@okie,
Alright. So what happens when you take these ideas to the extreme? Wouldn't that be the definition of "right-wing extremism" - taking conservative ideas that are well within the mainstream and taking them to an extreme, beyond what most people, under normal conditions, would find acceptable?
If you take the idea that differences in economic wealth and social class should simply be accepted and that class struggle is a reprehensible idea, doesn't that mean that monarchism - the idea that the social structure of traditional noble and royal classes should be preserved - can be an extreme right-wing idea? Doesn't that mean that corporatism - the idea that private enterprise is the most effective instrument in the interest of the nation, and that the state merely sets the direction (e.g. defense, banking and commerce, health care, etc.) - can be an extreme right-wing idea?
If you take the idea that law and order are necessary, and that a strong state is needed to enforce these laws to an extreme, doesn't that mean that instituting a police-state can be an extreme right-wing idea? Doesn't that mean that instituting policies that lead to intercepting private communications of law-abiding citizens, that restrict rights of free speech, that restrict habeas corpus rights, that broadly allow house searches, that restrict freedom of association rights etc. can be a right-wing idea?
If you take the idea of preservation of heritage and culture and of official languages to the extreme, doesn't that mean that outlawing other cultures or languages can be an extreme right-wing idea? Don't you think that the idea to prohibit people e.g. from speaking Spanish in public, even in private conversations, is an idea that can be found on the extreme right of the political spectrum? Don't you think that the idea that e.g. a Muslim should not be allowed to hold a public office in the United States cannot be found on the extreme right?
What about the idea of cutting taxes for corporations and businesses, of privatizing public institutions and deregulating markets? What if you take that to the extreme, to the point where only workers and private citizens are being taxed, and where corporations enjoy enormous freedoms? Wouldn't that constitute a situation of state-corporatism, and couldn't that possibly be a right-wing idea?
Look, I'm not saying that those ideas are necessarily
conservative ideas, or that you or other conservatives subscribe to them. But aren't there more ideas on the right side of the spectrum than what you would see as acceptable? Or do you think there's not a single conservative idea which, when taken to the extreme, could become detrimental to society and individuals?
