LGF has a great nugget of wisdom that captures an axiomatic world view right on.(credit to Den Beste for educating me on when to spot an Axiomatic debate)

Charles is responding to a classic case of Moral Equivalence contained in the comments made by a Canadian Minister, Bonnie Brown.    She equates US/Iraqi war-talk with Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor:

...It’s been pointed out that the idiotarian left sees all issues in terms of power discrepancies, not morality, and Bonnie Brown exemplifies this principle; she sees no difference between the motives of Nazi Germany in World War II and the United States today:

"When we moved in World War Two as Allies, we were moving against the idea of one nation aggressively invading and taking over another. This is exactly what George Bush is now proposing," Ms. Brown said.

There you have it, the essential idiotarian world view, stripped to its bare ugly skeleton. Forget historical context, forget morality—the only thing that matters is that one side is stronger than the other, and it’s acting aggressively. That side is clearly wrong, and no other standards of right and wrong can be applied to the situation.

In a little personal flash of insight, I'd make an "End of History"-esque argument & say that my world view of competing political memes boils down to:

Freedom Meme-- The idea that the core goal of governance is to preserve/maximize individual freedom.  The dominant homebase for this meme is the probably in the "Anglosphere".   Other axiomatic goals (e.g. Virtue, Equality) are generally sacrificed to create maximum freedom.  Income inequality is intrinsically OK as long rights aren't being trampled.  The 1-2-3 punch in the Anglosphere for this meme is:

• Democracy -- pretty self evident.   Legal restrictions on Freedom (for ex., being forced to pay taxes) gain their legitimacy by being enacted by a body Of the People.
• Liberalism (in the Classical Sense) -- Liberalism, when used to describe democracy can actually be described as the collection of elements to prevent super-majoritarianism or Toqueville's "tyranny of the majority" from encroaching on a series of universal rights of the individual. 

In the Liberal Democratic tradition, these rights are usually defined in a negative sense (meaning, for ex., that no one can take away away your right to Assembly) vs. the positive sense (the idea that if I want to create a certain Assembly, I can expect certain individuals to attend, even via coercion). 

The bulk of the US Constitution is arguably devoted to providing safegaurds against super-majoritarian pursuit of Equality.   The features include prinicipals of Checks & Balances, the Bill of Rights, Federalism, Judicial overview, etc.

Another way to see why the Freedom meme requires links between Democracy and Liberalism was demonstrated by Fareed Zakaria.   He coined  the term "Illiberal Democracy" in '97 & uses it to describe situations Democracy is used to vote in regimes that advance non-Freedom memes (for ex., this is likely what would happen if Egypt were to have an election today -- the Islamicists would take over).  He says:

Constitutional liberalism, on the other hand, is not about the procedures for selecting government, but rather government's goals. It refers to the tradition, deep in Western history, that seeks to protect an individual's autonomy and dignity against coercion, whatever the source -- state, church, or society.  

• Capitalism -- Similarly, the necessary, long-term links between Democracy / Capitalism & Freedom have been described/debated in many forums (including End of History, Atlas Shrugged, etc.).

Virtue Meme -- The core goal of governance is to enforce various religious / social norms that lead to Goodness / Virtue.   Dominant homebase for this meme today is cleary the Islamo-fundamentalist world  (although the Christian right in the US dabbles here as well).   In this world, it is better to be poor & pious than free/rich and tempted to engage in any of a series of un-virtuous acts.  

This axiom is obviously subject to conflicting definitions of Virtue.   An applicable Voltaire quote which I'll paraphrase states that when there is 1 religion, you have a theocracy, 2 religions, religious war, and 3 religions, Freedom. 

Some historians have argued that the True source of the American-style Freedom was actually the plurality of colonial Christian religious (Calvinists, Anglicans, Puritans, Lutherans, etc.) groups rather than an overt attempt by the Founding Fathers to place Freedom above all else.

Equality Meme-- The core goal of governance is to resolve inequalities between individuals (at a domestic level in a socialist /communist sort of way) or between groups (at an international level as espoused by the Transnational Progressive movement).  The homebase for this meme is generally the EU but is also found in many leftist movements around the world (notably the anti-globalization movement).  

The Equality meme is clearly manifest in the LGF post above.  Broadly, you'll see it employed in almost any situation where there's a knee-jerk response to blame the rich, the powerful, etc.   Situations where simply pointing out who's rich / powerful is enough to assign blame / fault.

In this world view, the goal is to restrict the Freedom of the "oppressors" in order to advance the equality of the "victims".  This is argued for regardless of:

• the Virtue of the rich/powerful entities -- often an oxymoronic statement;  often proved by employing the tactic of moral equivalence.
• the Virtue of the restrictions imposed -- e.g. farm collectivization causing mass famine in communist countries & trampling on property rights of owners
• the Virtue of the victims -- e.g. I was stupid and stuck my finger in a light socket so I sue the power company

Using the Rights language from above, the Equality Meme is almost always imbued with positive rights.   For example, "Simply because I am poor, others must be forced - via taxes - to provide me with welfare -- all other questions aside".  

Or, going all the way back to the Bonnie Brown quote above "Simply because one nation is weak, those who wish to attack it are wrong & must be stopped -- all other questions aside."  

There sorta is/was a 4th one -- NationalPower -- which roughly coincided with authoritarianism but it's been generally unfashionable of late (the Euro definition of conservatives / right wing is centered around run this meme - this mixup is why they're so scared of what they term "conservatism" in the US).   These 4 political Memes roughly correspond to the 4 quadrants of the semi-famous political quiz distributed by the Libertarians.

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In the memetic landscape, all of these memes have prima facie positive connotations.   Even strong proponents of one meme don't automatically see themselves as "anti-" the other meme (e.g. a Freedom-dominant person doesn't advertise himself as an anti-Equality).   The inherent contraditions between the memes only appear at a deeper level of deduction.  This is a large part of why so many arguments seem to go on forever with everyone blue in the face and not understanding what the other guys is talking about.

And, of course, complicating matters, it's pretty much impossible (well, for most people at least) to align yourself exclusively with one meme versus the other.  I'm definitely Freedom-dominant but, the Equality meme does peek in every now and then.  

A further complication is often forgotten by those who argue with self-styled libertarians like myself.   These memes describe governance models rather than social models.   You can be, for example, highly Freedom-oriented when it comes to what the government can/should do but highly Equality-oriented when it comes to your personal dealing with others and Virtue-oriented with your family.