[Qwinn]

"I see it as a four way fragmentation:

Left socialists = democrats/greenies
Right socialists = Rino communitarians
Conservatives = states rights constitutionalists
U.S. Constitutionalists = libertarians"


Not bad - kinda similiar to my own breakdown, but I handle it a bit differently.

I divide the political spectrum into three overall categories: social, economic and military (isolationist, hawk/dove, that kind of thing).

The military one doesn't really help in terms of making definitions because it doesn't correspond logically in any coherent way to the rest (for example, Christopher Hitchens seems overall to be quite liberal but he's no dove, Patrick Buchanan is conservative but a strict isolationist) so I concentrate on the other two categories, yielding this breakdown which is somewhat similar to yours:

1. Social Liberal, Economic Liberal
2. Social Liberal, Economic Conservative
3. Social Conservative, Economic Liberal
4. Social Conservative, Economic Conservative

Social Liberal, Economic Liberal: The most despised of creatures, scurrying out at night only to grub for worms and insects... I mean, the typical Democrat.

Social Liberal, Economic Conservative: This is my perception of most libertarians (and in your phrase, RINO Republicans, who I think are basically just libertarians in denial)

Social Conservative, Economic Conservative: The "right-wingers" (I'm in this one) Largely perceived as monolithically deeply religious despite some examples to the contrary (hi!)

Social Conservative, Economic Liberal: This is actually the segment that I think comprises the biggest segment of Independent or Undecided voters in most elections. I think a lot of Catholics are in this group. IMHO, these are the swing voters that determine most elections.

Whatcha think?

Qwinn

[NutCrackerBoy]

Ah! A game of describe our divisions! Can I play?

tpaine:
Left socialists = democrats/greenies
Right socialists = Rino communitarians
Conservatives = states rights constitutionalists
U.S. Constitutionalists = libertarians"
Qwinn:
1. Social Liberal, Economic Liberal
2. Social Liberal, Economic Conservative
3. Social Conservative, Economic Liberal
4. Social Conservative, Economic Conservative
NutCrackerBoy:
1. elitist socialist intellectuals (liberals)
2. elitist non-socialist intellectuals (libertarians)
3. socialists (mushy middle)
4. intellectual dissidents (Constitutionalists)
5. miscellaneous conservatives