What does left-wing and right-wing mean?

Answer 1

Please search wikipedia.org for the answer.

Thank you.

To the above person, don't be a dick. Don't answer if you're only going to give a smart-ass remark.

Now to the question, In 1789, the French National Assembly was created as a parliamentary body to move control of issues, such as taxation, from the king to the citizenry.

Inside the chamber where the National Assembly met, members of the Third Estate sat on the left side and members of the First Estate sat on the right. The Third Estate consisted of revolutionaries, while the First Estate were nobles. Thus, the left wing of the room was more liberal, and the right wing was more conservative.

So the left wing are Democrats and the right are Republicans.

Answer 2

The phrases date back to the French Parliament during the Revolutionary era. Conservatives sat on the right and liberals on the left. "Wing" tends to refer to the extreme Right or Left.

Liberals tend to focus concern on the poor and disadvantaged and favor change from the status-quo. Some Conservatives focus on individual rights while others want to uphold their religious beliefs in the form of legislation. Thus the current American Conservative movement has significant internal conflicts.