===================== HES POSTING =================== [NOTE: The following message appeared first on TCH-ECON, but I thought someone here might be able to both correct the original story and provide a better account. Messages returned to the HES list will be posted both here and collected for a longer posting to the original list. -- RBE] Greetings: I know that socialists are called leftists and capitalists rightists because of an historical accident. The gist of the story I got goes back to the 1700s when the proper role of government was being debated in the French Parliament. In one of these instances in which the members of Parliament were called to vote on an issue calling for a more active role of government, the leader of that body (that would be Newt's counterpart) directed those favoring the measure to sit on the left side of the aisle and the opposing side on the other side. From then on, supporters of an activist socialist government began to be labeled as leftists. Likewise, supporters of laissez faire got labeled as rightists. I got the story from a colleague at the Department of History but he has since then retired and I lost track of him. Is there anybody out there who can reference the story? I would like to know. Thanks, Andrew W. Bacdayan Professor of Economics Northwestern State University Natchitoches, LA 71497 ============ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ============ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]