Buckeye -
Establishing whether a political party or ideology is left wing or right wing has nothing whatsoever to do with xenophobia, any more than it does large vs small government, which has been perhaps the most common trap people seem to have fallen into on this thread. It's an understandable mistake, but on the other hand view all history from the perspective of 2013 USA is not particularly useful. Historical events must be understood within the context in which they occured. The benefit of hindsight is a wonderful thing, but can also skew our interpretation of events.
Right and left wing ideologies are determined by:
- attitudes towards capital, and the role of capital in society (the right wing promotes capital and capitalism, the left wing seeks to reduce or remove the impact of capital)
- attitudes towards class (the right wing seeks to enrich the upper classes and derive support from them, wheras the left focuses on workers or lower classes)
and to a slightly lesser extent
- attitudes towards race, ethnicity, nationalism and community (the right wing emphasising patriotism, loyalty to the state and the rights of the majority racial group, the left promoting ethnic equality, civil rights etc).
Saigon, again, they all are used as measuring the politics, you can get a spectrum on any issue.
But to me government power is the main issue. When I think right wing, I think of political ideology, not economic.
Ok the right promotes capitalism and the left socialism, and class, the right doesnt give a shit about class and neither does the left, those are more european ways of looking at things. But class, capitalism and governement power align all the same way. So if you look at class or capitalism, and I look at government power...then we basically look at it the same exact way.
See you're using the definitions, but definitions can change, but more importantly, I look at the practical results, not from some bs theory.
And Facism, was.....drumroll...socialism, in name AND practice......hitler wanted a company to make tanks, guess what, they made tanks........if they refused they were shot and the state just gained a new company. Hence the term illusion. yes Hitler allowed Mr VW to run VW, but he did what Hitler said, so in practice, it wasnt any different that communism. Again Hitler or Stalin....same person.
PS I love this arguement....I do it with liberals all the time. They see giant difference between NAzis and Bolsheviks, and I ask them what differneces? All they have is private property, and well I've already said it.
But here is Websters definition of Facism.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fascism
1
ften capitalized: a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized
autocratic government headed by a
dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
Autocratic, again government power..and it has the race element, which you ignored...and I do too, but I put it out there because people do have a spectrum based on that, ,even though most of their suppositions are wrong.
2: a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control <early instances of army
fascism and brutality — J. W. Aldridge>
autocratic and dictatorial, I said I use that as a definition, so even the official definition proves me right
Definition of COMMUNISM
1
a: a theory advocating elimination of private property
b: a system in which goods are owned in
common and are available to all as needed
a and b :Here is your economic theory, interesting they didnt mention any for facism? My theory is because facism was not really economic at all....they were commies masquerading as capitalists.
2
capitalized
a: a doctrine based on revolutionary Marxian
socialism and Marxism-Leninism that was the official ideology of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
b: a totalitarian system of government in which a single
authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production
c: a final stage of society in Marxist theory in which the state has withered away and economic goods are distributed equitably
d: communist systems collectively
a is more of a historical view than an actual definition
b is my connection, because I use a view based on government power....so my way is valid in both definitions and they link.
c is utopian socialism...I discussed that earlier....us righties call it anarchy
d a general term with no real definition
So my point is government power is the major defining characteristic