Political Spectrum and Ideologies: Leftists or Rightists?
I believe that most of you have heard of the terms ‘left-wing’ and ‘right-wing’ from the news - but do you know what they mean? They are classified by the political spectrum and doctrines. Scottish sociologist Robert M. MacIver noted in The Web of Government (1947) that the right is always the party sector associated with the interests of the upper or dominant classes, while the left is the sector expressive of the lower economic or social classes, and the centre is that of the middle classes. Historically this criterion seems acceptable: The conservative right has defended entrenched prerogatives, privileges and powers; the left has attacked them. The right has been more favourable to the aristocratic position, to the hierarchy of birth or wealth; the left has fought for the equalization of advantage or opportunity for the claims of the less advantaged. Defence and attack have met, under democratic conditions, not in the name of class but the name of principle; but the opposing principles have broadly corresponded to the interests of the different classes.
Overview
Generally speaking, leftists hold a more open-minded stance while rightists hold a more conservative stance. Left-wing politics supports socialism, social equality and egalitarianism, often in the critique of social hierarchy. Right-wing politics embraces the view that certain social orders and hierarchies are inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, or tradition. In the United States, the Democrats are the leftist while the Republicans are rightists. For instance, leftists are pro-LGBTQIA+, support racial equality and free trade. Rightists are anti-LGBTQIA+, embrace white supremacy and economic protectionism. Nonetheless, there are more than ‘left’ and ‘right’ - there are more aspects of the different governments that are usually mentioned. For example, the leftist governments are described as ‘liberal’ or ‘socialist’ while the rightist governments are described as ‘conservative’.
What do mild left-wing people do or think?
In the United States, the left-wing Democratic Party has been focusing on combating terrorism while protecting human rights, expanding access to healthcare, labour rights, and environmental protection. On social issues, it advocates campaign finance reform, LGBT rights, criminal justice, immigration reform, stricter gun laws, abortion rights, and the legalization of marijuana. Under the Obama presidency, the party moved forward reforms including an economic stimulus package, the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act, and the Affordable Care Act. Democrats were extremely critical of President Trump, particularly his policies on immigration, healthcare, and abortion, as well as his response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the United Kingdom, the Labour Party, the major left-wing party, has a role for the state in the creation of economic prosperity and the provision of social services. The introduction of the National Minimum Wage and the New Deal meant more jobs paying a decent wage, while devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland put power in people’s hands, though peace came to these areas through the landmark Good Friday Agreement.
What do mild right-wing people do/think?
In the United States, the Republican Party has been working on issues in different aspects. To simplify matters, only the social aspect will be mentioned. Republicans support gun ownership rights and oppose laws regulating guns. Party members are twice more likely to own a gun than Democrats. They oppose the legalisation of drugs especially marijuana, though now the opposition towards the legalisation of marijuana has softened over time. Furthermore, they used to oppose same-sex marriage strictly. However, public opinion on this issue within the party has been changing. Following his election as president in 2016, Donald Trump stated that he had no objection to same-sex marriage. In office, Trump was the first sitting Republican president to recognize LGBT Pride Month.
In the United Kingdom, the Conservative Party has been focusing on various issues. They have had similar plans and policies made with Republican Party in the United States. As time goes by, the Conservative Party introduced equal marriage rights for LGBTQIA+ individuals in 2010 can be said to have represented a shift away from social conservatism, though the extent to which this policy truly represented a more liberal Conservative party has been challenged.
Right-wing parties are conservative. Nonetheless, to gain support from people and to maintain their power in their nations, changes are attempted to equalise resources among every race and sex. Especially, for now, more conservative groups support same-sex marriage as the rights of LGBTQIA+ are advocated more often.
The above are some examples of mild leftists and rightists. We should also learn from some extreme positions from a political spectrum. Communists are also leftists, like the Democrats but they are considered as far-left, in which they adopt authoritarian rule while Fascists are also rightist, like the Republicans but they are placed far-right within the political spectrum.
Communism
Introduced by Karl Marx, an economist, it was first adopted by The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics after the October Revolution in 1917, then China and other countries such as the Soviet Satellites. This ideology embraces the value of equalitarianism and they believe that the proletariat should be against the wealthy upper class. Therefore, the economy is planned by central government authority and organized along with a top-down administration where decisions regarding production output requirements and investments are decided by planners from the top, or near the top, of the chain of command. For instance, several 5-year plans were implemented to achieve different economic growth goals. Nevertheless, the Soviet leaders used brutal means to govern the USSR. They oppressed oppositionists. The Soviet economy also depreciated during the Cold War. Thus, this was one of the reasons leading to the collapse of the USSR. This made the ideology and the USSR malicious and most people now and then believe that this is a failed economy and political model.
Fascism
It was adopted by Italy during the post-World War 1 period to World War 2. They believed that freedom and liberalism were obsolete after a series of peace conferences. As a result, dictatorial rule, known as fascism was adopted as the ruling ideology. This right-wing ideology believes that women and men have separate roles and men are always more superior than women. Mussolini perceived women's primary role as child-bearers and men as warriors, once saying: "War is to man what maternity is to the woman". This implies that there is a sexual hierarchy in fascist states. Moreover, unlike communists, fascists do not fight for equality among all the social classes. It opposed class conflict and egalitarianism. Fascism is considered capitalist as this ideology supports private property rights except for the groups it persecuted, and the profit motive of capitalism as they believed that they were beneficial to the economic development of a nation. However, this far-right ideology promoted totalitarianism to oppress the oppositionists. Spying activities by secret police were commonly seen. Censorship was imposed everywhere. The highly controlling government resulted in absolute obedience from the people. The idea of advocating ‘absolute power to the head of the state’ makes fascism a right-wing ideology.
To conclude, there is no right or wrong to support a certain political ideology since there are always benefits and limitations in it and it is unavoidable. Instead of blaming them or hating them for their actions, we should try to understand governments holding different political ideologies. We should also learn from them to avoid history repeating itself.
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