Quote Originally Posted by Loki View Post
Freudian slip.

Why equate liberalism with conservatism? Conservatism wants to preserve existing structures and norms. In cases where those structures and norms are liberal, then conservatism will be very similar to liberalism. But in cases like Germany, where the old status quo was nationalist and authoritarian, it's not surprising that many conservatives would support illiberal parties.

I don't think it's fair to classify fascism as either left wing or right wing. After all, it was meant to be the "third way". It was right wing socially, while generally left wing economically, traits that are shared by most nationalist parties today.
Which is kind of what I said several posts back. Okay, I think we're converging to an agreement, so I'd just like to point out as one last thing that the raison dêtre of Nazism was to combat Bolshevism, arguably the most left-wing ideology ever implemented. The whole crusade against Bolshevism was argued to be about preserving European culture and free enterprise, even if said enterprise was expected to abide by the nation-state. And it's certainly not at all clear how much the enterprises themselves could sway the nation state. If you knew an SS guy, it could go a long way, and that's just how business operates, right?