I know this thread is old but there was no way i was gonna let that slide
The definitions of left and right are ever more increasingly getting confused, so I will try to clarify.
There are two types of right wingers, right wing libertarians and right wing authoritarians.
Right wing libertarians are those that focus more on liberty for an individual, minimal state or no state at all. they love capitalism, minimal economic state intervention and focus on private property rights, also they tend to be atheist.
Right wing authoritarians are more like the republican party in America or the liberal party here. of course both these parties are not extreme right wing at all more in the center of the right wing or closer to the middle.
These parties like like but don't love capitalism. having things like a federal reserve and taxes gives these governments their power. they use this power to nudge or push the economy into doing what it wants. they do this through deficit spending and mild economic regulations but they never directly tell or control most of it. But as we know there are public goods that they control directly e.g. water. so they like capitalism but they want to control it a little
Now what separates them from libertarians is not only having a bigger government but that they limit civil liberties. They do this to what they think the majority of the public wants. e.g banning drugs or guns. It is also apparent that they will impose limits on your liberty based on religion.
OK now as with right wingers there are the two types of left wingers, authoritarian and libertarian respectably.
As u can guess left wing authoritarians fall under the category of fascists (Hitler) and socialists. Now socialists have a massive government and at the extreme end of the scale they control not only the economy through direct ownership but your life practically. They limit civil liberties to what they think is best which is code for u can't do anything. Basically creating a totalitarian state north Korea is a good example of this.
The main differences between socialism and fascism is that with socialism government directly owns business. With fascism they don't own it but they tell it what to do and if it doesn't comply...well..... Anyways again with fascism civil liberties are limited. Sometimes not as extreme as in socialism and not as leaning as in a medium right wing authoritarian government.
AND THIS is why most people get confused where to put Hitler on a political spectrum. left wingers will say he is right, while right wingers will say he is left because neither want to be associated with him. Personally because he controlled the economy and did limit civil liberties a lot, i would say left but dangerously close to the middle. However hes still an evil fascist and i think everybody can agree with that.
OK lastly left wing libertarians these guys basically want either big state controlling the economy while having freedom for all when it comes to civil liberties. Unfortunately this position is sort of ironic because through big government will come limited civil liberties, can't have it both ways but they would like to think that u can.
The second type of left wing libertarians want wealth shared equally, no capitalism no government. these are stereotypical basic hippies. However there is a middle ground where they create a form of communism. Smart hippies like Gandhi had the idea with his ashrams.
Of course these hippies can go even more radical where u get people that want to wipe out the human race to save the environment.
these are the left and right types that u can be, if u disagree with my definitions please state why because they may not be the most accurate but i reckon they are pretty dam close. so in conclusion next time you call Hitler a dirty left or right winger u may want to pause and think about it.