That’s why I added the 0 to 10 numeration w/in the scale of extremes. BOTH extremes are an impossibility to create, therefore the gov’t that we are looking for must be somewhere in between. The question is, where in that scale should we be as a free People?
Like I said, the Founders created a government that was very limited in scope & power, while recognizing that the states from which it was formed retained their authority to move as far to either the left or the right on that scale as the People so desired. The size of the federal government was fixed, while those of the states were not.
Just a thought experiment... is the “scale” value of the Federal government different (as designed) than the scale value of the state or local government? I think it is, with the local government having more say in community values issues (i.e., being further left than the feds). With regard to that, I can see more local control within the community based on community values and standards as being acceptable. The job of the Fed then becomes assuring that local laws are not onerous and do not deprive the local citizens of their God-given rights.
With that in mind, I can see the Federal role being around an 8 with the local governments ranging from 5-8 being acceptable. The reality is, as you or someone else said, that some conservatives want control of others so they can impose their will rather than the same degree of control by liberals. To me, that is not conservatism, yet it somes down in the “right vs left” as being right wing.