The Political Spectrum is a model which expresses the range of differences in people's opinions on political issues, usually expressed in relation to the polar extremes of Left and Right.

These terms not only refer to the directions from the center on the spectral line itself, but also have their roots in the French Revolutionary era. They referred originally to the seating arrangement in the Legislative Assembly of France in 1791, where the liberal members of the Estates General were seated to the Left and the conservative members to the Right.

Eventually, this traditional political spectrum came to be defined along an axis with socialism and communism on the Far Left and nationalism and Fascism on the Far Right, with social liberalism in the Center. The Center is THE place to be going into the 2008 elections, which is already under way.

Differences in the use of these terms are common, especially when given other political and economic systems around the world. Another alternative spectrum has been offered by the conservative American Federalist Journal which empasizes the degree of political control. Hence, the totalitarian systems of Communist China (a Command Economy with a Totalitarian State Party and Nazi Germany may be at one extreme and anarchism (no government) on the other.

For alternative spectra consider the list offered in Wikipedia. Modern American political parties tend to blur the distinctions between Left and Right on a variety of issues. Consider the following interpretations from Wikipedia, p. 3:

Multiplicity of interpretation of the left-right axis

• Equality of outcome (left) versus equality of opportunity (right).
• Redistribution of wealth and income (left), or acceptance of inequalities as a result of the free market (right).
• Whether the government's policy on the economy should be interventionist (left) or laissez-faire (right).
• Support for widened lifestyle choices (left), or support for traditional values (right).
• Whether human nature is more malleable (left) or intrinsic (right).
• Whether the government should promote secularism (left) or religious morality (right).
• Collectivism (left) versus individualism (right).
• Support for internationalism (left), or national interest (right).Support for cultural and economic autonomy (left), or support for globalization (right)

For fun, try out the political spectrum quizzes taken from the Internet. Do the results confirm or distort the spectral terms with which you might feel comfortable?