left and the right

[Hiero]

Can someone explain how different styles of government get classified into the right and left.

[SonofRage]

Left Wing Politics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-wing)
Right Wing Politics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_politics)

[Invader Zim]

Originally posted by comrade [email protected] 27 2003, 11:32 AM
Can someone explain how different styles of government get classified into the right and left.
Its no longer really right and left. Until fairly recently authortarianism, was considered right wing, and liberalism leftwing. So Stalin would be considered extream right wing, even though his economic policies were left wing. On a site called www.politicalcompass.org/ (http://www.politicalcompass.org/) asks a number of economic, political and social questions, and how you answer them alters your political position, on its grid: -

http://www.digitalronin.f2s.com/politicalcompass/images/axeswithnames.gif



However when people say right and left, they usually refer to your political ideology, left being socialists, collectavists. Centeralists are usually liberal democrats, and liberals. Rightwingers, are neo-liberals, fascists, economic traditionalists.

Both major parties, the republicans and democrats are between centre and right, some republicans actually getting close to the relms of facism.

Hope thats been a help.

[Hiero]

thanks for that site i got
Economic Left/Right: -4.62
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.49
im going to get heaps of people to do it.

[Marxist in Nebraska]

I do recommend the political compass quiz to anyone who has not already taken it. I know it gets praised extensively on this forum, and I think deservedly so.

I like the way the quiz separates economic and social questions into two different matters. Stalin and Chomsky would be very much in agreement about the faults of the capitalist system, but would disagree bitterly on issues of personal liberty.

Left and right, is most useful in terms of discussing economics. Basically, the right asserts that individuals should own the means of production, while the left asserts that such important and needed things should belong to the people collectively.

[Pete]

I quite agree :)

On the Policital Compass I sit snuggly in the bottom left corner.

Just remember, all leftists can make a difference, and the authoritarian ones have their place, although they should never ever be leaders. There should never ever be supreme leaders :)

[dannie]

i too sit at he bottom left

@CP, i couldn't say it better, we leftist have to make a way so both authoritan and libertarian leftists can fight against capitalism and establish a no-class society

[monkeydust]

The political compass makes much more sense than simply left or right but its important not to forget what the 'common view' of the meanings of left and right.
From my experience in everyday speech (though not logical) the more communist you are the further left you are, capitalism is generally around centre and the right is not so much an economic view as it is a political one further right normally meaning nationalist and/or highly authoratarian. This traditioal left and right view isnt too logical and the compass makes more sense but bear in mind both are merely a means to simplify things and you shouldn't see things simply as opposites to eachther.

[hazard]

as far as I can explain it, left and right are in relation to the centre, which is the status quo. the status quo varies upon which form of government is currently in operation. in canada, for example, the right wing parties are the closest to centre than any other parties. all left parties are furthur away from centre. so left and right are completely relative.

overall, in a generic sense, left is social and right is individual. meaning that the right wing favours the rights of the individual over the whole while the left wing favours the rights of the whole over the individual. as you can see, one allows for the mass exploitation of the many for an individual few while the other allows for the protection of all.

[katie mccready]

when i did it a coupel of months ago i was rely close to anarchy than i expeted.

[Comrade of Cuba]

The most simple explanation is (in my opinion) left=progressive and right=conservative but the compass thing is better(I've never heard of it before)

my score:
Economic Left/Right: -7.00
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.15

[SgtPepper369]

Economic Left/Right: -5.62
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.69

I was near Ghandi and Mandela

[Atheny]

Originally posted by [email protected] 4 2003, 04:49 AM
Economic Left/Right: -5.62
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.69

I was near Ghandi and Mandela
same here! lol

Economic Left/Right: -5.38
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.62

I personally believe that where ghandi sits is just about the perfect place... someone who has his thoughts for the good of all people, but at the same time doesn't have any unrealistic extremist views that are inpractical in implementation with us flawed human beings...

[The Children of the Revolution]

I tried it the other day-
Economic Left/Right: -8.52
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.62

I also got my housemates at Uni to take the test; from the results I judged the test to be incredibly biased - towards the libertarian left. Only one person (out of 10) was "right wing" with a score of +1.2, and only one person was "authoritarian" with a score of +0.8. Interestingly enough, it was the same person...

And yet I have had some spectacular arguments/debates with the same housemates - about the economy in particular. The staunchest advocate of the free market ended up with a score of -1.5 on the economic scale! Utterly ludicrous.

The 'left' and the 'right', as political terms, were originally conceived according to where particular people sat at a delegation of some sort. The more reactionary sat on the right; the progressives on the left. ("The most simple explanation is (in my opinion) left=progressive and right=conservative" - Comrade of Cuba) The political compass is a good idea, but the questions are flawed

[Jesus Christ]

i got the uttermost bottom left

[Marxist in Nebraska]

CotR,

I agree with your criticism of the political compass. I remember a few months back reading on the forum how even hardcore Stalinists were scoring -1s and -2s on the authoritarian/libertarian scale, while Stalin himself is credited on the sample map as being about +8.5 or +9...

Your seating delegation story about the origins of left and right is true. As I understand it, this is a reference to the French Revolution. In the assembly, conservatives and reactionaries on the right side of the aisle, moderates in the middle, and radicals on the left side.

[Al Creed]

I proudly display my score for all to see in my sig:D

I remember taking one test like this in World Issues in Grade 13, and on a scale of -25 to 25 (-25 being Far Left, 25 being Far right) I exceeded -25 :D

[The Children of the Revolution]

Your seating delegation story about the origins of left and right is true. As I understand it, this is a reference to the French Revolution. In the assembly, conservatives and reactionaries on the right side of the aisle, moderates in the middle, and radicals on the left side.


Yes, that was it. I vaguely remember being taught this somewhere... May well have been school...



I agree with your criticism of the political compass. I remember a few months back reading on the forum how even hardcore Stalinists were scoring -1s and -2s on the authoritarian/libertarian scale, while Stalin himself is credited on the sample map as being about +8.5 or +9...


LOL, sounds about right! :P Does anyone know of an alternative site which promotes the same idea - but has sensible questions and no bias???

I am eager to expose my housemates as right-wing nutters...

[Marxist in Nebraska]

I took the test a few months ago, and I had a -9.09 to the left, and -6.49 libertarian... I just retook the test, and I scored -8.88 to the left, and -9.74 libertarian... hmm... I do know how I moved to the right at all, but I apparently am much more anarchistic now...

[Danish]

Economic Left/Right: -8.88
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -9.03

Not quite as extreme as the last time I took it (I'm going soft on the spanking issue lol).

[SonofRage]

heh, I've had mine in my sig forever

[Pingu]

My political compass
Economic Left/Right: -6.38
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.85

[James]

Economic Left/Right: -7.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.41

[cubist]

Economic Left/Right: -6.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.26

[ComradeRobertRiley]

Economic Left/Right: -7.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.23

[Saint-Just]

I get:

Economic Left/Right: -10
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: +4.87

I agree with your criticism of the political compass. I remember a few months back reading on the forum how even hardcore Stalinists were scoring -1s and -2s on the authoritarian/libertarian scale, while Stalin himself is credited on the sample map as being about +8.5 or +9...

Yes, this is true, it is a very hard test for a Stalinist to take.

[ComradeRobertRiley]

The questions themselves are flawed, too simplistic and too few to get an accurate result

[mankymole]

well realistically in politics today most party policies barely differ from each other. Their only noticable when you have extremists. like starlin (extreme left if you like) and Hiter (exteme right)

[James]

Aye, Hiter and that Starlin were not nice chaps.

[Rob]

I agree with the idea behind the Political Compass, since just saying "Left wing" and "Right wing" seems to be a pretty huge oversimplification for me. But I'm also getting to believe that for me, most political classifications are oversimplifications.

[cormacobear]

I thought the sight was great but I agree that their should be more questions. I found some of the questions to be almost region specific. More questions would help eliminate bias due to the issues of different countries or regions.

I don't remember the exact numbers but I was about
left/ right: -9
authoritarian/ Libertarian: -2