What do people mean when they talk about leaning to the left, right or middle in politics?

Question

When people talk about U.S. politics sometimes they talk about leaning to the left, right or in the middle, but what does that mean? What does it mean if someone is to the left, right or in the middle?

Answer 1

Right, more religious (sometimes), but more importantly, give the states and individuals more power over their lives, with less intrusion from the federal government. Read the constitution literally. The right has been hijacked by individuals called "neo-cons", which are like chameleons, and wish to literally spread America all over the world. They do so, by dilutiing the middle class's prosperity, and use that to further countries other than ours. The neocons support illegal immigration, the original republicans do not. Real conservatives also like a strong military, and just wars.

Left, usually younger, usually more educated (but the word is more indoctrinated). See suffering of poor or other minorities, as something the government should have to supply medicine, or care, or money to (welfare). Support the environment, but fall for traps when legislation that "supports the environment" really fills pocket books of companies. They support the federal government to have more and more control over more and more things in your daily life, and your childerens daily lives. I call it the "nanny state". They often, but not always, support illegal immigration. These people are often in teaching positions, and subtly teach the children that this view is the correct one. They also support taxation of businesses and rich people more than the middle and lower class people, so that wealth can be redistributed, but the redistribution often has many politcians pet projects fingers involved, and becomes very inefficient.

The middle, takes good ideas from both sides, and tries to incorporate that into what we call America. The middle does not want America to become a third world country, and often sees the sham of left and right for what it is. The middle (independent) often has no real direction either, because it's constituents don't always agree on all the points. They vote for the lesser evil when it comes time to, or sometimes just don't care. They don't support illegal immigration, and would like to see less stupid legislation passed.

Answer 2

It describes how extreme their political beliefs are, and in which direction.

The left is the liberal side of things - liberals generally want to change things. an extreme left-leaning person wants to change lots of things.

The right is the conservative tendency. They want things to stay the same as they are, or as they were. People on the extreme right are sometimes called reactionary - they want to change everything back to how they were.

The middle is made up of moderates - people who want some change, but not a lot. These fall between the others.

The names come from early political sessions in the legislatures. People with like minds and opinions tended to sit with others that they agreed with. It worked out that the conservatives tended to sit on the right side of the aisle, and the liberals on the left side.

Answer 3

If I am not mistaken...left is considered liberal (Democrat) and right is conservative (Republican)...then there are the moderates and everyone in the middle. Usually lefties are more about the environment, people, policies of social issues, spending a lot of money on fluffy social stuff...and at times we NEED that desperately. Righties are more financially focused, budget conscious, control the economy through taxes and spending leaning more toward running the country like a business than a social gathering. Each has its benefits and weaknesses and each has their good and bad representatives...we're all human.

Answer 4

In today's America:

Left = socialist leaning liberal believe in all powerful centralized government socialist model

Middle = moderates who vote whichever way the political wind is blowing

Right = conservative strict adherence to the Constitutional restrictions on the Federal Government. Most power belongs to the States and people respectively.

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Answer 5

As I was taught in 9th grade civics class, the left is liberal, the middle is moderate, and the right is conservative. The far left is communism and the far right is fascism. When speaking of political parties, the left is the Democrat Party, the middle is the Independent Party, and the right is the Republican Party.

Answer 6

Right: conservative, which NOT all Republicans are. Tend to favor limited government, traditional morals, strong national defense and a market economy. Rush Limbuagh is a good example.

Left: liberal, tend to favor socialism and radical feminism at the expense of individual rights. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are good examples.

Moderate: liberal but not honest enough to admit it. Rudy Giuliani is a good example.

Answer 7

Left is liberal, right is conservative, middle means you don't know what the hell you believe.

Based on the arrangement of the groups in the French legislative bodies during the French Revolution.

Answer 8

The left is more like the democratic party
The right is more like the republican party.
The middle is in between and isn't libertarian like American Pride said it is moderate like I am.

Answer 9

The left is liberal. The right is conservative. The middle is moderate.

Answer 10

Left = liberal (largely democrat)
Right = conservative (largely republican)
Middle = moderate (democrat, republican or independent)

All liberals are not democrats, all conservatives are not republicans. Moderates can be either or neither.