That's more authoritarian vs. libertarian.
I disagree. Maybe my political views of "Left" & "Right" are way off base, but, IMO, if you have strong, statist positions, you are NOT on the right:
TOTAL gov't (Left) ----------> NO gov't (Right)
I believe that if this was a # line from 0 to 10 from left to right, our federal government would have been found around 8.5 or 9. McCain/Bush would be around a 6; Blue Dog democrats would be about 4 or 5, & Obama would be around 2 or 3.
What do you think?
In my mind, the extreme left would be an all powerful government - perhaps a feudal king or fascism. On the right is zero government, which is defined as anarchy. Once you define the smallest societal rule or law, even requiring people to drive on the right side of the road, declaring theft illegal, recognizing private property, or establishing a currency, you creep back from the extreme right.
Conservatism, I believe cannot be defined precisely on that scale. Rather it is the underlying belief system that says that laws exist to protect the rights of the people, sometimes acknowledging that the rights of some may be compromised to protect the rights of others. Sometimes that underlying belief pushes you far away from the extreme right of the scale you defined. Enforcement of contracts and protection of private property come to mind.
I don't know if that adds anything, but the scale just isn't all that clear to me when allowed to go to the extremes.
That's more authoritarian vs. libertarian.
Maybe I should have said ‘Republican.’