I always picture left and right opposite where they should be. I always pictured the spectrum coinciding with the time line. That the right wing (in my mind right was on the left side) was closer to the past, ie. Reactionary; the left, closer to the future. When I discovered my mistake, I wondered where the terms came from. Well here it is:
Left-Right politics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Historical origin of the terms
The terms Left and Right to refer to political affiliation originated early in the French Revolutionary era, and referred originally to the seating arrangements in the various legislative bodies of France, specifically in the French Legislative Assembly of 1791, when the moderate royalist Feuillants sat on the right side of the chamber, while the radical Montagnards sat on the left.
Originally, the defining point on the ideological spectrum was attitudes towards the ancien r�gime ('old order'). 'The Right' thus implied support for aristocratic, royal, or clerical interests, while 'The Left' implied opposition to the same. At that time, support for laissez-faire capitalism and free markets were regarded as being on the left whereas today in most Western countries these views would be characterized as being on the Right. But even during the French Revolution an extreme left wing called for government intervention in the economy on behalf of the poor."
