This is mostly an artifact of the two party system (or the left/right divide, which changed throughout history), in fact there are 3 independent ideologies: Con

This is mostly an artifact of the two party system (or the left/right divide, which changed throughout history), in fact there are 3 independent ideologies: Conservative (concerned with values of authority and cultural preservation), liberal (concerned with values of individual freedom) and progressive/socialist (concerned with values of equality/inclusion and democracy). These ideologies are not opposites, they have different concerns, but they might contradict in practice. Sometimes they are also compatible, they accept same tools for different reasons. (For example, property ownership is a policy tool acccepted by liberals for reason of personal freedom, and by conservatives for reason of preserving value. Or basic income is accepted by progressives as means of including everybody in the society, and by liberals as way to promote personal freedom.) There's lot more to this but that's the gist of political philosophy, I think.