A Comparison of Two Factions

A Comparison of Two Factions

Thomas Allen

Below, two major factions in America are compared. Do you relate more to Faction X or Faction Y? To find out, take the following test.

1 X: Adheres to the idea that the Constitution is an agreement among the people of the several States that means what it says (strict constructionism).

Y: Believes that the Constitution is an instrument that the people who control the federal government use and manipulate to achieve their goals; a living Constitution.

2 X: Adheres to federalism and constitutionalism — States’ rights and the constitutional separation of powers.

Y: Adheres to consolidation and centralization — consolidating all power in the federal government.

3 X: Maintains that “we the people” of each State, acting independently, are the final judges of the limits of the federal government.

Y: Maintains that the federal government, via the Supreme Court, is the final judge of the limits of the federal government.

4 X: Believes that the country should be a federation of independent republics.

 Y: Believes that the country should be a consolidated national empire.

5 X: Considers the United States as a means for mutual cooperation.

Y: Considers the United States as a means for their own prosperity.

6 X: Supports a small, weak central government.

Y: Supports a large, strong central government.

7 X: Adheres to the Constitution that the Founding Fathers gave the country.

Y: Adheres to the Constitution that Lincoln gave the country. (For the difference, see “What Is Your View of the US Constitution?” by Thomas Allen.)

8 X: Places individual liberty above the government.

Y: Places the government above individual liberty.

9 X: Values liberty more than equality.

Y: Values equality more than liberty.

10 X: Opposes federal intervention in local affairs.

Y: Supports federal intervention in local affairs.

11 X: Supports freedom of speech and favors open discussion even for people with whom he disagrees.

Y: Opposes freedom of speech and open discussion for people with whom he disagrees.

12 X: Adheres to the United States being a genetic country (a people who have a common genetic ancestry, culture, language, and history; who have common traditions and customs; and who are capable of forming or constituting an independent country).

Y: Adheres to the United States being an exceptional, propositional, creedal country (unlike many countries today and historical countries that believed that they are or were exceptional, i.e., God’s gift to humanity, the United States really is God’s gift to humanity)

13 X: Sees the history of the United States as much more than the history of New England.

Y: Sees the history of New England as the history of the United States.

14 X: Promotes ruralism (rural areas and small towns are superior to cities and can exist and prosper independently of cities).

Y: Promotes urbanism (cities are superior to rural areas and small towns, which exist to provide resources to cities).

15 X: Adheres to localism and States’ rights.

Y: Adheres to nationalism.

16 X: Is skeptical of progress in the urbanized Puritan form.

Y: Admires and promotes progress in its urbanized Puritan form.

17 X: Holds to agrarianism and commercial capitalism.

Y: Holds to financial and industrial capitalism.

18 X: Maintains that social interactions are more important than economics.

Y: Maintains that economics (acquiring as much wealth as possible by any legal means, even if they are unethical) is more important than social interactions.

19 X: Prefers paternalism with leaders who devote themselves to selflessly promoting the welfare of the people: noblesse oblige.

Y: Prefers modern capitalism derived from Puritanism, i.e., rationalism, equality, and material productivity.

20 X: Supports aristocracy in the original sense of the word: “rule of the best,” i.e., a government led by the most virtuous or capable citizens.

Y: Supports democracy with its concomitant mediocre and demagogic leaders.

21 X: Supports free trade.

Y: Supports protective tariffs (a form of corporate welfare).

22 X: Advocates free markets and opposes corporate welfare.

Y: Advocates subsidization of business, agriculture, etc., and other forms of corporate welfare.

23 X: Favors decentralized banking.

Y: Favors centralized banking and currency manipulation.

24 X: Supports low taxes and little or no debt.

Y: Supports high taxes and high debt.

25 X: Favors little or no standing army.

Y: Favors a large standing army.

26 X: Personalizes war: People cause death and destruction; therefore, justifying war as a self-respecting response to a threat.

Y: Abstracts war: War, not people, causes death and destruction; therefore, rationalizes war as a noble crusade and vilifies the enemy. 

27 X: Finds the killing of women and children abhorrent and reprehensible.

Y: Accepts the killing of women and children if it is done in the name of human rights, democracy, equality, American righteousness, or something else that he considers noble.

28 X: Promotes a foreign policy of neutrality and nonintervention.

Y: Promotes a foreign policy of empire-building and meddling in the affairs of other countries.

29 X: Practices true diversity by leaving countries alone to develop themselves.

Y: Wants to make the world in the image of the Puritan Yankee.

30 X: Adheres to traditionalism.

Y: Adheres to progressivism.

31 X: Promotes a monoracial society.

Y: Promotes a multiracial society.

32 X: Favors morality, ethics, honor, and the idea of the gentleman.

Y: Favors abstract moralism and Puritanism.

33 X: Sees himself as guided by self-interest, vanity, lust for power and wealth, fear, and fickleness.

Y: Sees himself as governed by the highest motivations rather than the flaws of lesser humans.

34 X: Views and accepts society as it really is.

Y: Views society as it should be and proceeds to try to change it to meet the ideal (his opinion of what the ideal society ought to be).

35 X: Wants to be himself.

Y: Needs to feel superior to others.

36 X: Lets people live the life that they want to live if they do not trespass against others or common decency; wants to be left alone; believes in live and let live.

Y: Has a compulsion to force people to live the way that he (Y) wants them to live, which is usually in the image of Y, i.e., to manage other people’s lives — for their own good, of course.

37 X: Prefers honor to utility.

Y: Prefers utility to honor.

38 X: Values patriotism (love of one’s land and people) and places it above nationalism.

Y: Values nationalism (love of power and the desire for empire) and places it above patriotism.

39 X: Believes in deontology (actions based on duty, obligation, and universal moral rules; individual-centered [focusing on individual rights and duties]).

Y: Believes in utilitarianism (actions based on their consequences [the greatest good for the greatest number]; society-centered [focus on resource allocation and outcomes]).

40 X: Sees Yankees as the country’s, even the world’s, biggest problem.

Y: Sees Southerners as the country’s, even the world’s, biggest problem.

If you agree with “Faction X” 32 or more, then you relate to traditional, unreconstructed Southerners, the Jefferson-Calhoun philosophy, and the typical Democrat before the populists captured the Democratic Party in the 1890s. If you agree with “Faction Y” 32 or more, then you relate to the typical Northerner, especially the Yankee, the Hamilton-Lincoln philosophy, and the typical Republican ever since 1854, and the typical Democrat since the end of Cleveland’s presidency. However, if you agree with “Faction X” less than 32 times and with “Faction Y” less than 32 times, you may suffer from dissociative disorder — at the very least, you are inconsistent.

This test is probably best applied to others than oneself. Although they may act or think like Y, many will select X for themselves because they like to see themselves as possessing the more noble characteristics of X.

Copyright © 2026 by Thomas Coley Allen.

More political articles.