LEFT—RIGHT—MIDDLE What are They?

IDEOLOGY: “a more or less coherent set of ideas that provides the basis for organized political action— whether that is intended to preserve, modify, or overthrow the existing system of power” (George Dumitrache—Teacher—St. Peter’s College, Auckland)…..

The LEFT—RIGHT political spectrum (categorizing political ideas and ideologies and relating then one-to-another) This is a linear spectrum that locates political beliefs at some point between two extremes, the “far left” and the “far right.” Terms such as “left wing” or “right wing” are widely used to sum up a person’s political beliefs or position, and groups of people are referred to “collectively” as “the Left, “the Right,” and “the Centre.” It seems there is fairly broad agreement about where different ideas and ideologies are located along this spectrum! However.

More and more these days, I keep hearing the terms of “RIGHT” and “MIDDLE” and “LEFT.” It seems to me that different people and publications ascribe differing characteristics to each of these terms as applied to individual PEOPLE and GROUPS. So, I did a little “research,” using various internet sites and came up with the following generic/general definitions. See what you think!

I first found the following premise: “Suddenly, we have a more defined ‘LEFT’ and ‘RIGHT,’ because both sides think that the ‘MIDDLE’ (the Establishment, the Powers That Be) are “messing things up and not doing good jobs.”

I second found that Robert M. MacIver, a Scottish sociologist, wrote in 1947 that “the RIGHT is always the party sector associated with the interests of the ‘upper’ or ‘dominant’ classes; the LEFT is always the sector expressive of the ‘lower’ economic or social classes; the CENTRE is that of the MIDDLE classes.”

Wikipedia, which I do not recommend for “scholarly” publication but rather for thought-provoking discourse or just casual information gathering, gives its definition of “left-right” as a system of classifying political positions, ideologies, and parties based on issues of social equality and social hierarchy. In addition to positions on the Left and on the Right, there are Centrists, or Moderates, who are not strongly aligned with either extreme! There are those who view the “left-right” political spectrum as overly simplistic, and who reject this method of classifying political stands, suggesting instead some other system, such as a two-dimensional rather than a one-dimensional de scription. On this type of political spectrum, left and right-wing politics are often presented as opposed, even though a particular individual or group may take a left-wing stand on one issue and a right-wing stance on another one! Then again, some stances may “overlap” and be considered “either wing,” depending upon the “ideology.”

Simply put, LEFT indicates LIBERAL or DEMOCRAT; CENTER indicates MODERATE, closest to LIBERTARIAN; RIGHT indicates CONSERVATIVE or REPUBLICAN. (suggested by Yahoo)

And, the LEFT believes that the government’s role should be the strongest guide, while the RIGHT believes individual rights and civil liberties should be dominant. (notesread.com) Are you ready for one final stab at explanation and comprehension? Well, here we go! FAVORING Liberty, Social Equality, Democracy, Liberalism, and the “Collective” equally (and all social, economic, and political terms that relate to this) is LEFT WING. FAVORING Authority, Social Hierarchy, Monarchy/Aristocracy, order, tradition, Conservatism, and Individuals unequally (and all social, economic, and political terms that relate to this) is RIGHT WING.

And Ideologies that FAVOR a balance between the two, are taking a CENTER WING stance. (factmyth. com)

Now that you have this all in your brains, you are ready to navigate the twists and turns of the “Newscast Rivers.”