When I was younger, I thought that the defining distinction between #theLeft and #theRight was solidarity — as in, the former necessarily has to have way more of it than the latter.

Gradually I came to realise that characterisation is problematic for three reasons:

1. #Leftists want to impose #solidarity, which is an oxymoron (by definition, you can’t mandate voluntary inclinations, such as affection or desire, on people).
2. In practice, and at least in my own country (#Spain), the Left has become pro-independence and sympathetic towards secessionists (but more solidarity would require larger unions, stronger federations — not the richest regions going their own way).
3. Sometimes the Right puts in practice more solidarity towards certain groups or causes (eg, non-elites, non-conformists, disadvantaged people who reject the orthodoxy) than the Left itself.

I now think that the ratio personal freedom vs economic freedom better categorises Left vs. Right (cf #NolanChart). I like to think of those two dimensions as “#freedom to do what you please with your body” (food, drugs, euthanasia, suicide, sex, read, speech, thought, association, religion) and “freedom to do what you please with your property” (save, invest, buy, sell, donate, build, trade, settle).

This is not a defence of #anarchism or #libertarianism, by the way — I do believe certain restrictions on both kinds of liberties are necessary for any society to function at all.