“The happiest day of my life will be the day I go to vote in an election and the choices are between Republicans and Libertarians”
Ditto!
In my fantasy world, I would see three parties:
1. The SoCon party. This would be a social conservative party. Would be the party of God etc. Uber conservative socially, moderate economically, moderate on personal liberty (as God would be imposed on society)
2. The small “l” liberal party: These guys would be social moderates but economic uber conservatives. Also, high on personal liberty.
3. The Reformed Libertarians. Socially “liberal”, economically uber conservative, and huge emphasis on personal liberty (live free or die!)
I think three such parties would create a good balance. The SoCons would compromise with the “l”iberals to keep some public morals.
The Liberterians would compromise with “l”iberals to preserve individual liberty
All three would keep economic liberty.
Probably the “l”iberal party would dominate with 40% of the vote. The SoCons would get 35% and the Libertarians would get 25%
Center Right
Center Left
Socialists
Conservatives (often called "liberals" in other countries.)
Then you have a plethora of sub parties. Monarchists, Nationalists, etc.. In Europe the Center Left and the Center Right are both more Left than in the US.
The main purpose of political parties is to make sure that the will of the majority is rarely enacted, and NEVER at the expense of any substantial minorities. In real life, that means the will of the people jes' ain't never gonna happen much, until you get a popular dictator like Hitler.
Of course, most of the Western World also has proportional representation in Parliament. I.E., if your party gets 1% of the vote, your guys get 1% of Parliament. This is a particularly stupid and cumbersome convention. Parliaments also have "Votes of Confidence." IOW, had Congress been a parliament, the Kenya Kid would already be back herding goats outside of Mombasa.