A Short List

• Conservative: Conservatives tend to come from the ranks of the second estate, which has extensive ownership of and control over resources, especial capital and land. As such, they support policies and first estate leaders who protect their interests. Conservatives tend to be strong advocates of free enterprise and find philosophical agreement with economic theories that call for limited government intervention in the economy.


• Liberal: Liberals tend to come from the ranks of the third estate, with limited ownership of and control over resources, usually little more than their own labor. As such, they support policies and first estate leaders who help them battle the second estate. Liberals are strong advocates of government intervention and tend to be suspicious of a free enterprise approach to the economy.


• Moderates: Moderates tend to have influences from both the second and third estates, with an ample supply of labor resources (often augmented with human capital), plus modest ownership and control of capital and/or land resources. As such, they tend to support a mix of liberal and conservative positions. With the mix depending on the times and the circumstances.


• Libertarians: Libertarians, staunch advocates of individual freedoms, are generally to the right of conservatives and also tend to come from the ranks of the second estate. While the economic influences of resource ownership are present, libertarians are often guided as much by philosophical concerns of right and wrong, and what is best for the country.


• Socialists: Socialists are generally to the left of liberals and tend to come from the lower ranks of the third estate, especially those who have the most to gain from government intervention in the economy. However, like libertarians, socialists (and especially their Marxists and communists brethren) are often guided as much by philosophical concerns as economic influences.

Flavors of Wealth

If the notion of wealth is extended to include more than traditional financial wealth, the connection between wealth and political views is stronger. Consider these two forms of wealth.

• Physical Wealth: This includes ownership and control over resources (labor, capital, land, and entrepreneurship) and goods (especially durable consumption goods). Those with more ownership and control of goods and resources, which they would like to "conserve," tend to be more conservative, those with less, more liberal. A suburban consumer like Jonathan McJohnson tends to be more conservative because he owns a house, two cars, household appliances, furniture, a computer, garden tools, and sporting equipment, even though he has little financial wealth. In contrast, another consumer like Pollyanna Pumpernickel is a working mother of two who rents a furnished apartment and spends her weekly paycheck on perishable nondurable goods like food. With very little ownership of physical goods, and she edges toward the liberal end of the political spectrum.


• Cultural Wealth: Every nation has a body of dominant cultural attributes, including language, religion, history, and other intangible institutions. Those who share in those attributes have a greater cultural wealth, which they usually like to "conserve," and thus they tend to be more politically conservative. Those who share less in these attributes then tend to be more liberal. A solid citizen like Herb Haberstone, for example, has very little financial wealth, but tends to have conservative political views because he shares the dominant language, religion, and history of the country. Although by no means wealthy, Herb wants to conserve the dominant intangible institutions of the country. In contrast, Lilith Quirkenstone, whose parents immigrated from the Republic of Northwest Queoldiolia when she was a child, tends to be politically more liberal because she does not share in the dominant cultural institutions of her adopted country.