"So I was wondering if the right and left poles might just flip, over and over, in a long-term secular cycle."
Is spot on, and it's exactly what the philosophies/frameworks of Spiral Dynamics and Integral Theory elucidate. There's been a constant swing back and forth between the right/left divides, each at times playing the "establishment" and the other the "rebel", pushing and pulling, while the entire thing trends/spirals in a more complex and evolutionarily appropriate direction for the complexities of the time.
Definitely something you should look into more if you haven't already. Ken Wilber, Clare Graves, Don Beck, Jeff Salzman, and especially currently Steve McIntosh's "Institute for Cultural Evolution".
What you describe here:
"So I was wondering if the right and left poles might just flip, over and over, in a long-term secular cycle."
Is spot on, and it's exactly what the philosophies/frameworks of Spiral Dynamics and Integral Theory elucidate. There's been a constant swing back and forth between the right/left divides, each at times playing the "establishment" and the other the "rebel", pushing and pulling, while the entire thing trends/spirals in a more complex and evolutionarily appropriate direction for the complexities of the time.
Definitely something you should look into more if you haven't already. Ken Wilber, Clare Graves, Don Beck, Jeff Salzman, and especially currently Steve McIntosh's "Institute for Cultural Evolution".