I’m interested in whether there is a concrete, widly accepted definition of standard political terms sych as;
Left Wing (or left of centre)
Right Wing (or right of centre)
Centre
Liberal
Conservative
Any ideas?
No.
Wow, are you in for a can of worms.
Typically
Left:
Liberal: Social freedom and government interference in the economic relations
Conservative: Economic freedom and government interference in interpersonal relations
Centralist: Any combination of the above
Personally I think it’s better to talk about Economic freedoms (Communal/Free Market) and Personnel Freedoms (Authoritarian/Anarchist) on a grid. In that case your centralist would believe in moderate governmental control in both personal and economic areas.
A person on the left would be closer to the Communal than a person on the right but they could both believe in Governmental control. Both Stalin and Hitler would be extremely authoritarian but would differ in their economic beliefs.
American Libertarians would find themselves far closer to the Anarchist/Free Market portion of the spectrum than a liberal or conservative. However you could equally have an anarcho-syndicist-commune going on about the violence inherent in the system. In that case only their economic views would make them different from the Anarchist/Free Market bunch.
Damn. Let’s try that again.
Wow, are you in for a can of worms.
Typically
Left: Social progressives typically associated with distributing wealth
Right: Social traditionalists typically associated with maintaining wealth
Liberal: Social freedom and government interference in the economic relations
Conservative: Economic freedom and government interference in interpersonal relations
Centralist: Any combination of the above
Personally I think it’s better to talk about Economic freedoms (Communal/Free Market) and Personnel Freedoms (Authoritarian/Anarchist) on a grid. In that case your centralist would believe in moderate governmental control in both personal and economic areas.
A person on the left would be closer to the Communal than a person on the right but they could both believe in Governmental control. Both Stalin and Hitler would be extremely authoritarian but would differ in their economic beliefs.
American Libertarians would find themselves far closer to the Anarchist/Free Market portion of the spectrum than a liberal or conservative. However you could equally have an anarcho-syndicist-commune going on about the violence inherent in the system. In that case only their economic views would make them different from the Anarchist/Free Market bunch. Same personal freedoms but differing economic freedoms.
Unless the particular social freedom is not in line with the mindset of liberals. Then it’s time to pull out the nanny-state hammer and ban the behavior.
Liberal == conservative == totalitarian.
Here’s a test to see where you fit in:
It’s simple.
Leftwingers believe people are best off in society working together for the good of all, even if that means you have to surrender some of the output of your labours.
Rightwingers believe either: (a) people are best off in society working for the good of all, as long as they adhere to certain time-honoured traditions, or (b) people are essentially selfish and best off working for themselves, which will have the indirect effect of benefiting society and being for the good of all.
You also have to take into account that libertarians and liberals believe that people should be able to do whatever they like as long as it doesn’t negatively affect society as a whole, but if you break the rules you can still be punished severely. However, conservatives believe that people should be able to do whatever they like as long as it doesn’t negatively affect society as a whole.
Libertarians believe in basic rights which should not be infringed by others (particularly the state). Socialists believe human beings have certain rights which should not be infringed by others (particularly the rich). Conservatives don’t talk about rights as much (although the do more in the USA than other places), but I’m sure they believe in them too.
On the other hand, when he invented economics, Adam Smith said that the interests of landlords and tenants are unavoidably opposed. So if you say the left wing are the tenants and the right the landlords, you wouldn’t be far wrong.
(To be serious, you need to separate essentially economic doctrines like socialism and free-market capitalism from political doctrines like centralism and anarchism; however any economic system requires a political system to maintain it, so in practice distinctions are always blurred.)
Nice test…wow…guess I really am a republican!
Well that was point in referring to both having authoritarian tendancies. They just apply them to differing areas (social/fiscal).