A Guide to Basic Differences Between Left and Right
~ Dennis Prager ~
Source of Human Rights
- Left: government
- Right: the Creator
Human Nature
- Left: basically good (Therefore, society is primarily responsible for evil.)
- Right: not basically good (Therefore, the individual is primarily responsible for evil.)
Economic Goal
- Left: equality
- Right: prosperity
Primary Role of the State
- Left: increase and protect equality
- Right: increase and protect liberty
Government
- Left: as large as possible
- Right: as small as possible
Family Ideal
- Left: any loving unit of people
- Right: a married father and mother, and children
Guiding Trinity
- Left: race, gender and class
- Right: liberty, In God We Trust and e pluribus unum
Good and Evil
- Left: relative to individual and/or society
- Right: based on universal absolutes
Humanity’s Primary Division(s)
- Left: rich and poor; strong and weak
- Right: good and evil
Ideal Primary Identity of an American
- Left: world citizen
- Right: American citizen
How to Make a Good Society
- Left: abolish inequality
- Right: develop each citizen’s moral character
View of America
- Left: profoundly morally flawed; inferior to any number of European countries
- Right: greatest force for good among nations in world history
Gender
- Left: a social construct
- Right: male and female
Most Important Trait to Cultivate in a Child
- Left: self-esteem
- Right: self-control
Worth of the Human Fetus
- Left: determined by the mother
- Right: determined by society rooted in Judeo-Christian values
Primary Source of Crime
- Left: poverty, racism and other societal flaws
- Right: the criminal’s malfunctioning conscience
Place of God and Religion in America
- Left: secular government and secular society
- Right: secular government and religious society
American Exceptionalism
- Left: chauvinistic doctrine
- Right: historical reality
Greatest Threat to the World
- Left: environmental catastrophe (currently global warming)
- Right: evil (currently radical Islamist violence)
International Ideal
- Left: world governed by the United Nations, and no single country is dominant
- Right: world in which America is the single strongest entity
Primary Reason for Lack of Peace in Middle East
- Left: Israeli settlements in the West Bank
- Right: Palestinian, Arab and Muslim denial of Jewish state’s right to exist
Purpose of Art
- Left: challenge status quo and bourgeois sensibilities
- Right: produce works of beauty and profundity to elevate the individual and society
Guns
- Left: ideally universally abolished, except for use by police, the armed forces and registered sportsmen
- Right: ideally widely owned by responsible individuals for self-protection and the protection of others
Race
- Left: intrinsically significant
- Right: intrinsically insignificant
Racial, Ethnic and Gender Diversity at Universities
- Left: most important
- Right: far less important than ideological diversity
Black America’s Primary Problem
- Left: racism
- Right: lack of fathers
Greatest Playwright
- Left: entirely subjective; there is no greatest playwright
- Right: Shakespeare
War
- Left: not the answer
- Right: sometimes the only answer
Hate
- Left: wrong, except when directed at the political
- Right: wrong, except when directed at evil
Cultures
- Left: all equal
- Right: some are better than others
America’s Founding Fathers
- Left: rich white male slave owners
- Right: great men who founded the greatest society
Purpose of Judges
- Left: pursue social justice
- Right: pursue justice
National Borders
- Left: a relic of the past
- Right: indispensable for national survival
View of Illegal Immigrants
- Left: welcomed guests
- Right: illegal immigrants
Nature
- Left: intrinsically valuable
- Right: made for man