I've always maintained that the political spectrum is circular. Whether the extreme left and extreme right in a given country get along or hate each other at any given time is irrelevant. What makes the right way to look at this circular is that one extreme, where the right and left "join," represents minimal freedom for the individual, while the other extreme, "the center" represents maximal freedom. I'd say no country today is much closer than 90 degrees to center on the circular scale (ohhhh... maybe 60). A lot of utopians would take us close to the full 180.
well put.
I think of it similarly - the extremes of right and left are totalitarianism.