How's the right and left in America, any different from the rest of the world?

[Entropy]

Actually, there are differences. Historically, the left was the liberals of the Enlightenment. They argued for a restrained state, individual liberty, free markets and so forth. The conservatives were arguing for the conservation of the aristocracy, and the status quo of statism.

In the US, politics were so liberal (by the above definition) that the word liberal held no meaning. All parties (just about) were liberal. This changed, first with the emergence of the progressives, and later with the emergence of social liberals in the 50s and 60s. They took the term liberal even though their policy set was quite different from the Classical Liberals of the Enlightenment. They sought change in a nation with the smallest and most restrained govt. They sought change in economic affairs by having less free markets, and change in social affairs by seeking cultural change to overturn the status quo.

The movement that reacted to them to preserve the status quo free market and the status quo in cultural issues became know as conservatives even though they did not argue for an aristocracy like the classical conservatives.

Internationally, when people say that someone is a liberal reformer they typically are using the historical sense of the word. It generally does not refer to someone seeking less free markets, or larger government, but the opposite.

However, realize that in the US it is STILL true that the difference between our liberals and conservatives is razor thin. They differ of shades of grey.