[Kazan]

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/112504Goya/112504goya.html

[.::Tin Can::.]

Of course this is a way to say:

Conservatives = Facists

[Bobboau]

well facist is a right wing authoritarian, if they were liberal you would use a diferent word, socalist or totalitarian for example.

[.::Tin Can::.]

So then I might as well right an article about Socialism = Communism?

[Kosh]

Fascists are conservatives, communists are liberal's. Not much of a choice.

[Grey Wolf]

Mind you, both of those titles Kosh used refer to the Authoritarian end of the spectrum. I believe anarchist is the term used for those who are extremists of the left- and libertarian-leaning section of the spectrum. Not quite sure what extremists who are conservative and libertarian are called....

[Kazan]

remember there are TWO axis on the political orientation

fascism is a system that scores strong conservative/right on the right/left axis that scores a strong authoritarian on the authoritarian/liberterian axis


extremism on either side of either axis is a bad thing

Tin Can: 4 years ago i wouldn't, and didn't call conservatives fascists - because they weren't being fascists

and not all conservatives are being fascists - just the prominant and influencial ones

[Clave]

Agreed, too far left or right ends up being repressive.  Germany under Hitler was actually slightly better for it's people than Russia under Stalin imo...

[Janos]

Originally posted by Clave
Agreed, too far left or right ends up being repressive.  Germany under Hitler was actually slightly better for it's people than Russia under Stalin imo...

Until the very end, and that means quite a lot.

[aldo_14]

It's the so-called 'neo-conservatives' that edge to the far right, isn't it?  Because they're power based was a bit eroded by Clinton coming into -and staying in - office.

At least, that's my interpretation.

You;d think the 'best' party would be a centrist one (lib dems fit this description - more or less - in the UK IIRC).  But, I think the problem is that the left-right divide has become so polarised in many countries that the compromise offered by a centrist party is somewhat uncomtemplatable to the voters.... certainly that seems to be what happened to the Lib Dems for most of the 20th century (IMO they're resurgence may be simply because the differences between the Tories and Labour are becoming less & less clear)

[.::Tin Can::.]

Originally posted by Kazan
remember there are TWO axis on the political orientation

fascism is a system that scores strong conservative/right on the right/left axis that scores a strong authoritarian on the authoritarian/liberterian axis


extremism on either side of either axis is a bad thing

Tin Can: 4 years ago i wouldn't, and didn't call conservatives fascists - because they weren't being fascists

and not all conservatives are being fascists - just the prominant and influencial ones

For the first time, I couldn't agree with Kazan more.

[Rictor]

libertarian-right is I believe something like the free-trade capitalists and certain libertarians (the Old Right).

aldo: aren't the Lib Dems to the left of Labour?

[Petrarch of the VBB]

They are, yes.

[vyper]

Right now George Bush is to the left of Labour.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Rictor
libertarian-right is I believe something like the free-trade capitalists (Milton Friedman) and certain libertarians (the Old Right).

aldo: aren't the Lib Dems to the left of Labour?

Probably; Labour used to be the leftmost 'popular' party unless I'm mistaken (left = socialist, yeah?)

[Kazan]

far left = socialist

moderate left = protecting consumers from abuse, protecting the environment from abuse, making sure people have a helping hand to get out of bad situations, addressing problem

US democrats used to be just left of true center, and a bit north tword libertarian

European "Lib Dems" are about mid left, mid lib

Real US Republicans are a touch more right of center than dems are left of it, and much closer to center on auth/libert

Current US "Republicans" (they are not republicans, and any real republicans should feel insulted and violated that their party name is being used to describe the christofascists) are so far right you almost cannot get any more far right, and they're massively authoritarian

[Petrarch of the VBB]

From Politcal Compass.
http://www.politicalcompass.org/

[aldo_14]

It's hard to tell who is who nowadays, y'know?

[Clave]

All politicians are villianous scum who will do anything for power, the sooner everyone realises this, and stops voting, the better.

[karajorma]

Notice that the BNP (and the nazi party for that matter) are actually fairly close to center in the whole left-right spectrum when you start using two axis diagrams.

I wish people would start talking about authoritarian vs libertarian parties and be done with the left/right thing except in financial debates.