In this otherwise interesting piece by the BBC which discusses the rise of racist, nationalist parties in Europe, they seem to make one consistent error. At least, its an error according my definitions.
They refer to this Nazi-like parties by calling them extreme right. Well, what is right-wing about hatred and bigotry? I’m pretty sure that’s politically universal. Right wing should be supportive of limited government, at least domestically, and nationalism is not just restricted to fascism.
In fact, these parties sound more Stalinist than anything else. And, if the Nazi comparisons are apt, don’t forget that it was the Nationalsozialismus or National Socialist party. Since when is socialism rightist?
Well the confusion is result of our navel-gazing habits. The left-right descriptions really vary by country and time period.
See this Wikipedia article for some perspective…
You’re saying that the right is libertarian, but that isn’t true. Libertarians are open economics and open society, but the Right is open economics and closed society.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_spectrum