Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"The reason the political spectrum is called a 'spectrum' is that it extends off in both directions, like some kind of, I dunno, spectrum. On this spectrum, Che Guevara is much farther away from Barack Obama than Obama is from George W. Bush." -- Jonathan Chait, 2014-09-03 [thanks to Paul Anderson for quoting this earlier]

The surrounding context is interesting and quoteworthy too. Chait is writing about a psychology professor who changed his mind about "unquestioning deference to authorities" being a defining difference between liberals and conservatives, when he visited Cuba and saw hero worship that could not be politely questioned:

Frimer is shocked to discover authoritarianism in a communist country, of all places.

Since Frimer is a doctor, not a political philosopher, I should explain the mistake that led to his unpleasant surprise. The reason the political spectrum is called a "spectrum" is that it extends off in both directions, like some kind of, I dunno, spectrum. On this spectrum, Che Guevara is much farther away from Barack Obama than Obama is from George W. Bush. Communism is an authoritarian system, which is to say, it is highly illiberal, which is another way of saying it is not liberal. Ergo, drawing conclusions about liberals by studying communists is not a very sound practice.