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Pretty much. For those who possess average intelligence, centrism(compromise) and status quo maintenance is a decent decision heuristic.

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The thing is, right vs left doesn’t necessarily capture extreme positions.

For example, you have r/neoliberal on Reddit. There users are overwhelmingly in favor of YIMBY policies (zoning reform, banning single family zoning, focusing on high density coupled with public transit), getting rid of the Jones act, pro free trade, automating ports, pro carbon tax, etc. while also being very liberal/progressive (imo) on most social issues.

So, while not necessarily extreme left or right, they have views that would be relatively extreme compared to the average voter, namely views on housing and trade.

Certainly. That's the downside of heuristics and in this case collapsing a multidimensional non-linear space down to a linear value. Any point on that projection doesn't necessarily map to a commonly held/centrist belief.

I think because extreme 'right' and 'left' are used today to characterize basically non-liberal ideologies, and liberal positions are described as the 'center'

Historically liberalism can be very extreme and radical, considering groups like the Jacobins.

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