Political Spectrums Explained — Why is there a left wing and right wing?

Mr. Beat and Mr. Barris explain political spectrums and why the whole left versus right paradigm does more harm than good.

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#politics #leftwing #rightwing

Sources/further reading:
https://time.com/5673239/left-right-politics-origins/
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/06/the-left-right-political-spectrum-is-bogus/373139/
https://unionwatch.org/avoiding-the-oversimplifications-of-right-wing-vs-left-wing/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_spectrum
http://www.rationalrevolution.net/articles/redefining_the_political_spectru.htm
https://www.politicalcompass.org/

What do people mean when they say that they are “right wing” or “left wing” or on The Right or The Left? Well, the whole left vs. right political spectrum started during the French Revolution. For more about this, I’m going to send you to Barris, from the channel This is Barris! So HERE is Barris.

Thank you for having me over Mr. Beat! To discover the origins of the left v right paradigm, one must go as far as 1789 with the creation of the National Constituent Assembly, whose main task was to create a constitution. Now, while France is proudly republican today and any trace of royalty has long been guillotined away, that wasn’t always the case and a large portion of the population supported the King, or at least those who represented that population. As such when on November 11th, 1789, the assembly had to vote on whether the constitution would grant the King an absolute veto or a partial veto, those who favored an absolute veto were asked to sit on the right of the President of the Assembly and those who favored a partial veto, which was the more radical position, were asked to sit on the President of the Assembly. This wasn’t done symbolically but… to make the vote count easier for the President of the Assembly who felt a bit overwhelmed by the 1,500 deputies. And just like that, France started this idea of change vs tradition, of liberalism vs conservatism which still shapes the political landscape to this day!

It would take another century before the left vs right spectrum became popular outside of France. In the beginning of the 20th century, as revolutions were sprouting across the world, the press and academics needed a quick way to categorize the different ideologies that were fighting each other, especially as these ideologies, both left and right, became increasingly radical. For example, the Bolsheviks, who loved anything related to the French revolution, immediately embraced the leftwing v rightwing spectrum but used themselves as the center. In England, however, it took longer to become popular and books only started referencing it in the late 1920s. Adoption in the US was just as slow but eventually, as partisanship increased in the 1960s during the civil rights movement, the idea of a left vs right political spectrum cemented along the beliefs of both parties.

Well, often the political spectrum looks something like this. On the left side of politics, you tend to see ideas like liberty, equality (aka egalitarianism), progress, and internationalism. On the right side of politics, you tend to see ideas like authority, hierarchy, tradition, and nationalism. On the left, you often see reform, while on the right, you often see reaction. Those on the left tend to want MORE government involvement to make society better. They want it more top down, while those on the right tend to want LESS government involvement to make society better. They want it bottom up. Ideas on the left are often called “liberal” and ideas on the right are often called “conservative.”