This is still going?
I expect Patriot to call me a leftist and a loon for this, but for the rest of you, here goes.
The unifying ideology shared by all of the left wing is that society must reward everyone equally, without consideration to whether or not they deserve it. The unifying ideology by all of the right wing is for a structured society with different people fulfilling different roles, without consideration to how each person wants to rank that society. It's been like this for hundreds of years.
'Fascist' is often used as an insult these days, but in political science, it is almost always defined as extreme authoritarian nationalism. Both the left and the right have extremists and authoritarians, but nationalism is exclusive to the right. Nationalism is the belief that your group (that is, nation) of people deserve more from society than any other. It can be a very powerful force in an oppressed people, but fascism grows within a non-oppressed group, where it is the kind of belief system that starts wars.
Nationalism wants nothing to do with equality. The last thing extreme nationalists want are to be put on the same level as another, "inferior" group of people. They believe their people are better.
The reasons why Patriot believes that fascism is from the left is a) he believes the left is authoritarian (under one authority, a strongman ruler, enemy to democracy), which is fine, those are his beliefs, but also b) because he subscribes to the theories of a post-war Austrian economist named Freidrich Hayek. Hayek was a rabid anti-socialist who wanted a socially acceptable way of equating the socialists that he hated with the Nazis, who were everyone's favorite bad guys at the time. He developed an alternate way or organizing the political world which redefined all authoritarians as part of the left wing, and all supporters of ultimate freedom on the right.
Hayek's theories got some play in the political world, but ultimately failed to convince the entire community to reshape their thinking. These days, it is occasionally dredged up by people who want to portray all socialism as evil. It does not reflect the common political science definitions of 'fascism' and 'left wing,' though.
Just dropping in, as I occasionally do, to remind you all that when Patriot says 'fascism,' he is actually making a case for the left embracing 'authoritarianism,' which is not the same thing.
Have a good week. Enjoy the thread.