My long time friend and fellow blogger, Brad Hightower, has started a new blog called The Post-Partisan. His first post answers the questions, What is Left Wing and Right Wing (and Center Left and Center Right)? I found his post concise, smart, and informative.
So here are what I believe are the criteria that constitute balanced definitions of the terms left, right, and center. In this discussion it is important to remember that these terms refer to actual historical realities. The extreme left wing is used to refer to communism, and the extreme right is used to describe fascism or military dictatorships. Therefore, the criteria we use to define these terms need to accurately reflect these forms of political economic societies.
Fair warning! Brad is a devout Christian and former pastor. However, after five years of daily conversations with the man, I can honestly say I wish Christians were more like him (as opposed to say... Ken Ham, or James Dobson).
