Are you left wing or right wing?

[Asianguy123]

Which side are you?

Left

Right

Result

[nightdrot]

Voted "right," but I always, when I see this kind of question, have to put an asterisk over it.

First, to start, the terms "right," "left" and so forth, are not terribly helpful. The usage comes out of the French revolution, when supporters of a republic sat to the left of the Speaker's chair in the National Assembly, while supporters of the Church and the monarchy sat to the right. While these are common usage in contemporary politics, they actually don't say very much.

Second, beyond that, your update is an historically inaccurate observation that misunderstands the taxonomy of political philosophy. In fact, it was "the right" as you are using that term, that founded the welfare state.

As to being "outgoing" and "socially adept" I hardly know what that means. Suffice to say, these are personal and psychological classifications having little to do with political philosophy. I would be interested in seeing the empirical data you offer - besides your own biases to support your proposition.

Good of you, thought, to allow that there may be exceptions to the rule that you have not demonstrated. Good of you, if analytically problematic.

At any rate, my conservatism is not what Americans typically call conservative. Because what Americans call conservative is, historically speaking, not conservatism but is, rather, classical liberalism.

(As an aside, what Americans call "liberalism" is actually "radical" liberalism. "Radical," here not meaning as we use the term today, i. e., extremist, but rather as the ancient Greeks used it, meaning "to the root of." The radical liberals agreeing with the classical liberals that liberty is the purpose of government and politics, but arguing that differences in wealth and power in society make that liberty problematic.)

My conservatism, which for convenience I will call classical or Tory conservatism, traces its intellectual pedigree through Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas - and probably most importantly - the 18th century British statesman and political philosopher, Edmund Burke, and also the British Prime Ministers Benjamin Disraeli and Lord Salisbury.

In an American context, it shows up in the thinking of Alexander Hamilton and then - almost by historical accident, the American Whig Party, and the former Whig turned Republican, Abraham Lincoln. (It is a great historical "what if" as to what the GOP would have looked like had Lincoln lived and the radical Republicans not gained the ascendancy.)

Classical conservatives believe, unlike American conservatives and liberals, that the purpose of government is to answer Aristotle's first questions of politics, "How ought we to live? What kind of a people do we wish to be?" To which classical conservatives respond that the purpose of government is to nurture civic virtue. To reinforce those habits and customs that make a harmonious and stable social order possible.

Classical conservatives believe in the free market as a tool, rather than an end in itself. They recognize that it is a powerful wealth creator, efficient to some degree, and a guard against an overweening state. However, they believe, as Burke said, "The effect of liberty to individuals is that they may do what they please. We ought see what it will please them to do before we risk congratulations."

Consequently, classical conservatives support an ameliorative welfare state. (The welfare state was invented by two conservatives - Disraeli and Bismarck.) In this they differ from American liberals who see the welfare state as a lever to engineer social transformation.

Tories believe that political philosophy should take as it starting point not human reason, but human nature. That political rights are developed through historical usage, and are not abstract pre-existing.(They don't deny that such abstract rights don't exist. Merely that they are of no practical benefit or use in civil society and law.)

Suffice to say, I could go on, but this summarizes the issue.

[ADFSDF1996]

I guess I’m right wing since I have libertarian and constitution party ideals.

[jeemm]

My personal views on the world lean me slightly on the side of right wing politics but I don't consider myself as either left wing or right wing.

I think there are problems with both extremes and points that would make me choose one side over other but because they exist on both sides, I can't choose a side.

[Raskad]

Much more left leaning than right leaning.

Though.. that's an australian left, not an American one.. which is just actually a centre.

[JamieLoves]

Figures that chick would choose the Commie left. They’re already nuts...

[andreasderjuengere]

I have TWO wings. So I soar above left and right.

[exitseven]

I used to be middle but not anymore.

[Steve1071]

Center stabilizer wing.

[Sébastienne]

Marxist