Oh for.@&$#%... sake, Zeke, you can't be serious. As is pointed out, the "horseshoe" is a paradigm/observation, not some ultra-specific scientific "theorem." It has long been pointed out in social science circles that the left-right continuum inadequately explains the variations in political thought. Various descriptions have been used, using graphs of various sorts, x-y, Venn, etc., to plot the various positions different groups occupy. As was noted earlier, the horseshoe was used as a descriptor because a circle implies connection, whereas the horseshoe describes similarities but not overlap. It is derived from observation that when placing viewpoints on an x-y array the dots tend to describe a horseshoe shape. Beyond that, this discussion does indeed resemble horseshyte intended to obfuscate not illuminate, and is very far from the subject of the thread.
