re: Politics
Political philosophy is really much simpler than all that, and basically boils down to freedom vs. authoritarianism, individualism vs. collectivism.
That there are degrees and mixtures of these things is obvious, but that doesn't invalidate the categories. You can't discuss temperatures unless you know what "warmer" and "cooler" are, and can tell which way you're going.
I believe most attempts to make this much more complicated, both on the part of the Left and the Right, stem from attempts to justify why their particular encroachment on your freedoms is a good one.
In fact, I have found that most attempts to make an issue very complicated are the result of someone trying to slide something past us.