The + Frame

The Plus Frame is made by combining the ideas from the GREEN to PURPLE and the DENIM to ORANGE spectrums.

But does it say anything useful about politics?

It does. The Plus Frame is basically the Nolan Chart. But it corrects the Nolan Chart's major flaw: unsupportable axes. In the Nolan Chart they have one axis for "economic" freedom and one axis for "social" freedom. The problem with trying to classify freedom is that all liberties are inextricably linked. Time is money, so severely limiting what I can do with my time makes money useless. Money is time, so taking away all my money takes away the value I get from living. Freedom is not easily compartmentalized.

The useful insight that comes out of the Plus Frame (and the Nolan Chart) is that there are three centers in the contest between reactionary ORANGE and revolutionary DENIM.

The first center is the GRAY center: the current status quo with all of its virtues and vices. This center is where the No Labels crowd wants to be. The problem with this center is that we can all point out its flaws. Since things aren't perfect, people are going to have opinions about what direction to go and few of us will speak up in favor of the GRAY option. There's always going to be some criticism of the status quo that rings true because no human system could ever be perfect.

The second center is the PURPLE center. This is the REAL (that's royal in Spanish) center of power in every government system throughout history. This is the establishment. This is the man. This is the zone of pragmatic, realistic, moderate, necessary, reasonable and responsible public administration. This is the zone of "WE ALL need to DO something!" This is the zone of special interest politics, insider games, pay to play, forced concessions and political subordination. This is the road to serfdom, paved one compromise at a time. This center of power is neither on the left, nor the right, but in the middle.

The third center is the GREEN center. This is the center of resistance to every government throughout history. This is the anti-establishment. This is the liberty movement. This is the zone of UNpragmatic, UNrealistic, IMmoderate, UNnecessary, UNreasonable and IRresponsible dissent. This is the zone of "not in my name!" This is the zone of freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of conscience and political liberation. This is the last redoubt of the virtuous and the first recourse of the terrorist. This is the path to unstable freedom, built on a tenuous truce, maintained by the vigilant. Political freedom is neither on the left, nor the right, but in the middle.