This diagram shows the traditional left-right political spectrum, with liberals being on the left wing, and conservatives being on the right wing. Their are many different interpretations of the idea of a political spectrum, many of which involve two-dimensional models rather than a simple one-dimensional line, and some people believe that this traditional model is inaccurate and obsolete in our current state of society. Two-dimensional political spectra often have axes for social issues, with a different line for economic issues. In the traditional left-right political spectrum, social and economic issues are merged into one single line. Generally, people considered the extreme left to be anarchism, and the extreme right to consist of highly controlling authoritarian governmental styles such as Nazism and Fascism. Left wing governments also include socialism and communism in which there is greater economic equality and less economic freedom. Freedom is one of the most important properties of governmental and political styles and ideologies on the spectrum as all forms of freedom are highly prized in our current society. Generally, ideologies that tend towards the extreme ends of a spectrum are thought to have less freedom in political matters, with ideologies especially on the extreme left having less economic freedom and more economic equality.
These are examples of different political spectrums that other political scientists have come up with. Each of them represents politics throughout modern history and in the current day in a different way. Something that all of these spectrums have in common however, is the fact that they all have separate axes for social and economic issues. For example, on these spectrums, communism would be close to Nazism on the political or social freedom axis, while on the economic freedom axis they would be farther apart. Generally, governmental types on the left of the social axis are considered to have less restrictions on the actions of citizens, such as having less censorship. Those on the right are generally considered to have more laws and regulations. On the more traditional one-dimensional left right political spectrum, freedom is associated with governmental beliefs that are close to the center of the spectrum such as democracy. However, in a two dimensional model of a political spectrum, freedom can be thought to be on the lower half of the social axis, or on the left side of the social axis. Economic freedom is thought to be on the right side of the economic axis. In terms of economic freedom, most modern governments feature proportional taxation, as well as allowing the citizens of the country to have a large degree of economic freedom. In this sense, the ideas of communism and enforced economic equality have almost entirely disappeared from the modern world. In terms of political freedom, most countries allow their citizens extensive political freedom, such as allowing them to criticize the government.
Differences in political beliefs and position on the spectrum can also be defined using the terms liberal and conservative, which have meanings and implications that can vary depending on whether one is talking about economic issues or social issues. Throughout most of history, in terms of economic issues, Liberal has meant a lassiez-faire policy in terms of the government in relation to the populace, with lassiez-faire meaning a hands-off policy in which individuals have a great extent of control over their individual economic welfare. This classical sense of "liberal" in political contexts is reflected by the founding ideals of American society, which very basically assert that the government should not be too controlling and allow individuals to have liberty, and make their individual economic successes themselves. In a lassiez-faire liberal economy, the government is supposed to play a minimal role in the lives of individual people, allowing them to lead their own lives. This is the type of government that many countries are today, although the state does provide assistance to citizens with problems such as unemployment, or minorities that are being discriminated against. This differs in some countries, for example, some countries feature socialized healthcare, while others do not.