Left and Right wings?

I think a lot of it is ethnic up bringing

 

I'm thinking is a misconception spread by american media.

I'm an Imperialistic Libertarian with socialist leanings and also a strong belief in economic darwinism.

 

I'm not an expert on the whole subject but I can give you an idea on what the Christian left and right believe:

Lefties:

Righties (I'm just going to post a link for this article cause it's easier):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_right

Also, what's left and right varies from country to country.

A book I'm currently reading says that lefties tend to live in urban areas, while righties tend to live in rural areas.

 

It comes down to distribution of power. Right wingers believe only a select few should have the power and left wingers believe that the power should be distributed equally. If you go too far to either end then you end up with an oligarchy, in which the power is distributed to a small group of people.

Wealth and Military are the tools by which power is distributed within a society so the question ultimately comes down to how these tools are distributed. In America, the military is controlled by the state, so the question of how wealth should be distributed is what causes the divide of the wings.

The economic system embraced by right wingers is generally capitalism, which advocate the idea of the private ownership of wealth. Whereas the economic system of the left wingers is generally socialism, which advocates the state ownership of wealth. The general belief of right wingers is that capitalism will allow the brightest, strongest, hardest working, and ultimately most deserving people to earn the most wealth and thus to have most of the power. The general belief of left wingers is that socialism will distribute wealth equally and according to what people need and thus the power will be distributed equally. Both economic systems ultimately fail. Socialism fails because people need incentive to work, and if there is no disparity in wealth, then nobody will have any reason to work because they know what they need will be handed to them. Capitalism fails because eventually a select few people have most of the wealth and they set up the rules so that they can keep their wealth and nobody else can get up to their level.

Ethics and social attitudes can vary greatly as a result of these different perceptions. Right wingers generally believe in tradition because of inheritance. Inheritance allows one generation to share its wealth with the next generation, and so by enforcing the status quo, keeping the social norms the same, and generally keeping the same customs, those who "deserve" to be wealthy will continue to be wealthy Left wingers generally believe in progress because of poverty. Poverty means that people may have little or nothing despite their efforts, certain groups of people may be oppressed, and these "disadvantaged" people can never rise up. Unfortanely, the wealthy didn't always earn their wealth and the impoverished aren't always disadvantaged. Sometimes the wealthy are corrupt CEOs who have stolen from their stockholders and sometimes the impoverished are people who live off of welfare because they simply have no desire to work. So realistically speaking, neither group is totally correct but right wingers will staunchly argue that they should get to keep what the earn and left wingers will staunchly argue that people should get what they need.

Religion is usually interpreted differently as a result of these political attitudes. Right wingers generally embrace a fire and brimstone interpretation and left wingers generally embrace a love and unity interpretation.

 

once again... Right and Left wings are not valid political definitions.

What wing am I?

 

By American classification?

A moderate.

 

And by REAL classifications?

 

Insane.

 

You stepped right into that one, Shai...

Ahem.

Carry on with your discussion.

 

Not really insane, just very vocal.

It might come as a surprize, but I seem to agree with Shai's political opinions more often then with others on the board. But I am very very left-wing.

 

Satya, I enjoyed reading your views on this. Seriously enjoyed up to the last paragraph. You went to great detail explaining different viewpoints in the political environ. I liked your use of the word "generally" and felt the post well thought out. I may not agree with everything, but feel it mostly in line. I wish you would attempt to explain the religious side, using the politic, as well with as much attention to detail and absence of negativity. I might find that interesting, too.

 

Whats so funny?! You should be happy :tongue1:

 

I was laughing at the insane bit

 

I think you were basking in it with joy. I, too, enjoyed it.