They’ve been using and abusing this left-right thing for a long time. They like it because it lets them get away with calling anything they don’t like far-right or fascist. But more and more people are waking up to the idea that there is no left-right spectrum at all, that it’s a weaponized tool, and that something else is going on.
Part of this realization is fueled by the grotesque and vile reaction of many in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
When there should have been universal, sober mourning, instead, some celebrated. Others defamed Kirk. Some blamed us for his death. And a staggering 54 % of Democrats claim Kirk’s killing was “understandable.”
Yet we are “fascists.”
In reality, if fascism belongs anywhere on a spectrum, it would be far closer to the left. This isn’t a fringe claim—it’s a widely made argument, echoed by historians, political theorists, and critics of the spectrum model itself.
Consider the most famous fascists were Nazis: National Socialists. They embraced centralized power, state control of industry, collectivist propaganda, and mass mobilization—hallmarks of leftist revolutionary movements. They rejected classical liberalism, free markets, and individual rights. Their enemy was not socialism—it was democracy.
Fascism is way closer to socialist thought than with anything resembling American conservatism. Both exalt the state. Both suppress dissent. Both demand ideological conformity. (Charlie Kirk’s death would be, to them, therefore, understandable. His words didn’t conform.)
So the left-right spectrum metaphor is completely inaccurate. But not only that. It’s weaponized.
When the left invokes the left-right framework, it doesn’t do so to clarify political thought. It does so to game the system. By constantly shifting leftward—embracing ever more radical positions—it redefines the center to suit its needs. What was once normal becomes “far-right.” What was once common sense becomes “extremism.” And in this way, the public is nudged, pressured, and gaslit into moving left just to avoid being labeled a fascist. This is the shifting of the Overton Window.
It’s a clever trick. The spectrum allows the left to play both ends against the middle. It positions itself as the moral vanguard, while portraying its opponents as dangerous reactionaries.
But it is increasingly clear there is no spectrum. There is only a core truth and those rabidly opposed to it.
That core, in our context, is Americanism. But it could just as easily be called Western Civilization. Or Christianity. These are not interchangeable labels, but they share a common essence: a commitment to ordered liberty, moral realism, human dignity, and the cultivation of objective virtue.
When you are within this core, you operate in an area of civilized normality and common sense.
All else, really, is madness. Barbarism.
Which brings us, regrettably, to the question. What do we do in the face of madness and barbarity?
We and they are not on a political spectrum. They hate us.
Do the usual rules still apply? Do we continue to apply them even if others deny them?
Perhaps we still should. Miracles do happen.
Tadas Klimas, the author of several books, is a former U.S. intelligence officer awarded the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement (NIMA). He also was a law professor and at one time was Chief Legal Counsel to the Speaker of the Lithuanian parliament, first Chief of State of the Republic of Lithuania, Prof. Vytautas Landsbergis.
Image: Free image, Pixabay license.