Left
The term left, or left-wing, to signify socialist or radical political tendencies
dates as a symbol from the days immediately preceding the French Revolution.
At this stage the French Estates-General (roughly equivalent to aparliament)
was so ordered that those supporting the king and the traditional social
structure sat on the right of the assembly, and their opponents sat on the left.
In fact the association of ‘left’ or ‘left-handedness’ with those less than totally
orthodox is a much deeper element of European culture—the left hand has
always been connected with the supernatural or with the socially unacceptable.
(The ‘bend sinister’, a left-slanting line on a heraldic device, indicated a
nobleman born out of wedlock.) Left, andright, its obvious opponent, are
frequently used, but ultimately empty, slogan-words in modern politics. The
most that can be safely said is that those on the ‘left’ wish to change things, and
to do this in the direction of more equality and less tradition than those on the
right. The whole idea of the left/right dichotomy assumes that political life can
be put into a one-dimensional framework. In Western political terms a ‘left-
wing’ position has come to signify belief in state intervention in society and the
economy to enhance the political and economic liberty and equality of the
people, in contrast to the right which emphasizes the ability of individuals to
secure their most favourable conditions. However, in the old communist
societies, ‘left’ in Western eyes, the labels were reversed, limiting the consistent
application of the term to radical opposition to an establishment.
Legislative Veto
The legislative veto is a legal device adopted by the USCongressto give itself
the power to control the behaviour of the vitally important regulatory agencies
which govern so many areas of US policy-making. It is often seen by the
executiveas a trick to get round the constitutionalseparation of powers
which forbids the legislative branch to exercise direct control over the execu-
tion and application of laws.
The technique involves writing into any legislation which sets up or grants
general powers to agencies the right of Congress to pass, by resolution, a
motion forbidding the agency to go ahead with any particular policy or
regulation that Congress does not favour. The important point is that resolu-
tions of Congress, unlike acts, are not subject to presidential veto. In this way
Congress can try to by-pass the president’s control over the executive side of
government. Although they were first used in the 1930s, legislative-veto
provisions proliferated in the 1970s as part of the general resurgence of
congressional powervis-a`-visthe presidency.
Many argued over the constitutionality of this technique, and in 1983 the
Supreme Court, inImmigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha, heard a case
Legislative Veto