’t leave the party.

Today, on the left, there’s a large contingent of government bureaucrats, people in academia, members of the media and entertainment, students, welfare recipients, believers in leftist programs of all sorts, folks who are so frozen in fear by the pandemic and global warming propaganda they’re willing to follow any government dictate, illegal immigrants, employees of giant social media companies who are far more liberal than FDR’s Social Liberalism, and last but least the oligarchs. All of them believe our government should control the people from the top as in Hillary’s “it-takes-a-village” nanny state which will make sure everyone has equality of outcomes and everyone pays their fair share.

The folks on the spectrum below FDR’s Social Liberalism includes a lot of people and has a huge voice that controls the conversation. Because they are feeling their oats, the Democratic party is pushing hard to force its changes on our country and secure its position of power while it has the majority. If it succeeds, it will control the mob with subsidies, laws, mandates, jobs, businesses, vaccine segregation, its army and police forces, and a rigged ballot box.

Unfortunately, government subsidy schemes don’t stimulate the economy. They take money from productive entities in the economy and give it to less productive entities who become even less productive. In the process a considerable portion of the subsidies go to waste and fraud. Because the programs are determined by politicians, corruption is rampant as elites get richer. But that’s what the current bunch of socialists want and what many members of the mob believe is proper.

The only hope the nation has to keep from slipping into, at best, a Stalin’s Communist government, is for the heart and sole of the country to rise up and refuse to go along. If anyone thinks a dictatorship can’t happen, they haven’t been paying attention. Our government has been issuing dictates since January 20, 2021. Many of the heart-and-sole-types have jobs in the private sector and are seemingly preoccupied. Many are terrified that if they speak out they may lose their jobs. But these folks are the old fashioned Blue Dog Democrats, the independents, and the non-RINO Republicans. Will there be enough of them and will they become more vocal?

We are truly living in interesting times.

To your health.

Ted Slanker

Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999. He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being. His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online.

Don't miss these links for additional reading:

1. Horseshoe Theory from Wikipedia

2. The Left-Right Political Spectrum Explained by Thomas DeMichele from Fact Myth

3. History of the Democratic-Republican Party from ThoughtCo