What is Left/Right politics to you?

[OddBeMe]

Give me some keywords for the left wing and the right wing.

Off the bat:

Left desires tax cuts snd stimulus for the poor and middle class.
Right desires top down, supply side, tax cuts and stimulus for the rich.

[nightdrot]

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, the terms as used in contemporary politics are inaccurate and misunderstand the taxonomy of political philosophy. In fact, it was "the right" as you are using that term, that founded the welfare state.

At any rate, 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.)

Historic 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. As Edmund Burke put it, "their abstract perfection is their practical defect.)

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

[kmg9150]

Left doesn't represent nearly as much as you think they claim to. They are more racist, there agendas all circle around the idea of hate fueled beliefs, they I mean there best bet for office was Biden, a guy who can even hold himself up on a bike, yet he's to run the country? Not to mention his inappropriate fondling of children... They Give other countries money to funding for shit they should be funding (corona, but there are plenty more). The greatest tax cuts for business have been during Dem controlled eras. They control the media and social media promotes their agendas so you dont see the real stuff going on... Democrats goal= keep the people enslaved on dependency of government (democrat ran government) by whatever means. That was their goal by means of the civil war...

[purplepoppy]

Traditionally in the UK the right was about tax cuts for the well off through cutting public services and keeping the poor downtrodden. As my grandfather says they'll kick you down and if you try to stand up they'll kick you back down.

The left was about trying to ensure a fair deal for working people but now it's lost its way and is mostly about woke issues and abandoned it's traditional base.

British democracy is like a rapist giving you a choice of which hole you want screwed in.

[OddBeMe]

Agreed, but work on the analogy…jesus christ.

[Snakeyes7]

As our culture really likes to label. Left is pro-government programs and Right is pro-self governance. That's not *really* what it is but political opinions tend to fall into either of those two categories and that is how they tend to be labelled by those who witness them.

Though I have never seen a right winger in favor of raising taxes for anyone, democrat presidents tend to run on the plan to raise taxes. No mention of a specific group, just tax increases. Also, you don't even need to have a degree in economics to understand why stimulus checks were never a good idea.

As for me, I grew up in a more conservative home but as I grew up I became more libertarian. Any top down approach (no matter who it benefits) leads to disaster, the "top" completely ignores it or tiptoes around it. abortion (disaster), civil rights (tiptoe) or constitutional rights (ignore).

[normalice]

Right: a fake wing designed to look like a real wing because their only goal is to give the rich more money, and they know no one will vote for that sonthey come up with fake grievance culture issues to inspire unearned loyalty and motivate their voters.

Left: basically anyone who doesn't think we should be giving the rich more money can be left, if they don't mind being called so.

[Avicenna]

You're pushing caricatures, plus the real fault line in politics is establishment vs the people. Leftist ideologues are either part of the establishment or working with it. Notice that they're doing nothing for ordinary people but make their lives more expensive.

[Stoner710]

Left wants more central government control high taxes and the ability to control the way you think.

right wants a lot less centralized power and wants power rooted on the local level. Both want to control the way you think the right just wants to do it more on the low end local level rather then on the high end federal level

[Guy__]

Idea of having a choice.

[joeldalton]

Democrats must not be left wing, then.

[msc545]

You said it all