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The “Sugar-Salt” Conflation: Mixing Up Selflessness And Selfishness, Making it Hard to Achieve a Good Balance in Politics
SDCT0010: The first ten episodes of this series describe the basic themes of Circles Theory as applied to politics. In this final introductory episode, we explore a mirror symmetry between political selflessness and selfishness. Individuals that are “selfless” are committed to serving the common good, which is a big circle of social accommodation on the left side of the political spectrum. Individuals that are “selfish” are committed to private self-interests and the private sector, which are small circles of accommodation mainly on the right side. Selfless phrases and ideas that benefit the majority of citizens can be “stolen and flipped” to be used selfishly by individuals on the political right for their own personal gain. What makes this possible is that selfless and selfish meanings often resemble each other, and are conflated in words like “patriot” and “freedom,” and in phrases like “a rigged system” or “fake news.” A “sugar-salt” conflation occurs when we combine two opposite meanings into one term or phrase that masks the degree of balance or imbalance that exists between them. For example, there are two opposite types of freedom — freedom of a group and freedom of individuals — and the sugar-salt conflation yields a false impression that they’re the same thing. As a result, small circle anti-majoritarians may wrongly assume that the only freedom worth defending is that of individuals, and that the freedom of the majority of citizens as a single group doesn’t rightfully exist or isn’t worthy of protection. The U.S. government’s attempt to strike a balance between these two opposite kinds of freedom be seen in two historical events: the establishment of American democracy in 1776 (protecting freedom of the majority from tyrannical individuals), and the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787 (protecting freedom of individuals from a tyrannical majority). The political left are the inheritors of the original American patriots of 1776, and the political right are the inheritors of the framers of the Constitution of 1787.
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By Daniel DodgeSDCT0010: The first ten episodes of this series describe the basic themes of Circles Theory as applied to politics. In this final introductory episode, we explore a mirror symmetry between political selflessness and selfishness. Individuals that are “selfless” are committed to serving the common good, which is a big circle of social accommodation on the left side of the political spectrum. Individuals that are “selfish” are committed to private self-interests and the private sector, which are small circles of accommodation mainly on the right side. Selfless phrases and ideas that benefit the majority of citizens can be “stolen and flipped” to be used selfishly by individuals on the political right for their own personal gain. What makes this possible is that selfless and selfish meanings often resemble each other, and are conflated in words like “patriot” and “freedom,” and in phrases like “a rigged system” or “fake news.” A “sugar-salt” conflation occurs when we combine two opposite meanings into one term or phrase that masks the degree of balance or imbalance that exists between them. For example, there are two opposite types of freedom — freedom of a group and freedom of individuals — and the sugar-salt conflation yields a false impression that they’re the same thing. As a result, small circle anti-majoritarians may wrongly assume that the only freedom worth defending is that of individuals, and that the freedom of the majority of citizens as a single group doesn’t rightfully exist or isn’t worthy of protection. The U.S. government’s attempt to strike a balance between these two opposite kinds of freedom be seen in two historical events: the establishment of American democracy in 1776 (protecting freedom of the majority from tyrannical individuals), and the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787 (protecting freedom of individuals from a tyrannical majority). The political left are the inheritors of the original American patriots of 1776, and the political right are the inheritors of the framers of the Constitution of 1787.