Let's Get our Political Terms Straight

[DJ FC]

Politics has a way of really heating people up, but unfortunately many of us (myself included) throw around political terms without really knowing what we're saying. Things like "Liberal" "Conservative" "Right/Left Wing" "Progressive" "Reactionary" "Facist" "Socialist" "Capitalist" and "Communist"

Let's start with the one I believe to be mis-used the most: Right vs Left wing.

This concept originated in the French revolution as a means to describe those who supported the monarchy vs those who opposed it. The inhearant difference between right and left wing is belief in equality. The right wing believed in the traditional social order where some found themselves to be a higher social class. In some cases this was hereditary (the royal family, for example) but others it was from social mobility. Some on the right wing believe that mankind should be able to become disequal through their own social movement. The left-wing, on the otherhand, fights for the equality of all men.

"Liberal" These days "liberal" is more associated with social liberalism than classic liberalism. Social liberalism is the belief that the state provides a service which cannot be replicated in the free market. Proponents of social liberalism argue that the forces of equality and freedom are not necessarily at odds with each other. Proponents of social liberalism are likely to support Saltwater Economics: Saltwater and freshwater economics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Classical liberalism" on the otherhand argues that there is a dichotomy between equality and freedom and that any action to add to one necessarily takes away from the other. Classical liberalism generally ignores contributions of the government, instead focusing on freedoms of the individual and the belief in uninhibited marketplaces. Proponents of classical liberalism (or the very related Libertarianism) support Freshwater Economics: Saltwater and freshwater economics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Conservatism" is a philosophy that supports minimal change in society and aims to promote already established social norms. Conservatism can often be thought of as Reactionary. It is often mixed in with Laissez-faire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia but the two are really very different concepts.

"Progressivism" means very little and the context is more important than the term itself.

"Facism" is a political ideology practiced by Right-Wing Nationalists. The goal of most facists is to unify a country around a set of political ideals and for the state to have a heavy involvement in the economy of that country. The term comes from a ceremonial symbol of Roman military power and it makes a good deal of sense to compare most facist regimes to ancient Rome: the Italian, Spanish, and German facists all hoped to have a strong, unified Nationalistic power in the way ancient Rome had. Facism is often incorrectly used in a derogatory manner. That's not to say Facists are good people.

"Capitalism" in general means the private ownership of the means of production. Although an important aspect of modern capitalism is the corporation - an entity which is not a person but is treated as such in the courts.

"Communism" Pretty simple one: the means of production are state-owned.

I'm sure I haven't gotten all of these 100% correct, but I would like to hear your oppinions. Maybe I'm the only one who gets really bugged when people assume right wing = conservative = Republican and left wing = progressive = Democrat. I think it's a damn shame that so many people think it's all Left or Right.

[Mr. Blonde]

tl;dr


Ironically also the media's attitude towards Ron Paul.

[ninjaface]

I read every other word. It made no fucking sense.

[Beebs]

Also it's possible to hold "left wing" and "right wing" views at once without being "centrist"