Left wing or Right wing

[Mark Young]

Please post yor definition of what is Left wing and what is Right wing and what wing you favour.

I'll post mine when I understand which is which.

 

[Superevie]

Left Wing is Democrats and right wing is republican. I'm more of a right-winger. I'm a little more conservative and I don't believe in creating more government programs for the unemployed. I believe in people making their own way in life. But hey, that's just me. A lot of other people don't share my views.

 

[Aphex_Twin]

I will simply re-post the links.

http://members.tripod.com/~GOPcapitalist/polsp.html

http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html


Good night.

 

[EdwardTking]

The term originated in England from Members of Parliament who would sit in the left or in the right wing of the House of Commons, in Parliament, London. The radicals sat on the left wing, while the preservers of the status quo sat on the right wing.

 

[delsully]

Originally posted by Superevie
Left Wing is Democrats and right wing is republican. I'm more of a right-winger. I'm a little more conservative and I don't believe in creating more government programs for the unemployed. I believe in people making their own way in life. But hey, that's just me. A lot of other people don't share my views.

I agree, there are plenty of good dumpsters around that a guy who just got laid off can feed his family from.

 

[Superevie]

Originally posted by delsully


I agree, there are plenty of good dumpsters around that a guy who just got laid off can feed his family from.

I'm pretty sure that's sarcastic...

I don't say not to have any government funded programs, for the reason you stated. I'm just saying that there are so many the democrats want to fund that people who are unemployed are actually getting more benefits than those who are working. That's all I'm saying.

 

[Kinniken]

Originally posted by EdwardTking
The term originated in England from Members of Parliament who would sit in the left or in the right wing of the House of Commons, in Parliament, London. The radicals sat on the left wing, while the preservers of the status quo sat on the right wing.

Funny, I've heard exactly the same thing claimed for First French Republic's assembly, where the most extreme members (Robespierre, anyone?) sat on the left and the proponents of a constitutional Monarchy sat on the right.
No idea which version is correct (if any).

 

[Yaniv]

Originally posted by Kinniken


Funny, I've heard exactly the same thing claimed for First French Republic's assembly, where the most extreme members (Robespierre, anyone?) sat on the left and the proponents of a constitutional Monarchy sat on the right.
No idea which version is correct (if any).

I have to go with the England one, as I've also heard it before.
My view:
The right wing is more preservitive of the past and more and its members are more patriotistic, while the left isn't to clinged to the past and is more liberal.

Personally, I am a left wing. I like to choose my own path and beliefs, rather than have them written down for me.

 

[Ossric]

in Belgium nowadays (by definition),
the left wing consists of the socialists & the green party;
the right wing are the christian-democrats & the liberal party

Allthough they all claim to be "central" parties


I guess "left & right" originated from the 19th century,
left being the liberals (with later also socialists) =anti clerical
right being the conservatives (the christians, aka "the established order")

 

[Laughing Gull]

some people have the point of view that the American Democrats are actually right wing, and the Republicans are radical right wing.

 

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by Superevie
I don't say not to have any government funded programs, for the reason you stated. I'm just saying that there are so many the democrats want to fund that people who are unemployed are actually getting more benefits than those who are working. That's all I'm saying.

What unemployement benefit are you talking about? When you work, you have to pay all kind of taxes; therefore, when you lose your job, you would get your unemployment benefit for about 6 six months. Think of it like car insurance, you pay for your car insurance so that when you have an accident, the insurance company would pay for the damage. If you look deeply, unemployed people aren't actually getting any more benefits than those who are working.

 

[Paalikles]

Originally posted by EdwardTking
The term originated in England from Members of Parliament who would sit in the left or in the right wing of the House of Commons, in Parliament, London. The radicals sat on the left wing, while the preservers of the status quo sat on the right wing.

On topic
I agree more or less to that post.

Slightly off topic:
I am very much tempted to explain to you all the benefit of a somewhat active government, but I shall not engage in future flames.

---> An example: FISCAL POLICY
Let me just point out:
Classical economists favored keeping a budget surplus rather than a deficit.
This made the years in US history known as the Great Depression quite worse than it could have been: Taxes is the main income of the government, and when income in the private sector is reduced, taxes payed to the government will be reduced. To avoid running a deficit - the public sector reduced its spending. Reduced demand means reduced production, and reduced production means reduced income yet again - leading to increased unemployment, and so on and so on.
So basically, by reducing the public sector, one made the US economy as a whole worse off than it was initially.

The saviour was Keynes, with his view that the government should spend more to increase overall demand when given such a situation (put into policy as the New Deal). Result being that increased demand from the public sector generated more work, thus generating more income, thus generating more demand.

My above summary, although short at best, is a good example of why the government is needed.

To fully discuss topics like distribution of income and welfare however, I would have to go somewhat beyond just arguing like an economist.....

Originally posted by Superevie
I don't say not to have any government funded programs, for the reason you stated. I'm just saying that there are so many the democrats want to fund that people who are unemployed are actually getting more benefits than those who are working. That's all I'm saying.

I'd say Moonsinger is correct, and your statement is not.
From what I gather from that program you refer to, I d say the government's main consern here is to provide enough of an incentive for the unemployed to go looking for work.

I suppose it might be difficult to view a program one does not seem to need oneself. The main reason for such a welfare program is to help out those that are unfortunate enough to [loose their job, not to keep them unemployed

 

[andrewgprv]

Left Wing sees progress, innovation and social change as the best route for society.

Right Wing sees tradtion and time tested methods as the best route for society.

 

[Little Raven]

Conservative: A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the liberal, who wishes to replace them with others. -- Ambrose Bierce

 

[Adebisi]

Originally posted by Sir Eric
Please post yor definition of what is Left wing and what is Right wing and what wing you favour.

My definition?

Anyone who is a socialist is left-wing.
Anyone who is liberal, when it comes to economy, is right-wing.

That is the only way to look at it IMO.

I try to see beyond that scale myself but I have never been classed as anything but right-wing either (neo-liberal).

 

[Hitro]

I regard it as a combination of the eocial and economic issues, with the economic ones being the dominant factor.

Thus (true) Socialists and (true) Social Democrats are the left, with Communists being the far left. Modern "Socialist" parties, like Labour in Britain or the SPD here in Germany are not what I consider left-wing, basically because of being economically too liberal and socially too restrictive, in short Capitalist.

(Economical, European) Liberals and Conservatives are the right, with Fascists being the far right.

Now of course that all isn't really clear-cut, so there are always people in the center, who are particularly annoying.

 

[Hitro]

Originally posted by Adebisi
My definition?

Anyone who is a socialist is left-wing.
Anyone who is liberal, when it comes to economy, is right-wing.

When it comes to a really basic (and thus of course not very precise) definition, that is indeed the best there is, though I'd simply exchange "liberal, when it comes to economy" with "Capitalist", because that is what it means.

Socialism/Capitalism is the traditional left/right difference, at least in most places.

I try to see beyond that scale myself but I have never been classed as anything but right-wing either (neo-liberal).

Neo-liberalism definetely has to be regarded as right-wing within that spectrum. Which is also why Blair and Schröder aren't left-wingers.

 

[jack merchant]

Originally posted by Paalikles

---> An example: FISCAL POLICY
Let me just point out:
Classical economists favored keeping a budget surplus rather than a deficit.
This made the years in US history known as the Great Depression quite worse than it could have been: Taxes is the main income of the government, and when income in the private sector is reduced, taxes payed to the government will be reduced. To avoid running a deficit - the public sector reduced its spending. Reduced demand means reduced production, and reduced production means reduced income yet again - leading to increased unemployment, and so on and so on.
So basically, by reducing the public sector, one made the US economy as a whole worse off than it was initially.

Not true - a more likely culprit is the failure of wages to keep up with productivity, leading to oversupply. The vicious circle of oversupply leading to layoffs leading to further drops in aggregate demand didn't need a government surplus to exact its toll. Governments in the 1930s were too small relative to the economy to really have an impact before the Keynesian revolution.
While Keynesian policies worked in the 1930s, they were not quite as successful later, and the school of rational expectations emerged as a valid counterpoint to Keynesian theories. That being said, I've been known to argue in favour of a role for government in general in other threads. Note to Pontiuth Pilate - this makes me a centrist rather than a lefty .

 

[Adebisi]

Originally posted by Hitro
When it comes to a really basic (and thus of course not very precise) definition, that is indeed the best there is, though I'd simply exchange "liberal, when it comes to economy" with "Capitalist", because that is what it means.

Socialism/Capitalism is the traditional left/right difference, at least in most places.

Yes, that's a good way to word it
The reason I didn't use the word capitalist is that a left-wing politician can support capitalism, because...

Originally posted by Hitro
Neo-liberalism definetely has to be regarded as right-wing within that spectrum. Which is also why Blair and Schröder aren't left-wingers.

...it is the system which generates the highest standard of living for the voters of said Social democratic parties.

I dont think our European "right-wing" Social Democrats wants to be neo-liberal. It is just a pragmatic decision they have taken to benefit the working class. Realpolitik...

 

[luiz]

Right-wing and Left-wing mean nothing in my opinion. That term meant something in the french revolution(where it originated: jacobins seated to the left and girondins to the right, with the moderates in the Center, also called Swamp in that time).
The real oppositions are Socialism vs Capitalism and Libertarian vs Authoritarian. For exemple, it's absurd to consider a neo-liberal and a fascist as both beign simply right-wing. Fascism and liberalism have nothing in common. The political spectrum has at least two dimensions.

BTW, I have strong capitalist and libertarian beliefs.