The Coordinates of Class…

I don't have a lot to add to McCain’s housing crisis, except to say that I think I may finally understand the origin of the terms “right” and “left” for the distinction between authoritarians and egalitarians (Republicans and Democrats). It comes from applied mathematics.

The standard – when making graphs that plot one value against another – is for the abscissa to increase from left to right. The left side has the low values, and the right has the high values. Add “economic” to “value” and you totally explain any metaphors associating horizontal direction to politics. On the left, one house; on the right, 7 to 12 houses. On the left, a kid on scholarship at the top of his class; on the right, the legacy son of an admiral at the bottom of his class. On the left a senator who gets very little from corporate lobbyists; on the right a senator who depends on them.

Any way you want to graph it Obama’s on the left, and McCain’s on the right. Whatever they night want you to think – just do the math.

- jack*

Comments

[01d55]

I can't help but notice that this graph puts Obama and McCain to the right of you, me, and damn near everyone else ever. Seems correct to me.

But because I'm pedantic, it's actually a historical coincidence thing. Way back in the French Revolution, the first post-monarchy legislature sat a pack of moderate conservatives on the right side and a party of radicals on the left. They all started using right and left as shorthand for their respective political positions and that took root in the minds of pretty much everyone in Europe, from which point it seeped into the minds of the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-Right_politics

[jack*]

Nice reference Rich. Funny how historical accidents can inspire other metaphors.