I think what you're noticing is that a simple left/right along a line is a poor way to express someone's political views. I suspect that because a huge portion

I think what you're noticing is that a simple left/right along a line is a poor way to express someone's political views. I suspect that because a huge portion of the HN crowd are educated IT workers / would-be founders, overall there's both a strong support for capitalism mixed with progressive social views. That doesn't really connect well with the political landscape in most of the western world and typically gets you labeled a centrist, regardless of how important those particular issues are to you.