[allovernow]

>The whole left/right dichotomy is a bugaboo.

Not exactly. Grouping along left/right, conservative/progressive axes is in effect a severe dimensionality reduction, simplifying thousands of metrics of political stance into two neat little clusters. It is technically valid, but overly reductive and forces black/white thinking into the common psyche which itself becomes a source of friction.

[smitty1e]

The cardinality, not the directionality, is the driver.