Years ago I was puzzled by the use of the words Left and Right when it came to politics. I had heard descriptions such as "liberal, left-wing radicals" and "right-wing conservative Christians", and wondered at the logic behind these labels. What did left or right have to do with anything? To be honest, I wasn't truly confident in my knowledge of the words conservative or liberal either, or why being a liberal (and especially a bleeding-heart liberal) was such an extremely bad thing to be (I grew up in a conservative home that still views Nixon fondly, lol). So I did some research, and eventually stumbled upon the medieval concept of Estates of the Realm. Wow. The proverbial "light bulb" clicked on inside my brain. I could see many correlations between these almost-ancient ideas and what is playing out in the modern political landscape today, and yet these (now obvious to me) correlations are never or rarely discussed. I hope this diary helps to change that.
First, here is what I learned about Left and Right: these political terms
were coined during the French Revolution (1789–1799), referring to the seating arrangement in the Estates General: those who sat on the left generally opposed the monarchy and supported the revolution, including the creation of a republic and secularization, while those on the right were supportive of the traditional institutions of the Old Regime. Furthermore The original Right in France was formed as a reaction against the Left, and comprised those politicians supporting hierarchy, tradition, and clericalism. Got that? The terms refer to seating arrangements, of all things - more specifically, the arrangements that were made for (what in hindsight turns out to be) an incomprehensibly historic meeting between a King in France and representatives from each of the Estates of his Realm. I say "incomprehensibly historic" because this meeting marked the beginning of France's unique transition from monarchy to democracy. How often has that particular transition happened in history?Keep in mind that since ancient times, being seated on the right has traditionally been a position of honor; for example, in the Christian Apostle's Creed, we are told that the resurrected Jesus now sits at the right hand of God Himself:
on the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead. The king gave the representatives for the clergy and the nobility (the folks who for the most part supported his monarchy and traditional rule) the positions of honor. Makes sense, right? In his view, those were "the good guys". Who got the far-less-desirable seats on the left? That would be the the representatives for those schmucks, the commoners. The opening of the Estates General May 5, 1789 in the Salle des Menus Plaisirs in Versailles (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons).Also note the bit above about the party on the right being formed in reaction to the party on the left. That makes total sense too, doesn't it? The folks who like things the way they currently are (that is, the "status quo") don't generally have to do anything to keep things that way, now do they? That is, unless some "trouble-makers" (a.k.a. liberals, progressives) come along who want to stir everything up and change the "rules of the game". Even establishing social justice means change, and change is generally upsetting to those who benefit from the old rules.
As we shall shortly see, this meeting turned out to be a colossal failure (at least for the king; perhaps not so much for those who believe in the principles of democracy). You might be familiar with a certain movie/musical set in Paris about four decades later which captures the spirit and energy of that time ... it's called Les Misérables, and is based on a wonderful book of the same name by Victor Hugo. [BTW, I wanted to embed that iconic image of the young girl with the ratty hair on her face (you know the one) right here, but I don't think fair use allows me to do it. So just click on the link if you want to see it.]
Please continue with me below the squiggle for more.