What the fuck is the difference between left wing and right wing politics?
I used to think I had a good grasp of the concept but now that I've started browsing Veeky Forums my understanding has slowly rotted away. I genuinely don't remember what the difference is anymore and the wikipedia pages are just confusing me now.
The only thing I think I know is that left wing is more about giving the government more control and right wings is about giving the government less control. Other than that I'm just confused.
I want no opinions or memes, just the layman definition.
>the only thing I think I know is that left wing is more about giving the government more control
No it's not
Jacob Morales
One side opposes the other side. That's essentially it these days.
Angel Allen
>What the fuck is the difference between left wing and right wing politics?
The Left Wing supported the ideas of democracy, equality under the law, and capitalism, while the Right Wing supported the King, absolutism and mercantilism.
Logan Barnes
Well then explain to me what the fuck it is.
James Roberts
The distinctions are presently meaningless, and have been for at least a generation.
Lincoln Wood
Let me give you the real answer:
>Leftwing Liberalism (modern day Libertarianism), traditional Republicanism (to an extent), Anarchism
Well who labels themselves as the two groups then? What does a self proclaimed right wing person mean when he calls someone a leftist or something? What do these people believe in?
Luis Wood
There are two tendencies in politics, to embrace the new and modern, or to b suspicious of the new and embrace tradition. "Left" and "Right" are broadly speaking sub-divisions of these two tendencies. Since they are defined in terms of their attitude to traditions, what exactly constitutes "left" or "right" varies from country to country. Thus in America "right-wing" positions are broadly constitutional, since the constitution is the tradition of the Americans. In Europe, those same positions on things like free trade, gun ownership and universal suffrage would be considered left wing, since the traditions there are monarchical and protectionist.
Ayden Moore
Left = Authoritarian
Right = Libertarian
Leftist = SJW and Cultural Marxism
Reactionary = Nazis and religious fanatics
Samuel Fisher
>Cultural Marxism
Oliver Nguyen
xaxaxaxax
epic!
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Adrian Morgan
left winger not having a single fucking clue what hes talking about
Not him, but uneducated ameritard not knowing what he is talking about.
Montesquieu, Locke, Rosseau, Voltaire, Smith, Adams, Jefferson, etc. were all leftist liberals. Capitalism and ideas like property, legal equality, freedom of speech, secularism, etc. are all leftist liberal ideas. Just because your country's politics are fucking retarded doesn't mean you have to be fucking retarded.
John Anderson
Its really long history but the short of it is:
Left and Right was born out of the french revolution when liberals (pro individual liberty, anti clergy, reforms) and traditionalists (pro aristocracy, monarchy and feudal rights, pro clergy) sat literally on the left and right side.
Classical leftism was ideologically about minimal government guaranteeing individual freedoms and strong enough to protect the state and often free markets.
Most of western society prior to the enlightenment at this point would be basically monarchy/noble elites running everything. But now that the leftists got into power, they actually had to form political groups to protect their interests. These often included being pro monarchy, pro aristocratic elite, pro church and above all else pro stability and status quo.
From there it only gets more complicated, but the rise of communism, fascism and western democracies realigned these sides to be often take actions sometimes from the playbook of their rivals.
Nowadays left and right is framed by discussions of how much role does government play into peoples personal lives and how society should view tradition amid changing demographics.
I think the next phase of this paradigm will mean less about economics and more about those who want to live in a international open society and those who want self interested nationalist ones.
Take your pick
Mason Hernandez
cultural marxism is such a vague, meaningless term that it encompasses anything /pol/ doesn't like. much of this would be "leftist", but this would also include stuff that is quite moderate and widely accepted today such as women's suffrage
Nolan Murphy
You need to understand that libertarian right, libertarian left, authoritarian right and authoritarian left are all completely different things
Lincoln Hall
The terms come from the French revolution where the supporters of the king would sit on the right side of Parliament and on the left his opponents.
The left holds that social hierarchy/inequality are not inevitable but the result of human choice. The right believes the opposite.
The further left/right you are the more you agree with these statements.
This is how the stalinists where left wing while being highly similar in tactics to the Nazis who were right wing. Because of their opinion on this issue.
Connor White
Then explain what libertarianism and authoritarianism means in the context of left/right politics.
Luis Nguyen
Ever heard of pro-wrestling? The fights are fixed. Some percentage of the population will always believe they are legit. There is the face (good, company guy) and there is the heel ("villain", also a company guy though). Sometimes people will cheer for the face to win, other for the heel. And this is the difference between left and right.
Luke Phillips
Like the others said, it began during the French Revolution.
The problem today is that "left" drifts further left over time. In the beginning, "left" simply meant "democracy". Then it meant "abolition", then it meant "suffrage", then it meant "globalization" and "diversity".
In turn, "right" and "centre" followed in the shadow of "left" as the "left" continues to debase its own values. People today call Dick Cheney a "right-wing" figurehead, even though putting him in the same category as Louis XVI is self-evidently laughable. That alone should clue you in on this process.
