The Right-Wing / Left-Wing Political Graph the World Needs Right Now

The Evolutionary Origin of Politics Leads to a More Accurate Depiction

Unfortunately, we really don’t have a definition of left-wing and right-wing politics that is either adequately comprehensive or especially consistent. This lack is the result of our glaring failure to link the two basic political ideologies of the human race to two of the more prominent features of human nature. Once we understand politics in terms of these two ubiquitous emotions, then we can use this info to create a more useful political depiction of right vs. left that works for all nations.

Oxford English Dictionary defines the left wing as “a person, group, or political party which favours progressive or reformist policies intended to achieve greater social and economic equality.” The OED also notes that it is originally from le côté gauche, French for “the left side,” referring to the seating positions of the 1789 French National Assembly.  

But as the origin of the phrase suggests, this definition takes a Eurocentric view of politics where reformers are always the ones fighting for more government control to establish “greater social and economic equality”—while people on the right focus more on foreign threats as they try to preserve an older laissez-faire, more free-market establishment and are relatively at peace with the inequities that result.

But in socialist countries, this is all catawampus. In Cuba, China, etc., the long-haired reformists—especially those young writers, poets, journalists, professors, and artists who are fighting the system—actually want freer markets and less government control. Opposing these radicals are the stern, wealthy, short-haired rulers in suits—and their militaristic enforcers—who are ruthlessly trying to maintain socialism. But don’t the younger, counter-cultural reformists of all nations share more features with each other than they do with flag-waving, establishment squares—regardless of variations in ideologies?  Of course, they do.

In other words, the current definitions of left-wing and right-wing—and its attendant graphic depiction along a single line—obscure a universal human pattern that helps us better understand the evolutionary origin of politics across the globe. Instead, the definition of left and right should apply to all political systems in all nations and clans. Indeed, the left/right descriptions should even encompass prehistoric and chimpanzee tribes.

And most importantly of all, the standard depiction of the right-left line fails to account for the fact that many people feel the grievances associated with both the right and the left. Indeed, many people even espouse both far-left and far-right beliefs simultaneously. Consider as an example the seemingly mystifying Sanders-Trump voters of 2016, who ended up costing Hillary Clinton the election. If the beliefs of the MAGA-crowd and the Bernie-Bros are really the exact opposite, could so many really favor both sides? I mean, how much cognitive dissonance are we to believe is physically achievable?