Difference between left wing and right wing?

[Toni Parr]

It comes from the time of the during the French Revolution of 1789 when members of the National Assembly divided into supporters of the king to the president's right and supporters of the revolution to his left.

The members of the left proposed changes in the social order while the right was more conservative wishing to keep things the same with little change.

In modern times most democratic countries have a similar set up although what may be regarded as "Centre" varies.

In Australia the current conservative government (By Australian standards) would be thought of as left wing in the USA and the Obama administration by Australian standards would be to our right.

[558]

These terms originated in the French parliament after the French revolution. On the right of the house were the establish political parties of any type. On the left were the individual parliamentarians. So initially the left had a number of individuals all with their own views and opinions. Politicians on the right tended to be from better educated families with a degree of wealth while on the left the individuals were more concerned with the welfare and equality of the lower classes. They have evolved into both side now originating from the families of the educated and wealthy so they have lost touch with mainstream society. Neither side is looking after the welfare of the average worker. The media is largely responsible for shifting public opinion to the right which has resulted in left wing parties occupying positions that were originally the domain of the right.

We in Australia have an ex prime minister in the conservative side of parliament recently described to me as a socialist. His views haven't changed but the opinion of the rest of the country has shifted right.

[The Taxpayer]

Left wing libbies are like slinkies. They're not good for anything; but you can't help but smile as they fall down the stairs.

[zirp]

let's simplify by dividing the world population by a billion.

there's seven of you, and someone delivers 12 pizzas.

In a leftwing society, everyone gets a pizza, and people who have special needs get some more

In a rightwing society, half the pizzas are discarded, the fattest and "most successful" get more than they can eat, and the others are made to compete for the rest. If anyone complains about that they are told that they are lazy, and/or filthy stinking socialists/communists/liberals

In the animal kingdom, the strong would eat what they can, and would leave the rest for the others.
Which in this case would leave noone hungry

[Mick]

In the UK, the left wing veers towards Labour and perhaps the Liberal Democrats. Supposedly, this 'side' , as it were, supports higher taxes to help out individuals in need of help, whether it be economically or about physical benefits. The problem with this side is that the leaders and some of the supporters of the alleged 'left wing' could be considered hypocrites, as they themselves are rich and well off. People who support the left wing tend to be more working class. Far left politics is communism, an ideology that preaches a utopian world in which everyone earns the same, and nobody is different. A more diluted version of communism, is socialism, your classic left wing ideology.

Then, we have the centrist, who will appear indecisive and usually pretend to adopt both...or neither. The problem with being a centrist is nothing gets done. There is no decisiveness, it's all sort of 'in the middle'. So ignore this.

Finally, the right wing. Right wing politics is usually frowned upon by most...the people who do denounce this side are sometimes left wing, or are just afraid to publicly announce their views on such issues, most prevalently involving immigration. The Conservative party in the UK (in the US, it would be Republican) are currently in power, but further right political party 'UKIP' (UK Independence Party) are becoming increasingly popular.

People tend to think that right wing supporters are mainly middle class and rich, when in fact, evidence disproves this.

I've already mentioned what far left politics is (communism), so far right politics borders on fascism and totalitarianism. In simple terms, these parties (such as The British National Party...BNP) come across as racist, which they pretty much are.

Personally, I'm neither right nor left, however I adopt a stance at which I can agree and disagree with aspects of both sides. I did ramble a bit there, hope you understood it OK.

- TakeTheMickey123