NOT A TEACHER
(1) You have asked a VERY difficult question.
(2) Here in the United States, "left wing" means that you are "more liberal" in your political
ideas; "right wing" means that you are "more conservative" in your political ideas.
BUT there is a big problem:
eople do NOT agree on what the words "liberal" and "conservative"
mean.
(3) I am glad that you are getting information from the Voice of America. If you continue to follow the
news on the VOA, you will one day start to get a feeling for what Americans mean by "left wing" and
"right wing."
(a) Let me give you one example:
Maybe most right-wingers believe that our Constitution gives the right to most people to buy a gun
if she or he wants to; maybe most left-wingers feel that the government has the right to carefully control
who buys a gun and what kind of gun.
(b) OK, another example. Maybe most left-wingers think that it is very cruel for the government to
execute criminals; many right-wingers feel that murderers deserve to be executed.
(4) Are you starting to get the idea? Here in the United States, we have two large political parties.
The Republican Party is usually considered "right of center" and the Democratic Party is usually
considered "left of center."
(5) As the moderator suggested, read all that you can on the Web about these two terms. It is a
very complicated matter.
(6) Oh, by the way, it is a good idea NOT to call a person a "left-winger" or a "right-winger." Those
terms are often used as insults.