Left-right political spectrum

The left–right political spectrum (also called a "uniform linear political spectrum") is a system of classifying political positions, ideologies and parties from social equality on the left to social hierarchy on the right. The intermediate stance is called centrism and a person with such a position is a moderate or centrist. On this type of political spectrum, left-wing politics and right-wing politics are often presented as opposed, although a particular individual or group may take a left-wing stance on one matter and a right-wing stance on another; and some stances may overlap and be considered either left-wing or right-wing depending on the ideology. In France, where the terms originated, the left has been called "the party of movement" and the right "the party of order".

In the United States, a 2005 Harris Poll of American adults showed that the terms left wing and right wing were less familiar to Americans than the terms "liberal" or "conservative".

Left-wing politics
Peter Berkowitz writes that in the U.S., the term liberal "commonly denotes the left wing of the Democratic Party" and has become synonymous with the word progressive.

Michael Kazin writes that the left is traditionally defined as the social movement or movements "that are dedicated to a radically egalitarian transformation of society" and suggests that many in the left in the United States who met that definition called themselves by various other terms. Kazin writes that American leftists "married the ideal of social equality to the principle of personal freedom" and that contributed to the development of important features of modern American society. He asserts that this includes"'the advocacy of equal opportunity and equal treatment for women, ethnic and racial minorities, and homosexuals; the celebration of sexual pleasure unconnected to reproduction; a media and educational system sensitive to racial and gender oppression and which celebrates what we now call multiculturalism; and the popularity of novels and films with a strongly altruistic and anti-authoritarian point of view.' "A variety of distinct left-wing movements existed in American history, including labor movements, the Farmer-Labor movement, various democratic socialist and socialist movements, pacifist movements, and the New Left. 


 * Wikipedia links
 * Wikipedia:Equal opportunity
 * Wikipedia:Multiculturalism
 * Wikipedia:Anti-authoritarian
 * Labor history of the United States
 * Farmer-Labor movement
 * History of the socialist movement in the United States
 * New Left.

Right-wing politics
Right-wing politics embraces the view that certain social orders and hierarchies are inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable,  typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, or tradition. Hierarchy and inequality may be seen as natural results of traditional social differences or competition in market economies. The term right-wing can generally refer to "the conservative or reactionary section of a political party or system".

In Europe, economic conservatives are usually considered liberal, and the Right includes nationalists, idealists, nativist opponents of immigration, religious conservatives, and, historically, a significant number of right-wing movements with anti-capitalist sentiments, including conservatives and fascists, who opposed contemporary capitalism because they believed that selfishness and excessive materialism were inherent in it. In the United States, the Right includes both economic and social conservatives.


 * Social order
 * Social stratification
 * Tradition


 * Nationalism
 * Idealism
 * Nativism (politics)
 * Opposition to immigration
 * Conservatism
 * Fiscal conservatism
 * Social conservatism
 * Fascism (note: 20th century fascism opposed capitalism and liberalism.  )

Interactions with voting methods
Duncan Black proved that when the candidates distributed along a line and the voters prefer candidates closer to them, then there always exists a Condorcet winner and this candidate is closest to the median voter. In that median voter sense, all Condorcet methods pick the optimal candidate.

However, other voting methods may be biased towards the center, like the Borda count, or towards the edges of the spectrum, like Plurality voting and instant-runoff voting. A bias away from the center leads to center squeeze which can often be demonstrated by the left, center, right election scenario.

Links

 * A Conflict of Visions