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Originally posted by Say_hello_for_me
Agreed that the far left and far right are essentially mirror images of each other in some ways. I'm just questioning how the convention came to depict them at the far right of the spectrum. Except for Mussolini getting the trains to run on time, those people share nothing with people like Buckley. Take out the hatred and elbow-room stuff, and you have run-of-the-mill socialism run amok.
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Buckley, of course, has often described himself as a liberal - in the original, 19th century use of the term.
First, not much socialist about them - they very much allied with large industry in Germany, not against it. It is that alliance with big business and their rapant nationalism, both characteristic of the right in the 1930s, that earned them a label as right wing. Also their strong opposition to the left (cf. Spanish Civil War).
Yes, conservatives today have different views of the world than conservatives did in the 1930s, and a libertarian and Nazi are at least as far apart as an anarchist and a communist. Still, if you think all conservatives in the world are libertarians, I'd recommend a visit to Europe, South America or South Africa.
