This is not to say that I think they are equally bad or that there should be a “united front” or some non-sense like that.
It just seems like the traditional left / right distinction, even when extended by the authoritarian / liberal axis doesn’t seem to reflect political opinions a very well anymore (and maybe never did).
As a shower-thought I recently considered “rooted” Vs. “mobile” as less ideologically loaded and more descriptive terms of the actually different mind-sets people seem to have. This seems to fit to many aspects of the ideological divide found in today’s world.
Any other suggestions?
P.S.: of course just inventing new terms & definitions doesn’t change anything (and NewSpeak is certainly a danger), but keep using outdated and overloaded terms is also not the solution.
I guess you have to split it by economy and social issues. Then, economically conservative, but socially left, you get liberals.
Socialists and communists are (usually) aspiring to be both economically and socially left. The right is both economically, and (to a varying degree) socially conservative…
What you describe is pretty much the idea of the political compass. But while it makes for some fun memes it does not seem to help much with defusing this polarization.