From Left Wing Anarchist To The Hard Right: America's Political Landscape Uncovered

America land of the free and home of the brave has perhaps the most diverse political landscape in the world.  While it is true most Americans either label themselves conservative, moderate, or liberal these labels are far from the whole story.  If you took Americans as a whole and averaged out their political leanings you would find Americans are somewhat center-right when it comes to economics and somewhat libertarian when it comes to social issues.  They would be neither conservative or progressive but somewhere in between these two political ideologies.  One would unwise however to suggest conservatives and progressives are the extremes of political thought in America.  There is a significant amount of Americans who fall outside these political leanings.  

Here is an explanation of America's political landscape with graphics.  At the very bottom is a list of possible questions you may have.  It is far from scientific and not based on very extensive research but will give a fair understanding of the different political leanings in the United States.  Many Americans do not fit neatly into any of the categories and instead are a hybrid of different political philosophies this speaks to how pragmatic the average American is rather then ideological.  Please take these categories as a summary of understanding different political philosophies and not as an attempt to pigeonhole and stereotype.  This is just my general understanding and personal research to better understand different political philosophies and I wrote it so more Americans would better understand different political philosophies and more appropriately label political leanings where as they often greatly mislabel.  Lastly I am a Progressive so this may have somewhat of a bias through that political lens but I tried to remain as non-bias as possible to give a more accurate picture.

The Political Compass Political Scale

Political Philosophies

Past and Present Political Leaders

The Hard Right On The Extreme Authoritarian Right

• very traditional values
• very pro law in order and supports harsh punishment for crimes
• does not much support the idea of civil liberties
• very hawkish
• very free market
• tends to hold bigoted attitudes against many groups
• strongly anti-liberal, anti-socialist, anti-communist, anti-immigrant, anti-gay, anti-interracial marriages, anti-feminist, anti-Muslim, some anti-Jew, some think whites are superior race, many Nazis and skinheads types fall into this category, some of the most extreme conservatives, and a few right wing radio and television personalities 
• cares much more about conformity and authority then individual autonomy when dealing with social issues
• extremely anti-tax
• extremely pro-gun rights

The Religious Right On The Authoritarian Right

• very traditional family values
• pro law and order and support harsh punishment for severe crimes but more likely then others on the right to support the chance for criminals to be reformed
• not very supportive of civil liberties outside of religious liberties
• somewhat hawkish but some are quite pacifist
• believe in the free market but social welfare as well
• tend to look down on those who do not practice a traditional and Christian lifestyle
• strongly anti-secularist, anti-liberal, anti-gay, anti-abortion, and anti-non-traditional values and practices
• generally support prayer and bible reading in public schools
• cares more about conformity and authority then individual autonomy when dealing with social issues
• somewhat anti-tax but less so then others on the right
• somewhat pro-gun rights

The Tea Party On The Authoritarian Right

• has members from both the authoritarian and libertarian right most fall on the authoritarian right, the libertarian ones share more in common with the Libertarians then the Authoritarian Right.  Being the movement is wide and varied some share more in common with the religious right, others of the hard right, and some of Libertarians.
• Traditional family values though do not focuses as much on those as some other conservatives
• pro law and order and support harsh punishment for more serious crimes
• value civil liberties more then other conservatives on the authoritarian right
• tend to be isolationist though not necessarily anti-war
• strongly believe in the free market
• more distrusting and critical of the government then other conservatives
• while not accepting of those with much different views and lifestyles they generally do not go out of their way to criticize them except when it comes to the political left who they are extremely critical of and have much hatred for and Republicans who do not fit their mold
• believes in conformity but more supportive then other conservatives for non-conformity but one major exception is political where they do not look favorably on those who stray far from the Tea Party line
• very anti-tax
• very pro-gun rights

The Establishment Republican Party On The Authoritarian Right

• traditional family values
• pro law and order and supports harsh penalties for crimes
• does not value civil liberties all that much except for religious liberty
• tend to be very hawkish
• believe in the free market
• more trusting of the government then other conservatives
• very opposed to Democrats, liberalism, socialism, unions, liberal judges, feminist, gay rights activist, many regulations on business, high taxes for free enterprise and the wealthy, and non-traditional values and lifestyles
• believes in conformity and towing the party line
• anti-tax
• strongly pro-gun rights

Middle America On The Authoritarian Right

•  traditional family values but more accepting of non-tradition then other conservatives on the authoritarian right
• pro law and order and supports fairly harsh penalties for crimes
• values civil liberties more then other conservatives on the authoritarian right
• somewhat hawkish
• generally believe in the free market but support social spending and regulations on large industry and corporations
• generally trusting of the government but can be distrusting at times
• opposed to those far outside the mainstream
• believes in conformity somewhat but more open then other conservatives on the authoritarian right to those who fail to conform to tradition
• somewhat anti-tax but favors higher taxation for the wealthy and large corporations
• generally pro-gun rights

The Establishment Democratic Party

• believes in acceptance for non-tradition but fairly traditional in their values
• fairly pro law and order and supports harsh penalties for the most serious crimes
• moderate in their views on civil liberties believe in more then then conservatives but less then libertarians and the left
• somewhat dovish
• believe in the free market with regulations, social programs, and higher taxation on the rich and large enterprise
• typically trusting of the government but can be highly distrusting at times especially when the right is in power
• very opposed to conservatism, excessive religiosity, hard line traditions, bigoted attitudes, greed in Wall Street and large enterprise, police brutality, harsh sentences for drug crimes and less serious crimes, conservative judges
• generally accepting of those with different values and lifestyles
• pro tax and especially for high income earners and large enterprise
• for some moderate gun control

Libertarian Right Libertarians

• believe in individual liberty and that values should be decided by individuals not the government at least not at the federal level
• tend to be suspicious of law enforcement and routinely critical of overreach and are generally opposed to the death penalty and severe penalties for crimes
• very pro civil-liberties
• very dovish and isolationist
• extremely free market
• tends to be open minded
• strongly anti-government and anti-authoritarian
• very opposed to authoritarians, statist, war-hawks, large government spending and projects, pro-tax people, government over-reach, nanny states, excessive law and order
• cares much more about individual autonomy then conformity when dealing with social issues
• extremely anti-tax
• pro gun rights

Right Wing Anarchist

• On the very fringes of the libertarian right you have right wing anarchist which basically want the government to cease to exist and everyone is on their own, they tend to be revolutionary and some condone violence against the government, a perfect world to them is one without government and authority where people are free to live as they choose and every man's law unto himself, social Darwinism is the natural order of things they believe
• anti law-enforcement and opposed to penalties for crimes except the most severe ones
• extremely pro civil-liberties to the point of anarchy
• very dovish and isolationist but some condone war with the government
• extremely free market to the point of anarchy business have free reign to do whatever they choose and sell any product, exploit workers, and pollute all they want
• very open minded anarchistic thinking
• very anti-government and authoritarians some thinks violence and death should be brought against them
• very opposed to government, law and order, law enforcement, statist, government spending, taxation, people who tell them how to live their and others lives, absolutely loathes the left and center
• virtually absolute autonomy believes conformity has no place in society
• extremely anti-tax to the point of some wanting to kill IRS agents
• pro gun rights with absolutely no restrictions on arms whatsoever automatics, military weaponry, grenades, etc...

Communist

• relatively few communist exist in America nor ever had in spite of the red-scare in the 50s and other times throughout history but were more common in the past.  Communist believe in the power of the state as supreme though many communist today are much less statist then in the past.  They believe in nationalizing much of industry and the common good trumps individual ambitions.  They believe in the state playing a role in virtually every aspect of life from cradle to grave.
• pro law and order but not supportive of harsh penalties
• slightly pro civil liberties if it does not harm the collective good and general order of society
• tend to be dovish and isolationist
• anti free market and believes in strong regulations, high taxation, workers owning the means of production, and the government nationalizing certain industries
• tend to be not very open minded and very political in leftist thinking
• very pro government and authoritarian in certain aspects
• very opposed to capitalist, capitalism, libertarians, free enterprise, free markets, free trade, small government, individual good over the collective good, anti-communist, things harmful to the collective good
• conformity and the collective trump the individual desires
• very pro taxation
• extremely anti-gun rights

Socialist

• Socialist are much more common then Communist in the United States and have played a significant role in the left in times past when it comes to reform at the grass roots.  They are significantly less authoritarian then communist and more open to individual rights.  They are less leftist then Communist as well.  They still have a strong since of the collective and believes workers should own the means of productions.  They are supportive of human rights and the dignity of every human being.  They believe strongly that we are our brothers keeper and it is societies duty to provide for the disadvantage and the collective good.
• somewhat pro law in order and opposed to harsh penalties
• generally pro civil liberties but based somewhat on the collective good
• tend to be dovish and isolationist
• generally anti free market, believes in significant regulations, relatively high taxation, workers owning the means of production, and the government playing a significant role in industry
• tend to be fairly open minded and quite political
• pro government generally
• very opposed to capitalist, capitalism, free enterprise, free trade, small government, people who are anti-left, policies harmful to the collective good
• believe in the collective but support individuality
• pro taxation
• generally anti-gun rights

Democratic Socialist

• Democratic Socialist are a less leftist version of socialist and still support capitalist policies to an extent.  They believe that government should be used to help people.  They believe in individual rights and value the good of the collective citizenry.  They have like socialist been active in left wing politics and have helped with much reforms at the grass roots.  They value the dignity and worth of every human being.  Human Rights and Democracy are very important to them.  They believe we are all in this together and should help our fellow citizens when were able.
• somewhat pro law and order and opposed to harsh penalties
• pro civil liberties generally
• tend to be dovish and isolationist
• believe in significant control and regulation of the free market, relatively high taxation, workers having the right to organize collectively and having more say in their companies, and the government helping where needed in industry if it will help the workers
• tend to be open minded and fairly political
• usually pro-government
• very opposed to unregulated capitalism, free trade, small government, people who are anti-left, policies harmful to the citizenry
• supports individuality and the collective good
• pro taxation
• generally pro-gun control

Liberal America

• liberal values and open minded to other value systems and lifestyles
• tend to be somewhat critical of law enforcement especially to police brutality and opposed to severe penalties and excessive sentencing and incarceration
• pro civil liberties
• tend to be dovish
• believe in some regulation in the free market, significant taxation, unions and workers having the right to organize
• open minded and often political
• pro-government but suspicious and often critical of it
• very opposed to greed in capitalism, sometimes free trade, small government, people who are anti-liberal, bigots, and policies harmful to people especially oppressed minorities
• supports individual liberty but values the collective good as well
• pro taxation especially on high income earners and free enterprise
• believe in some gun control

Left

•  Progressive and often very open minded to other value systems and lifestyles
• critical of law enforcement to a degree, especially to police brutality, severe penalties and excessive sentencing and incarceration, poor prison conditions and treatment of prisoners
• very pro civil liberties
• usually dovish
• believe in regulations of the free market, somewhat high taxation, unions and workers having the right to organize, checks on corporate abuse of power and greed in Wall Street
• very open minded and usually political
• pro-government but often highly suspicious and critical of it
• very opposed to greed, unchecked capitalism, often free trade, small government, people who are anti-left, bigots, and policies harmful to people especially the poor and minorities
• strongly supports individual liberty and the collective good
• pro taxation especially on high income earners, free enterprise, and rich investors
• typically pro gun-control

Occupy Wall Street

•  Occupy Wall Street is not by any means a monolithic movement and has people form all quadrants of the political scale but the most active and committed is the far left.  They are very opposed to greed in Wall Street and government bailouts of banks, poor treatment, benefits, and wages of workers, wealthy tax cheats, policies that put the needs of corporate America ahead of the populous, lobbyist, authoritarianism, significant cuts to entitlements and social spending, cuts to education, war, conservatism, and tradition.  They are highly political, motivated, and committed especially on left wing blogs and often at protest in their local communities.  They value the common man ahead of the elite.
• Very Progressive and very much on the Libertarian-Left of the political spectrum, extremely open minded and very accepting of different value systems and alternative lifestyles
• very critical of law enforcement, especially to police brutality and overreach, very opposed to police interfering with their right to protest and occupy public places, opposed to strict penalties and generally long incarceration, poor prison conditions and treatment of prisoners
• extremely pro civil-liberties
• very anti-war
• believe in strong regulations in the free market, high taxation especially for high income earners, unions and workers right to organize and challenge their companies, strong checks on corporate abuse of power and greed in Wall Street
• extremely open minded and highly political
• highly suspicious and critical of government but somewhat supportive of it
• very opposed to Wall Street, greed, large multi-national corporations, free trade, globalization, people who are anti 99%, bigots, conservatives and traditionalist, any policy harmful to part of the 99% of the citizenry
• supports individual liberty to often an extreme and believe in the good of the 99%
• very pro taxation for the rich, Wall Street, and free enterprise
• somewhat opposed to gun control but some strongly support it

Left Wing Anarchist/Marxist

• Left Wing Anarchist sometimes use the term Marxist to describe themselves are very opposed to the government.  They are highly critical and distrustful of law enforcement and rules and regulations on the individual.  They believe each individual should be free in their conscience and expression and others should not tell them how to live their lives.  They often are part of a leftist youth sub-culture who believe rules are meant to be broken and authority meant to be rebelled against.  They sometimes participate in non-violent attacks but sometimes destructive of property against the government and enterprise as a protest against those in authority.  Some of the hacker sub-culture fall into this category and participate in groups who attack government and commercial sites especially against those engaging in censorship, copyright enforcement, and those they see as harmful to people's liberty.  They revel in being outside the mainstream, sometimes like to shock people, are often flamboyant, often like to wear black, and do not think to highly of traditions, customs, and common prejudices.  They believe society should be free from government interference, people free to associate with who they want and form voluntary collectives, workers owning the means of production, are non-hierarchical, and opposed to any formal laws and regulations.
• Very opposed to government and authority, very open minded anything non-violent goes, and very accepting of people of all stripes but not tolerant of those who are traditional and narrow minded
• extremely critical of law enforcement and generally any attempt at law and order
• extremely pro civil-liberties virtually anything goes
• extremely anti-war
• do not like corporations, Wall Street, and rich people but feel the people themselves should protest against them not government
• extremely open-minded and permissive and very political
• extremely suspicious and opposed to government and authority often conspiratorial against both government and authority
• very opposed to government, law and order, regulations, restrictions, penalties, rules, closed minded people and conservatives, bigots, authoritarians, the right, corporations and Wall Street, and any person or group who is a threat to their and others liberty
• supports individual liberty to an extreme and believes in people helping people not the government
• tends to be anti-taxation as it funds war, the police state, and the authoritarian machine
• opposed to gun control

Questions And Comments You May Have:

1.Where is the political scale found and where can I get more information about it?

It can be found at www.politicalcompass.org along with the best, most comprehensive, and most accurate political test I am aware of to show where someone falls politically.  I have no connection to this website or administrator but I have used the chart making program they have provided to explain America's political landscape.  The administrator of the site might have different ideas of where someone falls politically then I, this proves to judge where someone falls politically without them taking the test is somewhat subjective.  I highly recommend taking the test, it is completely anonymous without needing your personal information.  It will provide a clearer idea of where you fall politically.

2. I don't agree with your assessment I think such and such would be more accurate.

These are just my assessments based on some basic knowledge and research not anywhere close to scientific.  Political thought varies widely and few people will fit every single description under a specific category.  I neither pretend nor claim to be an academic or political scientist so don't expect that kind of analysis.  These are just generalities and far from set in stone or exhaustive.

3. Your prejudice is very apparent and your trying to warp people's minds into your way of thinking about such and such political philosophy.

I'm sorry if you feel that way.  I tried to be as accurate and non-bias as possible.

4.Your saying the [enter leftist phrase here] Obama is on the authoritarian right and not the left?

Yes absolutely.  He is is very pro capitalist just believes in some regulations, quite hawkish, not very strong in civil liberties, supported the patriot act, supports the elite and status quo, has been waffling in his support of gay rights, has many corporatist and neo-cons in his administration, and while he speaks like the left he has ruled as a moderate Democrat.

5.  so your saying you don't like Obama since your on the left?

No I do like Obama, and I am going to vote for him, he is just far from my ideal candidate which would be someone like Bernie Sanders who is a Democratic-Socialist on the Libertarian Left who ran and won as an Independent in the Senate.

6. You like Bernie Sanders so your a socialist?

Not really though I am not opposed to socialism, I actually fall near where I have placed the Left and OWS on the chart.

7. Your on the left how can you give a fair assessment of the right?

Very easily I based my assessment on research and knowledge of politics and not my political slant.  I am not interested in demonizing or glossing over political philosophy to be more pc.  I am interested as presenting as accurate glimpse of America's political beliefs as possible.

8.  Your saying the Democratic Party is on the right?

Absolutely this political scale covers the whole political spectrum and is not customized for American politics but world politics and on such a scale the Democrats would be a center-right party and the Republicans a far-right party.  To move the scale rightward to fit the political landscape in America in any given decade would not paint an accurate picture of where politically different political philosophy falls.

9.  There is Libertarians on the Left?

Absolutely the main thing that divides the Libertarian Left and Right is economics and the belief in collective good vs. everyone being on their own.

10. There is a difference between left-wing and right-wing anarchist?

Yes left-wing anarchist believe strongly in individual liberty and are opposed to government but unlike right wing anarchist believe in voluntary collectives which basically means people voluntarily putting their money, food, supplies together and distributing it equally to those in need, workers owning the means of production, and having some since of community.

11. Your saying FDR was a communist?

FDR was a capitalist but he was arguably the most left-wing president on economics we have ever had.  He massively increased the size of government, while he believed economies were built from the ground up he during the depression certainly took a top down approach, believed strongly in workers, was sympathetic to socialist, had a couple socialist in his administration namely Francis Perkins who was instrumental in the New Deal.  He fell on the authoritarian side because of his mixed record on civil liberties, strong WWII policies and his internment of the Japanese during the war.  He is my favorite President in American history but I wished he had been better with civil liberties, less overreaching during WWII, and never interned the Japanese.  Then again we never had anywhere close to a perfect President they all have had significant faults as they are human beings.

12.  Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party somewhat have a lot of variety of political opinions in their ranks, how then can you give a clear political philosophy?

I looked at the average and most politically active of those movements to make a determination

13.  Your saying JFK was to the left of Obama?

Absolutely.

14. Santorum you placed near Adolph Hitler, are you saying Santorum is like Adolph Hitler?

Absolutely, Not!  Adolph Hitler was extremely Authoritarian off the charts but economically he was center right.  There is significant distance in political philosophy in between each square and this chart does not take into account positions on any particular issue just shows a general idea of where someone falls politically.  Santorum believes in human rights and human dignity Hitler did not and on that scale the difference would be day and night.  It would be wrong to infer from this chart Santorum and Hitler share a common ideology.  Hitler and Stalin are the only exception to the chart the other people on the chart give a fairly clear idea of shared ideology.

15. You placed Joseph Stalin as less authoritarian the Hitler, why?

Joseph Stalin was extremely authoritarian and like Hitler off the chart.  I only did this to show Hitler was somewhat more authoritarian then Joseph Stalin but they were both extremely authoritarian and killed millions of innocent people.  They were two of the most evil men to ever walk the face of the earth.  This chart does not fit people like Hitler and Stalin well.  I included them just to give an idea of where they fell economically and to show they were highly authoritarian.  An accurate picture however would place both off the chart in the authoritarian direction.

16.  Your suggesting Reagan was more libertarian then Santorum, Gingrich, and Romney and further right economically?

Yes Regan was not as big government conservative as those three are and was more supportive of free markets as opposed to corporatism of which the others more espouse.

17. You spelled Noam Chomsky wrong?

Yes sorry typo

18.  You put Noam Chomsky and Ayn Rand near being anarchist?

Noam Chomsky claims to be an anarchist and his political philosophy often espouses that philosophy.  Ayn Rand was somewhat close to anarchy in her libertarian beliefs much more then Ron Paul.

19.  What's the point of this article?

To give people an idea of the American political landscape.

20.  Where do you fall?

As I mentioned before somewhere near the left and OWS.  My actual score on the test is below.

Economic Left/Right: -4.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.62