You and I have vastly differing experience on this. I've been part of activism on both sides of the isle when it aligns with my values and interests, so I can speak from ample experience that the left and the right wing in Canada are both equally delusional.

Anyway, the right-left moniker originates from the revolutionary French legislature. Right wing originally referred to monarchists and the aristocracy, whereas left-wing applied to everyone else spanning from Communists right though to Laissez-faire Capitalists.

Frankly it's not really the economic theories that irk me the most. Neither is a panacea against the ills they pretend to oppose, but simply a different path to the same ultimate destination. What irks me is putting people in charge of society who can't distinguish between a pseudohistorical fantasy novel, and objective reality. They belong in a padded cell, not public office.