Left/right is as good as conservative/liberal or progressive/regressive, but they all do kinda suck.
The worst part is when someone thinks left/right must always be from an absolute (European) perspective, and thus places two politicians in different countries both arguing for the same new outcome – like say, “$30/hour minimum wage” – as equivalent even though the status quo is different in both – “go up from $10/hour” vs “go down from $50/hour”
I’ve always preferred left/right being a purely economic distinction and authoritarian/libertarian being the up/down axis. The politicql compass is still not perfect but it’s leagues better than trying to sort all the various economic and sociological differences into just two.
Left/right is as good as conservative/liberal or progressive/regressive, but they all do kinda suck.
The worst part is when someone thinks left/right must always be from an absolute (European) perspective, and thus places two politicians in different countries both arguing for the same new outcome – like say, “$30/hour minimum wage” – as equivalent even though the status quo is different in both – “go up from $10/hour” vs “go down from $50/hour”
I’ve always preferred left/right being a purely economic distinction and authoritarian/libertarian being the up/down axis. The politicql compass is still not perfect but it’s leagues better than trying to sort all the various economic and sociological differences into just two.