In the West there are two political wings: the left wing and the right wing, often called just the left and the right. Power in most Western countries goes back and forth between these two wings. It has been this way since the rise of democracy two hundred years ago.
While both wings aim at liberty and equality for all, the right favours liberty while the left favours equality. The right also favours the established social order while the left favours social change.
America and Britain tend to the right, Europe and Latin America to the left.
The rich, the pious and the military tend to favour the right while the young, the poor, blacks, Jews and the intellectual tend to favour the left.
Most people, not being rich, would naturally favour the left. But the left is run by intellectuals who do not believe in God and country. The right turns this against them to gain the vote of the common people.
Those on the far left are sometimes called reds.
The left and right look at the world differently:
Human nature:
- Right: man is naturally evil and has to be kept in line. The right tends to take a Christian view of man. It thinks in moral absolutes of right and wrong, good and evil.
- Left: man is naturally good. The left sees man as a creation of social forces, of his upbringing: family, the community, school, government, television and so on. His natural goodness is corrupted by society in the service of the rich and powerful.
Purpose of government:
- Right: to keep law and order within and preserve the freedom of the country against enemies without. Small government is good.
- Left: to bring peace and justice. It can best do this by bringing social equality to all — to have no more rich or poor. The poor are unfairly miserable while the rich have too much and do not deserve it. Government is a means to cure social ills.
Social change:
- Right: Best done in small steps. The social order is just, more or less, and larger steps would endanger social peace.
- Left: Best done with sweeping changes, maybe even the overthrow of the social order. The social order is unjust.
The world order:
- Right: defend the nation. “My country right or wrong”.
- Left: bring world peace and justice. “Give peace a chance”.
Political parties:
- Right: Republicans (America), Tories (Britain), Christian Democrats, Fascists.
- Left: Democrats (America), Labour (Britain), Social Democrats, Socialists, Communists.
Political thinkers, writers and leaders (among many others):
- Right: Hobbes, John Locke, Adam Smith, Burke, Hitler, Franco, Churchill, Reagan, Thatcher, George W Bush, The Economist.
- Left: Rousseau, Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Orwell, Peron, Che, Pol Pot, Chomsky, John F Kennedy, Fallaci, Gorbachev, Bill Clinton, BBC, New York Times, Hillary Clinton
As you can see, both sides have their demons and heroes.
Note that blacks in America cannot see society as being naturally just and yet often have a Christian view of human nature.
See also:
You should have a section on centrism and centrists. There is an emerging radical middle rising in North America.
Your article is good and makes sense, with one exception: I do not see how or why Hitler and Fascism is associated with the right. I know liberals (the left) enjoy comparing conservatives to Hitler, but it is simply a misrepresentation, a tactic commonly used by the left to demonize the right. Hitler was a radical leftist and believed in massive social change, as do the liberals, not the status quo and slow change as espoused by the right. He also believed in government control, big government, government owned industry and etc. You are wrong to place him under the label of the right.
The Left-Right Political Spectrum is the most stupid thing ever devised.
Both left wingers (Liberals) and right wingers (Conservatives) are the biggest bunch of crybabies on the planet and I trust either one of them as far as I can throw them!!!!
Fascist is left wing and authoritarian
new labour is Britain is the left of right in regard to the tories
democrats are also left of right. crossing into “left” would make them socialist.
A great example that illustrates the divide between the left and the right is the site http://leftrightpress.com. It pits left leaning news directly against right leaning news.
Fascism and Hitler have historically, throughout the world always been placed on the far right. It is a very recent right-wing American thing to try to justify them being left. Our American military’s definition labels fascism as extreme right. US Military Dictionary definition of fascism:
n. 1. an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.
2. (in general use) extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice. The term fascism was first used of the totalitarian right-wing nationalist regime of Benito Mussolini in Italy (1922-43), and the regime of the Nazis in Germany were also Fascist. Fascism tends to include a belief in the supremacy of one national or ethnic group, a contempt for democracy, an insistence on obedience to a powerful leader, and a strong demagogic approach.
The Left and Right dichotomy is a bit simplistic. For instance, there are significant differences between European conservatives and American conservatives. European conservatives have traditionally emphasized social order, hierarchy, throne and altar, and noblesse oblige (i.e. the duties of those of higher station to those less fortunate). American conservatives, on the other hand, have typically been more libertarian in outlook. They tend to favor limited government, localism, free markets, and individualism. There are of course exceptions to this pattern. Margaret Thatcher is more of an American-style conservative while “compassionate conservatism” in the US reflects a communitarian impulse typical of European traditionalists.