Left Wing/Right Wing

الغراب الأسود · 13 - 5 - 2011, 10:03 PM

Left Wing/Right Wing

Politics can be characterized as liberal (as the Democratic party in the USA), middle of the road, or conservative (as the Republican party in the USA). These are moderate parties or viewpoints on a wider spectrum that ranges from communist (or far left wing) to fascist (or far right wing). The expressions left wing and right wing come from the British Parliament in the 1700's, when the Liberal (progressive) party sat on the left and the Tory (conservative) party sat on the right.

Of course, liberal parties and people may have some conservative ideas, and vice versa. For example, racism is traditionally a conservative doctrine which relatively few conservatives (except for far right Nazis) would admit to today. The words "fascist" or "fascism" come from the symbol of the Fascist party in Italy before WWII, an ax in a bundle of sticks, which was called a fasces.