Tristan Flock outlines Arnold Kling’s framework for understanding the worldviews of major political positions in his review of Kling’s book, The Three Languages of Politics. This type of thinking—understanding another group’s perspective of the world—is critical to ending political deadlock, childish discourse, and moving closer to solving real-world problems.
- Progressives communicate along an oppressor-oppressed axis, where those who stand up for the underprivileged are good, while those indifferent to the plights of the disadvantaged are bad.
- Conservatives communicate along a civilization-barbarism axis, where those who stand up for time-tested traditions and virtues are good, while those indifferent to assaults on Western values are bad.
- Libertarians communicate along a liberty-coercion axis, where those who stand up for individual rights are good, while those indifferent to government intrusion are bad.