# The Far Right, The Far Left, What Do They Have In Common. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 22, 2013, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004 "2013-01-22T14:22:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/21 "2013-01-22T16:56:35Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Larry King is not usually thought of as a font of wisdom, but to each his own. But he knew both Thompson and Limbaugh and thought they had a lot in common. And Thompson did becone fast friends with Pat Buchanan, much to Thompson’s surprise. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/22 "2013-01-22T17:14:11Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > So is Soylent Green. :eek: I thought it was made of bacon! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/23 "2013-01-22T17:15:37Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The one thing the far left and far right have in common is blaming the Jews. Boy, what is it with those Jews?! They can piss off **anybody,** can’t they?! ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/24 "2013-01-22T17:18:18Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > :eek: I thought it was made of bacon! Well, it’s long pig… :eek: ---
**Author:** ![toofs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/25 "2013-01-22T17:23:41Z")
Both the far right and the far left will control you, ban things from you, and force you to live according to their values. ---
**Author:** ![SantaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@SantaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SantaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/26 "2013-01-22T17:26:16Z")
[The\_True\_Believer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Believer) by Eric Hoffer talks about commonality between such movements, and how someone at one end of the spectrum can do a “Saul to Paul” transformation to the other end. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/27 "2013-01-22T17:44:04Z")
> [@pchaos](#): > > **The Far Right, The Far Left, What Do They Have In Common** > > They both have to eat. Yeah, but the Far Right eats babies and the Far Left eats capitalists, so it makes it hard for them to get along. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/28 "2013-01-22T17:52:19Z")
> [@SantaMan](#): > > [The\_True\_Believer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Believer) by Eric Hoffer talks about commonality between such movements, and how someone at one end of the spectrum can do a “Saul to Paul” transformation to the other end. Well, a lot of American neocons did start out as Trotskyists. And what became of David Horowitz is even weirder. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/29 "2013-01-22T17:52:38Z")
What makes a man turn moderate? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of moderation? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/30 "2013-01-22T17:55:46Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > What makes a man turn moderate? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of moderation? It’s the chicks really…chicks dig moderates. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/31 "2013-01-22T18:38:48Z")
They both feel dominated by corporations, government and ethnic foes, and both love conspiracy theories that explain their predicament. In other words, they’re both nuts. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/32 "2013-01-22T20:04:02Z")
There are all sorts of issues which attract strange bedfellows. Both the far left AND Big Business want to end restrictions on illegal immigration, albeit for completely different reasons. Both the far left AND the far right paleo-conservatives are, de facto, isolationists who oppose U.S. military action abroad. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/33 "2013-01-22T20:51:06Z")
Both the Far Right and the Far Left want to apply extreme solutions to problems that aren’t that extreme. They both feel we need to radically change society. Those of us in the middle feel that society is generally doing okay and what problems we have can be handling within our existing system. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/34 "2013-01-22T21:50:27Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Both the Far Right and the Far Left want to apply extreme solutions to problems that aren’t that extreme. They both feel we need to radically change society. > > Those of us in the middle feel that society is generally doing okay and what problems we have can be handling within our existing system. I think even the historically-literate middle would agree that sometimes a society **does** need extreme solutions and radical changes, the only questions are about when, and which. American history is full of extreme solutions and radical changes, some of them good ideas in hindsight (independence, national republican government, universal manhood suffrage, abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, creation of the Federal Reserve, federal income taxation), some bad (Indian wars, Prohibition of alcohol, abolition of the Bank of the United States, Chinese exclusion, national-origin-quota immigration, federal income taxation). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/35 "2013-01-22T22:02:42Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Both the far left AND the far right paleo-conservatives are, de facto, isolationists who oppose U.S. military action abroad. Which leaves the theocons a bit conflicted – they agree with paleocons on most things, but [Christian Zionism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Zionism) impels them in a neocon direction WRT foreign policy. I recall Jerry Falwell made “pro-State of Israel” one of the Moral Majority’s defining tenets, and the Religious Right still mostly follows that tradition. Pat Buchanan and the paleocons and the America First Party, OTOH, don’t seem to like Israel at all, and isolationism means isolationism. Buchanan even wrote [a book](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill,_Hitler_and_the_Unnecessary_War) arguing that the U.S. should’ve stayed out of WWII and Hitler wasn’t all that bad compared to Stalin, etc. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/36 "2013-01-22T22:04:59Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > There are all sorts of issues which attract strange bedfellows. > > Both the far left AND Big Business want to end restrictions on illegal immigration, albeit for completely different reasons. And the left is conflicted there, because it includes ZPG environmentalists. More immigration means a larger population. And the left also includes pro-labor activists who can’t ignore the wage-depressive potential of immigrant wage-competition. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/37 "2013-01-22T22:55:28Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I think even the historically-literate middle would agree that sometimes a society **does** need extreme solutions and radical changes, the only questions are about when, and which. Sure, that’s happened sometimes in the past (although I wouldn’t agree to all of the things you mentioned as examples of extremism). But I was speaking in the present tense. I don’t see any problems the United States is facing right now that require extreme solutions. I feel we could solve all our current problems with regular solutions. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/38 "2013-01-22T22:57:48Z")
> [@XT](#): > > It’s the chicks really…chicks dig moderates. 😉 You know what they say. Every woman is secretly bipartisan when she’s had a few drinks in her. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/39 "2013-01-22T22:59:45Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Yeah, but the Far Right eats babies and the Far Left eats capitalists, so it makes it hard for them to get along. If only we could breed _baby capitalists_, with a gentleman’s mustache and a monocle. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/40 "2013-01-22T23:11:37Z")
We have to create jobs without government spending, hopefully we will be spending money that comes back to us from other countries. The dot com boom saved our asses 20 years ago and we are still surviving on the wave to some extent. Anything you can come up with that the average person around the world will spend about 5% of their income on would give the economy an enormous boost. This could even be a variety of things that acounted for only fractions of a percent each. I suspect tourism in this country based on new forms of entertainment might be something we see in the next decade. It appears to me that we are in a technology race in almost all fields, agriculture, medicine, electronics etc. We need to keep investing in bright students allowing them to pursue careers in these fields. When a country like China starts suffereing from growing pains it is like a fat person you are laying next to getting out of a waterbed we are going to feel it big time. As China continues to grow along with other countries in the region they will become larger consumers and their dollar will get stronger throwing some of the work back our way I would think. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004.md?page=3)