Left-Right politics

Left-Right politics are traditional terms that represent broad competing political visions, whose meanings have evolved and can sometimes be contradictory, yet widespread acceptance has kept them in use.

Modern American use of the terms

Today, these terms are widely used, but without any firm consensus about their meaning.

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The contemporary left is usually defined as a category including social democrats, socialists and communists - and some anarchists. In the United States, liberals are also commonly thought to be on the "left", see Liberalism in the United States for more on this issue. Due to extensive pejorative use of liberal, the American center-left in the 1980s and 1990s preferred the term "progressive". The terms left and right have been coming into wider use again in the U.S. during the George W. Bush administration.

Related Topics:
United States - Liberalism in the United States - George W. Bush

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In general, left implies a commitment to social equality, support for the class interests of the less privileged, and support for a 'liberal' social policy and multiculturalism. In contrast to the original meaning of "left", the contemporary Left is usually characterized as promoting government regulation of business, commerce, and industry, and government intervention on behalf of the poor, and racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities. In recent years, even some representatives of the anarchist tradition have argued that government regulation may be a lesser evil than what anarchist intellectual Noam Chomsky characterizes as the "private tyranny" of the corporations.

Related Topics:
Social equality - Multiculturalism - Minorities - Lesser evil - Noam Chomsky

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The contemporary right in the United States is usually defined by its opposition to violations of constitutional law, removal of fundamental rights, excessive governmental regulation and income redistribution, open border immigration policies, social liberalism, and reverse discrimination. This opposition is usually either in the name of tradition (conservatism), of freedom and the rights of private individuals, and of pessimism about the benefits of governmental regulation.

Related Topics:
Reverse discrimination - Conservatism

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