Welcome to 'Politics 101' - a mini crash course in politics.We will encompass multiple aspects within the field of politics from common terminologies to full-blown feuds, hopefully in an informative and humorous way.
To understand anything about politics one must first comprehend the two (sometimes three) aspects of politics and what makes a certain policy "acceptable" or good. Let us look at the players we broadly divide every political person into three categories, Leftists, Rightists and Centrists.
The Leftist (also called libtards and anti-national)
Leftists are also known as the progressive front, the idea of the left and the right comes from the way the radicals and the conservatives sat in the french assembly post the revolution. The people who sat on the left side were called, as the name suggests leftists. Leftists usually believe in the idea of reform, equality for all, the abolishment of things such as class systems, women's rights, etc. Leftists also favour internationalism over the idea of nationalism strongly in some cases. (This does not mean they are anti-national). Some famous ideas which have come into existence from the right are the ideas of socialism, communism, libertarianism, etc.
Historically speaking the left has supported ideas of workers' rights, unions/ congregations for those who can't fend off for themselves, women's suffragette movement, etc.
Now let us look at the three variations of the left :
The Centre Left - They are moderates, somewhat share similar sentiments with the right, try to make reforms through slow and sustained causes and policies. A good example of this would be The Indian National Congress, while they hold the ideas of nationalism and slow reform in great regard, they still agree that reform is inherently required and it needs to be there sooner rather than later.
The Left - This is the category most liberals fit in, most of them believe in the ideas of socialism, equality for all, understand the need for radical measures at times, etc. An example of this would be Sweden's Social Democrats, a system of capitalistic socialism but with a strong system in place for helping those in trouble they fit perfectly into this category.
The Far-Left/ Radical Left - People in this category find a huge affinity for the ideas of communism, internationalism and that reform is required in any system, they also strongly fight for reform. A good example of this would be seen in the USSR with the communist party, who proliferated state atheism, made controlled market systems, etc.
The Rightists
Rightists are also known as the conservative front, these people have an affinity for the ideas of tradition, duty, order, hierarchy, nationalism, etc. Famous ideas which have come from the right are those of mercantilism, free-market systems, etc. Historically speaking multiple independence movements such as those of the unification of Germany, Italy, the Indian Independence, The Irish Independence etc see high levels of right-winged leaders being employed for this struggle.
Now let us look at the three variations of the right :
The Centre-Right: They are moderates, somewhat share similar sentiments with the left, try to make reforms through slow and sustained causes and policies. A good example of this would be The British Conservative Party, while they hold the ideas of nationalism and slow reform in great regard, they still agree that reform is inherently required and it needs to e=be there sooner rather than later.
The Right: This is the category most conservatives fit in, most of them believe in the ideas of order, social hierarchy, understand the need for radical measures at times, etc. An example of this would be The BJP, a party focusing mainly on inherent good "Hindu" values and protection of culture and tradition, with a few modifications required to make it suitable for this day and age.
The Far-Right/ Radical Right: People in this category find a huge affinity for the ideas of order, nationalism and that reform is not required at all, and in the rare cases it is it must happen slowly, they also strongly fight against reform. A very prominent example we see is of Nazi Germany, I don't think I need to elaborate on that.
What makes a policy acceptable if we see so many views within a system?
A brilliant indicator of this is the Overton window, the Overton window shows you what policies are acceptable to the masses by showing previous activities which the state has indulged in before.
The Overton window tries to in theory balance ideas from both sides of the spectrum and tries to find a middle ground for reform, which is acceptable to both sides. We do see a paradigm shift in the Overton window though, we see that it's shifting more and more to the right and this is causing distress to many, for a right indented Overton window would lead to drastic changes which focus on isolationism, chauvinism to a degree where it causes trouble and maybe in extreme cases massive purges of minorities. The last time we saw the window drastically shift to the right we saw minorities persecuted, fascists leaders coming to power and with that, of course, we saw war.
I hope this basic guide was somewhat helpful if you wish to discuss any aspect of this with us just send us an email @theAlphaTheory.info@gmail.com or DM us on Instagram @the_AlphaTheory.
Till Next Time,
The Alpha Theory
~Aadi Sardesai