I said that when I look at a European country, I see a bunch of parties strung out along a left-right axis. But, actually, I guess I don’t see anything, I just hear people describing the parties that way. Say, a left party L, a center party, C, and a right party R, allowing LC and CR coalitions. But often, when I look closely, they do seem to have exotic platforms that shouldn’t rule out the LR coalition. For example, people were shocked by the British Liberal Democrats forming a coalition with the Tories, because “everyone knew” that they were a left party. (I guess everyone knew that because the Liberals and Social Democrats used to be left-wing, but somewhere along the way the Liberal positions because right-wing.) Similarly “everyone knows” that anti-immigrant parties are right-wing, and that it is completely impossible for them to form coalitions with left-wing parties, but most of them are single-issue parties with little opinion on anything else, certainly not a right-wing positions. (But they can’t form coalitions with anyone because they are anti-establishment.)
And, similarly, it is odd that the Slovak libertarian party is labeled “extreme right-wing” seeming to rule out the possibility of including it in a left coalition giving it control of civil liberties.
And, similarly, it is odd that the Slovak libertarian party is labeled “extreme right-wing” seeming to rule out the possibility of including it in a left coalition giving it control of civil liberties.
Well, in Slovakia “left-wing” means communists, so the civil liberties are a right-wing topic here. The current “left-wing” topic is how we need to hire hundreds of new policemen, to protect us from the immigrant hordes.
I think that the communists in the post-communist countries are psychologically an equivalent of the religious right in the countries that didn’t have communism. That’s another part of what makes speaking about “left” and “right” so confusing.
I said that when I look at a European country, I see a bunch of parties strung out along a left-right axis. But, actually, I guess I don’t see anything, I just hear people describing the parties that way. Say, a left party L, a center party, C, and a right party R, allowing LC and CR coalitions. But often, when I look closely, they do seem to have exotic platforms that shouldn’t rule out the LR coalition. For example, people were shocked by the British Liberal Democrats forming a coalition with the Tories, because “everyone knew” that they were a left party. (I guess everyone knew that because the Liberals and Social Democrats used to be left-wing, but somewhere along the way the Liberal positions because right-wing.) Similarly “everyone knows” that anti-immigrant parties are right-wing, and that it is completely impossible for them to form coalitions with left-wing parties, but most of them are single-issue parties with little opinion on anything else, certainly not a right-wing positions. (But they can’t form coalitions with anyone because they are anti-establishment.)
And, similarly, it is odd that the Slovak libertarian party is labeled “extreme right-wing” seeming to rule out the possibility of including it in a left coalition giving it control of civil liberties.
Well, in Slovakia “left-wing” means communists, so the civil liberties are a right-wing topic here. The current “left-wing” topic is how we need to hire hundreds of new policemen, to protect us from the immigrant hordes.
I think that the communists in the post-communist countries are psychologically an equivalent of the religious right in the countries that didn’t have communism. That’s another part of what makes speaking about “left” and “right” so confusing.
I think the word you need is “statism”—the belief that strong central power is the best. It is shared by e.g. communists and fascists.
Thanks, I know the word, but 99+% people in my country still insist on using “left-wing”. Including the “left-wing” politicians.
Attaching labels is already a part of the political battle.
They are not wrong :-) The left wing tends to more statist than the right wing.