The political triangle is an improvement over the traditional political compass. While the original compass attempted to harmonize the libertarian American right with the traditional hierarchical right by separating the economic and social axis, this still resulted in quite a few problems. For example, anti-statism and progressive statism were often conflated with each other as "libertarian". The right wing was described as laissez-faire free markets, but in practice was used to mean crony capitalism. The triangle, instead of trying to divide social vs economic beliefs, recognizes that there are three different main philosophies at the core of political systems: the (traditional) right favors hierarchy, the elite classes, and a well defined social structure; the libertarian side (the American right) esteems individual liberty as the top priority; and the left seeks equality, community, and collectivism.
