Greetings, the following isn’t aimed at recruiting persons for political parties or trying to influence their political beliefs. This is purely for educating TEENS about different political stances.

Politics is everywhere! We just can’t run from it. It’s embarrassing when you can’t laugh at a political joke or follow the conversation because of ignorance! Politics isn’t just corruption and embezzlement. Yes, that’s usually what is highlighted but it has some good and interesting features! Three positive terms of politics that will build your understanding are: Left-Wing    This refers not to planes, as one would immediately think but rather it addresses a section of the political spectrum. People ‘on the left’ are considered ‘Liberals’. These people usually support things like social equality and egalitarianism (the belief that everyone is equal). Think of leftists or liberals like those students who question every math equation the teacher teaches. Even though they understand and accept it, they try to find other ways to solve the problem without sticking to the original way. These are the people who support raising taxes paid by the financially wealthy to help fund essential services offered by hospitals and welfare programmes. Liberals are huge supporters of equality regardless of religion, race or creed and they are strong supporters of topical issues such as legalising abortion.  Personally, I don’t subscribe to ‘left’ is the best! Liberals tend to be against the government’s policy on not respecting private property rights. Essentially, they seem to subscribe to the policy that if the government needs your land, they should have the power to remove you, with compensation, of course, irrespective of your desire to hold on to your property. Also, they are for the legalisation of physician-assisted suicide. This means that if you wish to die because of an ongoing illness, you have all rights to. The ‘leftist’ view clearly suggests that man should live according to the principles of a selected few whose motives are questionable. Right -Wing  Counterparts to the leftists are the right-wings. These are people more popularly known as ‘Conservatives’. These people usually support social or economic conservatism or as the name suggests, they are the keepers of ‘traditions’ and fully support most traditional practices. Ever heard the saying “Ben di tree while it young, cause when it old it a go bruk?” The interpretation is simply that one should exert discipline while a child is young and trainable because instilling discipline at a later age will prove difficult. This is only one of the many traditional adages conservatives believe. They believe in traditional upbringing and values such as the death penalty or being principled. To be principled in this context means to be respectful to everyone but especially those above us in the social hierarchy. I believe that people on the right are a little blinded by their traditional views as many have become archaic in this 21st Century world. One such example would be their stance on the issue of legalising abortion. In the days of old, the stance they hold would have merit as people tended to get married before bringing a child into the world. Today, society is much more promiscuous and unplanned pregnancy has been steadily increasing. Additionally, with the rise in crime, many pregnancies are results of criminal behaviours such as rape, incest and carnal abuse. There are also instances where persons are pregnant and become at high risk. The only solution to ensuring the mothers life is an abortion. Conservatives are against abortion rights because they believe in the rights of the unborn foetus. They are also against climate change because they believe that making laws to reduce emissions will do nothing to aid the environment. You may be wondering why both terms have ‘wings’ in their names? An explanation may be found in history, specifically, during the French Revolution where politicians in parliament were seated according to their beliefs! Those who sat to the right of the Chair of the parliamentary president ( or Speaker of the House) were in support of the institutions of the monarchist Old Regime and those to the left weren’t. 

Moderates 

Usually, when we disagree with someone, we try to find some middle ground. It’s the same case in politics. Moderates or Centrists, as the name suggests, neither practice extreme left-wing or right-wing politics. In simpler terms, they hold to a little of both ideologies. These people tend to be aligned based on a given issue. For example, for the legalisation of abortion, a moderate might stand with the Liberals. However,  for the increase of taxes for the rich, they might stand with the Conservatives.  So no, Centrists aren’t confused; they just lean to certain beliefs for both groups based on their individual assessment of the policy being debated.

What is great though, regardless of being left, right or centre,  all aim for the same goal which is to make the world a better place for everyone!

— Akkeem Polack