Let me put it in the simple terms that I was raised on. There's Control, and Freedom, two opposites. The two need to be balanced correctly for a nation to survive. The further left, the more Liberal, the more Control. The further right, the more Conservative, the more Freedom. Obviously too much freedom = anarchy, not an effective government, and too much control = totalitarianism, which is neither effective nor humane.
At least that's what is used to mean... Things might have changed.