Talk:Right-wing

The content of this page is under review: The phrase right-wing (or right wing, see below) is often equated with "conservative." However, in communist countries, the "conservative" position has been occupied by traditionalist communists, who are extremely "left-wing." Furthermore, the great social psychologist Robert Altemeyer, whose books such as (1996) The Authoritarian Specter, and (1988) Enemies of Freedom, reported the most extensive studies ever done of political orientation, found that traditionalists in both capitalist and communist countries share a great deal in common: They hold to the alleged inerrancy of some Scripture, which in capitalist nations might be the Torah, the Bible, or the Quran, but in communist nations is Karl Marx's Das Kapital. Altemeyer found that this fundamentalistic approach toward some Scripture as being the ultimate source of Truth is at the root of all forms of traditionalism or conservatism, both "right-wing" and "left-wing."

"Right-wing" conservatism, in this light, would be theistic, as opposed to atheistic, conservatism. Unlike communism, its allegedly inerrant Scripture refers not to some supernatural god as The Almighty, but instead to historical inevitability rooted in the natural laws of society, culture, and the economy, as being the all-powerful equivalent to the theistic The Almighty.

Fascism has exhibited this kind of "right-wing" conservatism in every nation where it exists or has existed. It is theistic. In addition, it respects the owners of enterprises far more than it does the workers in those firms. Communism respects the workers more than it does the owners, except that it makes the State the owners, and it actually respects the State far more than it does the workers.

Consequently, fascism and communism share much in common, and this is to be expected since they are the most extreme forms of conservatism, fascism being of the right, and communism being of the left.

Used as an adjective, the spelling is "right-wing", as in "a right-wing organization". Used as a noun, the spelling is "right wing", as in "The right wing gained power."