Stitcher
Alexylva Paradox
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Posted - 2014.02.07 17:15:00 -
[3] - Quote
Scherezad wrote:I have never been able to understand the terms "Left" and "Right" when applied to politics. What is it supposed to mean to be a "leftist", and why is it a bad thing? I guess I'm too used to the States' triaxial political terms. Even those are too simplistic, though! I can't understand how one could boil down the entire cluster of political ideologies into "left" or "right".
They're just conventions, exactly like referring to electrons as having negative charge - it would be equally valid to describe them as having a white charge, or a north charge.
"Left" in Federation terms refers to a social philosophy that embraces liberalism, difference, lack of pesonal restriction and the free flow of data, but also social policies such as environmental protection legislation, minimum wages, public-funded healthcare and government-owned mass transit networks. Economically, left-wing governments are inclined to tax heavily so as to procure the funds needed for their ambitious social programs. Extreme left-wing governments will nationalise corporations, industry and infrastructure and regulate them directly under a not-for-profit model. historically, this approach has only very rarely failed to result in economic misery for the nation in question,
"Right" refers to socially conservative philosophies involving the preservation of the perceived status quo. Very big on ingroup, respect for authority figures and purity of mind and body. Economic right-wingers tend to favour deregulation, low-if-any government involvement in business and industry, and minimal social structures, although they also tend to be in favour of a large military because of the social attitude. Extreme right-wing governments tend to be nepotistic, paranoid and stratified, with a small minority controlling most of the personal power and wealth, a precarious and impotent middle class and the poor majority largely being placated or even manipulated into supporting the status quo via religion, undereducation, entertainment and jingoism.
Both wings can come to closely resemble one another when they approach their most extreme expressions.
An in-character blog and a video:
http://verinsjournal.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu1mbsgo738
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