In 2007, Brian Patrick Mitchell published a book entitled “Eight Ways to Run the Country: A New and Revealing Look at Left and Right”. I found it to be an insightful and very well-thought-out analysis of the political environment in the United States. I highly recommend it.
Below are summaries of his Eight Ways, which I have adapted as a useful way to group cantons. Actual cantons would very likely lie within the parameters of one of these groups. In which family group do you find your own political preferences?
Communitarian
Luminaries: Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Michael Lind, E J Dionne, Jr, Ted Halstead, Jedediah Purdy, Robert Putnam, Amitai Etzioni
Near neighbors: Progressive, Neo-conservative
Likes: pragmatism, moderation, national unity, strong central government, innovative and experimental policy-making, putting common interests over individual rights, seeking consensus instead of conflict, technocracy
Dislikes: ideologies of right and left
Progressive
Luminaries: David Barash, Hilary Clinton, Robert Reich, Paul Wellstone, Benjamin Barber, Michael Walzer, Michael Lerner
Near neighbors: Radical, Communitarian
Likes: progress, wealth distribution, strong central government, democracy, reform, advocacy for victims
Dislikes: tradition
Radical
Luminaries: Eugene McCarthy, Norman Mailer, Jim Hightower, Ralph Nader, Noam Chomsky, Alexander Cockburn, Michael Albert
Near neighbors: Individualist, Progressive
Likes: equality, cooperation, campaign finance reform
Dislikes: tradition, authority, military, corporations, patriarchy
Individualist
Luminaries: Freidrich Hayek, David Boaz, Robert Nozick, Cathy Young, Clint Bolick, Virginia Postrel, Ayn Rand, Justin Raimondo
Near neighbors: Libertarian, Radical
Likes: freedom, progress, rationalism, individual rights, property rights, free market capitalism
Dislikes: tradition, federalism, laws against victimless crimes
Libertarian
Luminaries: Lew Rockwell, Murray Rothbard, Ludwig von Mises, Ron Paul, Lysander Spooner, Frederic Bastiat, Rose Wilder Lane, Hans Hermann Hoppe, Tom Woods, Lord Acton, Harry Browne
Near neighbors: Paleo-conservative, Individualist
Likes: freedom, individual rights, decentralism, federalism, property rights
Dislikes: welfare state, big government (sometimes any government), big corporations (big anything), laws against victimless crimes, aggression
Paleo-conservative
Luminaries: Joseph Sobran, Patrick J Buchanan, Robert A Taft, Russell Kirk, Hamilton Fish III, Phyllis Schafly, Howard Philips, Alan Keyes
Near neighbors: Theo-conservative, Libertarian
Likes: tradition, limited government, individual rights, federalism, free market capitalism, republicanism
Dislikes: big government, regulation, cultural deracination
Theo-conservative
Luminaries: Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Richard John Neuhaus, Paul Weyrich, Marvin Olasky, Robert Bork, Alan Keyes, Ralph Reed, Gary Bauer
Near neighbors: Neo-conservative, Paleo-conservative
Likes: social and religious institutions, religion-friendly government
Dislikes: cultural deracination, government undermining religion
Neo-conservative
Luminaries: George W Bush, William F Buckley, Jr, Irving Kristol, Leo Strauss, William Bennett, Norman Podhoretz, Dinesh D’Souza, Michael Novak, David Brooks, Robert Kagan, Max Boot, David Frum, Francis Fukuyama, Paul Wolfowitz
Near neighbors: Communitarian, Theo-conservative
Likes: strong central government, national education standards, compulsory national service, school choice, privatization of Social Security, free market capitalism, big corporations
Dislikes: democratic socialism, anti-western multiculturalism, excess taxation and regulation