If we’re using a linear spectrum of left to right, how far left am I? I would consider myself on the left end of politics and was thinking of joining the Green Party in the U.S.
Here are some of the things I believe in:
Homeless people should get free housing. If I were in charge, they would live in shelters or big buildings like hotels.
Rights for all!
We should make countries better for all and not just go along with whatever the politician says, specifically where I live in the United States. Real patriotism is trying to make a better, for example, United States for everyone and not just going along with whatever our President says and defending his corrupt ideas.
Climate change is a real issue that needs to be taken care of.
LGBTQ+ people deserve representation completely and everyone should be free of discrimination.
Immigration is what shapes the United States (I use a lot of American examples because that’s where I live, sorry!) and they should not be tortured, deported, discriminated against, anything. It should be a free country and the borders should be less strict.
Weapons should be banned and crime should somehow become a very rare thing to deal with.
I don’t think it’s helpful to think in terms of left and right. That presumes that each side is roughly a mirror analogue of the other.
Think in terms of forward and backward. Will your ideas and political leanings push society forward? Will you be making the world better than you found it? Or are you trying to resist change, fighting against progress because the status quo, or the recent past, benefits you in some way?
Strictly speaking, forwards and backwards can only be applied if one has both awareness and a realistic plan to help change the larger situation.
That’s better than thinking in terms of rigid spectrums, but I still ultimately think the division between socialism and capitalism is useful, ie the PRC is socialist, therefore left while the US Empire is capitalist, therefore right. Progressing forward requires socialism, but beyond that we can get lost in trying to compare how “left” people are as though that genuinely corresponds to material reality in a quantifiable manner. People don’t exist on a rigid spectrum, but generally correspond to different ideologies or parties with consistent policies or viewpoints.