The Left-Right Political Spectrum Is Bogus

[AProudLefty]

The Left-Right Political Spectrum Is Bogus
It might be a division between social identities based on class or region or race or gender, but it is certainly not a clash between different ideas.

Americans are more divided than ever by political ideology, as a recent Pew Research Center study makes clear. About a third of people on each side say of the other that its proponents "are so misguided that they threaten the nation’s well-being." They're both right about that.

If you notice, the article is from June 20, 2014.

The arrangement of positions along the left-right axis—progressive to reactionary, or conservative to liberal, communist to fascist, socialist to capitalist, or Democrat to Republican—is conceptually confused, ideologically tendentious, and historically contingent. And any position anywhere along it is infested by contradictions.

Transcending partisanship is going to require what seems beyond the capacities of either side: thinking about the left-right spectrum rather than from it. The terminology arose in revolutionary France in 1789, where it referred to the seating of royalists and anti-royalists in the Assembly. It is plausible to think of the concept (if not the vocabulary) as emerging in pre-revolutionary figures such as Rousseau and Burke. The Oxford English Dictionary’s first citation of “left” and “right” used in the political sense in English is in Thomas Carlyle's French Revolution in 1837, but the idea only crystallized fully with the emergence and under the aegis of Marxism, in the middle of the 19th century. It was not fully current in English-speaking countries until early in the 20th.

More at https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/06/the-left-right-political-spectrum-is-bogus/373139/

 

[BidenPresident]

The Left-Right Political Spectrum Is Bogus
It might be a division between social identities based on class or region or race or gender, but it is certainly not a clash between different ideas.

Americans are more divided than ever by political ideology, as a recent Pew Research Center study makes clear. About a third of people on each side say of the other that its proponents "are so misguided that they threaten the nation’s well-being." They're both right about that.

If you notice, the article is from June 20, 2014.

The arrangement of positions along the left-right axis—progressive to reactionary, or conservative to liberal, communist to fascist, socialist to capitalist, or Democrat to Republican—is conceptually confused, ideologically tendentious, and historically contingent. And any position anywhere along it is infested by contradictions.

Transcending partisanship is going to require what seems beyond the capacities of either side: thinking about the left-right spectrum rather than from it. The terminology arose in revolutionary France in 1789, where it referred to the seating of royalists and anti-royalists in the Assembly. It is plausible to think of the concept (if not the vocabulary) as emerging in pre-revolutionary figures such as Rousseau and Burke. The Oxford English Dictionary’s first citation of “left” and “right” used in the political sense in English is in Thomas Carlyle's French Revolution in 1837, but the idea only crystallized fully with the emergence and under the aegis of Marxism, in the middle of the 19th century. It was not fully current in English-speaking countries until early in the 20th.

More at https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/06/the-left-right-political-spectrum-is-bogus/373139/

Left right spectrum seems accurate.

On the right, you have Trump supporters.

On the left you have Biden supporters.

Very different ideas about government.

 

[Hawkeye10]

It is out of date.....the only splits that matter at the moment are Woke/Not Woke....Rational/Irrational.....Thinking/Feeling....Liberal/Illiberal.

 

[AProudLefty]

It is out of date.....the only splits that matter at the moment are Woke/Not Woke....Rational/Irrational.....Thinking/Feeling....Liberal/Illiberal.

"Progressive to reactionary".
Thinking about the left-right spectrum rather than from it".
"The idea only crystallized fully with the emergence and under the aegis of Marxism".

 

[goat]

Left right spectrum seems accurate.

On the right, you have Trump supporters.

On the left you have Biden supporters.

Very different ideas about government.

The left is an oligarchy and the right is an autocracy. Not much of a choice for voters.

 

[Jack]

Issues:

'Climate Change' is real/'Climate Change' is a Chinese Hoax.

'Immigration' is great/ 'We don't need no more fucking people'.

'Health Care' should be available to everyone/No, we should monetize it'.

'Crony Capitalism' is bad/China has a 'China First' policy, they promote certain aspects of their Economy.

'Christian Sharia Law' is what America needs/Uh ... not really.

Everyone needs to go to College/Public Trade Schools may be a better option.

Polygamous*Marriage/Monogamous Marriage.