Left Right Matrix

Harvard University Law School sponsored a very interesting series of debates regarding a constitutional convention. They are all on Youtube and bear watching. (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL39308EF707CA1C46). One comment toward the end of the convention struck me as dead-on with regard to how we label ourselves and how sometimes we have counter-intuitive coalitions form to advocate or oppose policy issues. The Left/Right/Conservative/Liberal designations don't exist on a spectrum from left to right. Rather they reside in a matrix with a vertical axis representing Order at one end and Freedom at the other. So in the fight against McCain/Feingold and in support of Citizens United, you had the NRA (Freedom/Right) and the ACLU (Freedom/Left) coming together in a common cause. Those kinds of coalitions are quite common: Order/Right and Order/Left working together, etc. So the issue that we need to face is one of trans-partisan rather than bi-partisan.