Our Big Fight over Nothing: The Political Spectrum Does Not Exist

This is such a fundamental, but grossly overlooked fact. The spectrum implies that a tether to one ideology (and therefore party) means a tether to all others that fall under the umbrella of that party's stance. The other side is either 'evil' or 'stupid'. It fosters polarization and a basic disrespect for the legitimacy of other people's thought and opinions - this is harmful because it creates a pendulum effect in the cultural narrative and gives rise to extremism on either side. Moderation is underrated.

"I understand why so many of us want to believe in the political spectrum—it makes politics simple and gives us the illusion that our party’s beliefs have an underlying (and righteous) philosophical coherence—but it’s time to face up to the facts. “Right-wing” and “left-wing” are little more than tribal designations."

While i understand where the author is heading with this, i think that a departure from left-wing/right-wing language for any individual would not be reflected in the political reality that one of two parties (which broadly allign to left or right) will wield power in the foreseeable future. So we neccesarily fall back into the "tribes".

Im not convinced that changing the map at an individual level changes the terrain here.