Why the Left and the Right Look Interchangeable

Because they have the same basic preference for collective choices

It may look like a mystery that policies often seem interchangeable between “the left” and “the right.” Not only are policies interchangeable, but politicians and their voters often switch from one side to the other. Mussolini was a former socialist. More recently, many European voters have switched from extreme-left to extreme-right parties (see Bertrand Benoit, “Europe’s Right-Wing Populists Swerve Left on the Economy, Wall Street Journal, September 25, 2025).