Overall, who'd you say is more united in terms of ideas and beliefs: the Right or the Left?

[Tooting Carmen]

I'd argue that, overall, the Right is more united.

(1) ALL strains of the Right, be it free-market libertarians, moderate conservatives, corporatists-cum-fascists etc. believe in some form of private property and market economy. In contrast, there is an albeit diminishing strand of the Left that rejects those things altogether.

(2) ALL aforementioned strains of the Right believe that varying degrees of inequality and hierarchy are legitimate, albeit some put more emphasis on groups and others put more emphasis on individuals. In contrast, some on the Left (and not just outright Communists necessarily either) believe that all forms of inequality and hierarchy are essentially illegitimate.

All the same, I am interested as to what others have to say.

[Andullero]

I'd argue that, overall, the Right is more united.

(1) ALL strains of the Right, be it free-market libertarians, moderate conservatives, corporatists-cum-fascists etc. believe in some form of private property and market economy. In contrast, there is an albeit diminishing strand of the Left that rejects those things altogether.

(2) ALL aforementioned strains of the Right believe that varying degrees of inequality and hierarchy are legitimate, albeit some put more emphasis on groups and others put more emphasis on individuals. In contrast, some on the Left (and not just outright Communists necessarily either) believe that all forms of inequality and hierarchy are essentially illegitimate.

All the same, I am interested as to what others have to say.

I believe the opposite, specially in the States. All strands of the Left seem to march to the same beat, and notwithstanding the severe disagreements among those (specially between blacks vs homos), none of said disagreements have been severe enough to provoke a fissure, unlike what happens in the Right, where the disagreements (specially regarding the thorny race issue) are so severe that the expression "punching right" is even part of the lexicon.

[Tooting Carmen]

I believe the opposite, specially in the States. All strands of the Left seem to march at the same beat, and notwithstanding the severe disagreements among those (specially between blacks vs homos), none of said disagreements have been severe enough to provoke a fissure, unlike what happens in the Right, where the disagreements (specially regarding the thorny race issue) are so severe that the expression "punching right" is even part of the lexicon.

I still believe the 'culture wars' stuff is overblown. The point is that, whatever their stance on race or sexuality, most American right-wingers believe in low-tax, small-state and the half-truth that poverty or wealth are entirely due to individual achievement (or lack thereof). In contrast, among the Left there is a huge gap between those who would like a wholesale Socialist economy (or at least much higher taxes on the rich and an end to tax havens, at any rate), and social liberals who may sing about the virtues of gay marriage and ethnic diversity but utimately want to keep the economic order in tact with maybe a little more public spending on this or that.

[Tooting Carmen]

And let us not forget that, with the exception of Sweden and maybe a couple of other places, in most of the 'democratic' world centre-right parties have won the majority of the time - even in staunch social democracies like France and Germany.

[Andullero]

And let us not forget that, with the exception of Sweden and maybe a couple of other places, in most of the 'democratic' world centre-right parties have won the majority of the time - even in staunch social democracies like France and Germany.

That might be so, but you have never seen, and will probably never see, leftist parties disavowing Stalinism and Maoism as readily as mainstream right parties have done with Italian Fascism, German Nazism and even Spanish Francoism. Huge difference there, friend.

[JamesBond007]

I'd argue that, overall, the Right is more united.

(1) ALL strains of the Right, be it free-market libertarians, moderate conservatives, corporatists-cum-fascists etc. believe in some form of private property and market economy. In contrast, there is an albeit diminishing strand of the Left that rejects those things altogether.

(2) ALL aforementioned strains of the Right believe that varying degrees of inequality and hierarchy are legitimate, albeit some put more emphasis on groups and others put more emphasis on individuals. In contrast, some on the Left (and not just outright Communists necessarily either) believe that all forms of inequality and hierarchy are essentially illegitimate.

All the same, I am interested as to what others have to say.

Sorry, it is mentally retarded to lump together libertarians and fascists etc... the left and right are basically the same since in modern times they are both statist. The differences between right and left are superficial because the only real difference is between big government and small government since the harm big government can do is almost unlimited but the harm a small government can do is limited. Since, Libertarians are for small government, almost to the point of anarchy, they are neither left nor right.

For instance, even though the 20th century is noted for its absolute and bloody wars, war was not the 20th Century's biggest killer. Democide was. Democide is death by government or government killing its own citizens.

Also, gain-on-function, research, a euphemism for weaponizing viruses through government funding of scientists is responsible for Coronavirus so big government is bad.

[Tooting Carmen]

That might be so, but you have never seen, and will probably never see, leftist parties disavowing Stalinism and Maoism as readily as mainstream right parties have done with Italian Fascism, German Nazism and even Spanish Francoism. Huge difference there, friend.

Only Nazism has been truly disavowed by the modern Right. Less so the other two (especially Francoism).

[Andullero]

Only Nazism has been truly disavowed by the modern Right. Less so the other two (especially Francoism).

Yet "fascist" is just as used as an ad hominem as Nazi is by them or the left, that tells me they have repudiated it enough.

[Tooting Carmen]

Sorry, it is mentally retarded to lump together libertarians and fascists etc... the left and right are basically the same since in modern times they are both statist. The differences between right and left are superficial because the only real difference is between big government and small government since the harm big government can do is almost unlimited but the harm a small government can do is limited. Since, Libertarians are for small government, almost to the point of anarchy, they are neither left nor right.

Although fascism and right-wing libertarianism may on the surface (understandably) seem like polar opposites:

(1) They both believe in natural hierarchies and inequalities, with the difference that the former emphasise group differences and the latter emphasise individual differences.
(2) They both believe in varying degrees of private property and market economy. They don't believe either in wholesale command economies or wholesale collectivisation as some on the Left do.

[Tooting Carmen]

Yet "fascist" is just as used as ad hominem as Nazi is by them or the left, that tells me they have repudiated it enough.

Come on Andullero, I thought you were deeper than this. As for the Left, even most 'Communist' regimes themselves (except North Korea and to some extent Cuba) repudiate the 100% nationalised command economies of Stalin and Mao, let alone the more mainstream and democratic Left.