I think "Left" and "Right" are very approximate boxes to sort beliefs into. I think there are far fewer "party line" true believers than is popularly believed.
Party Line true believers are disproportionately likely to be stupid, whatever their affiliations.
Sure. They’re roll-up categories for different subgroups with their own ideologies and thoughts.
I see it more like traits - they exist on a spectrum and nobody remains static on that spectrum throughout their life but like most traits, completely upending them can be difficult and takes a long time.
I remember a year or two ago, the wife's cousin and cousin's husband came to stay for a bit (from the USA).
Both the cousin's husband and I were given strict instructions not to discuss politics, and I was further informed that he's a Democratic Party activist over there.
Needless to say, we ignored our orders, and got along famously, to much eye-rolling from the wives. Turns out we're both very critical of government corruption and overreach, especially on censorship, and he's an absolute loony gun-nut in a country where that's legal. He's promised to take me shooting if i visit.
People worth knowing are individuals, with their own unique "fingerprint" of views.
My personal pet conspiracy theory is that people who give a damn and are willing to give real thought to big problems secretly have more in common with each other than with the other 95% of humanity. But most would rather be waterboarded than admit this :p
I can't read discussions of "left vs right wing" without thinking of jreg's early work on the topic that had the same thesis as your comment here: far right and far left people must unite against centrists
