A disturbing look at New Labour and why our freedoms may be fast disappearing.
Axis Of Authoritarianism – Is this the Government we really want?
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Somewhere to write, discuss, reflect, ponder, muse and mull over life, stuff, things and anything that takes my fancy.
Beasley's Place 
Usual caveats apply to the difference between tactical and principled opposition.
I won't argue that this is a partisan issue, but I sense the good people at LDV were hinting at this – in particular I noticed in the range of discussions how John Redwood was singled out for his record, yet he received a score of 3.
So would you say it is a partisan issue, or do you support the assumption that governments tend to be more authoritarian as a matter of course and therefore that it is merely a reflection of which party is in government at that particular moment?
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I think it is a combination of both. Most governments want to have a degree of control over their citizens and one would think that it is only the government's of the right that exert this the most, certainly many right wing military dictatorships/governments have shown that. But to me when looking at back at history, it has been the left leaning governments that have pushed state control of their citizens to the fullest, mostly under the guise of 'for their citizens own protection' as the main excuse for implementing these measures.
Yes, the table maybe not be completely reflective of the true 'thinking' of individual MP's. but there is no escaping the fact that this government has introduced more 'surveillance' of its citizens in one way or another than any since the end of WW II.
It remains to be seen of course, that if there is a change of government, just how much this 'big-brother' environment will be dismantled by any incoming administration. If Labour does return, then I can only see more 'restrictions' being introduced such as full ID cards for everyone.
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Well, I have to admit frustration whenever anybody mentions 'left' and 'right' in politics – political cross-dressing has become so prevalent among Labour and Conservatives that I don't think it is a helpful means of description any longer. I certainly don't describe my own views in those terms.
I'm also not sure I entirely agree with your analysis of dictatorships – within the ranks of dictatorships and juntas a range of attitude from ideologues to pragmatists and hard-liners to diplomatic operators is usually evident, so I would say it is more accurate to say they are more 'syncretic' than anything else and any tendency is more a reflection of the balance of power within the leading cadre (certainly I'd say this is true with regard to Hugo Chavez).
So this chart is clearly an attempt to shift the terms of discussion away from the out-moded left/right spectrum to a more useful liberal/authoritarian spectrum.
I guess a lot of it comes down to speculation about the post-election environment, but from my own point of view I suspect there is a strong possibility that this election will cause the internal shape of the parties to change.
Hopefully that will have a constructive impact on the public debate.
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I agree with you that the differences between current parties and what they 'offer' has narrowed very much and the once easy definitions of 'Left' and 'Right' no longer really apply. Though I tend to think that on balance most people are fairly liberal in their outlook, most of the time.
Perhaps the we will see much more Syncretic Politics emerge as Parties pick and choose their ideologies from across the political spectrum with a spread of liberal & authoritarian views, such as a combination of an even fully NHS and Social Care policy along with a policy blocking all immigration!
Like you say perhaps it will have an impact on the political debate.
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