2 dimensions or 3? (elaborating on a comment I wrote elsewhere)

[pauamma]

I've always reacted poorly to people who base their worldviews and their perception of politics (and their judgment of others' political stances) on a single axis (usually conservative-to-liberal, for whichever exact definitions of those they consider relevant). I tend to view those along two dimensions instead: specifically, government involvement/intervention in economic issues and government involvement/intervention in social or personal issues. However, I never gave much thought to other dimensions or how they might combine with the two I've been considering.

This was brought home by a comment elsewhere that mentioned the fiscal axis as another dimension to look at political systems along. I never gave much thought to that axis or how positions along it might combine with positions along the two I mentioned above (or along others I haven't considered either), mostly, I suspect, because I only considered fiscal aspects as a means toward the "how to get enough money to implement our goals wrt govt. involvement in the social and economic areas" end, not an end in itself, or even a way to implement social leveling, without having a specific need or use for the money thus moved to government pockets. Anyone has thoughts (or links) on that topic?