Which way do you lean on the political scale?

[Blue_Roses]

Poll question: Which way do you lean on the political scale?

Have you shifted any--right, left, or just stayed the same--during the last eight years? Do you lean right/left/center on some things but not on other things? There are too many issues to list them in a poll so just give an example if you like.

[havocmom]

1. without definition standards, poll is sorta pointless

[Blue_Roses]

4. what definition standards do you need?

let's add them now in your post.

[havocmom]

7. LOL Since there is no consensus as to where the 'center' is, none will suffice

From the replies below, it seems others share my opinion.

[Blue_Roses]

10. I see what you mean...

and I understand that what one sees as "center" another might see as "right" so that's why people can give their own description if they reply.

[Posteritatis]

24. The definitions vary wildly by location

A centrist in Canada, a centrist in the United States and a centrist in Russia are all very different creatures. Hell, a centrist in Boston and a centrist in Charleston are probably two very different creatures. There's no universal objective standard for these sorts of things.

[YOY]

2. Globally or according to American standards?

Globally, I'm slightly left of center.

By American standards I'm far left....granted not supa dupa far left but far left.

[Kurska]

3. The Left/Right Scale is useful for nothing more then the most basic of judgments

One could hold very traditional left wing views on the economy and yet hold very right wing views on foreign matters (Such as Myself).

[Blue_Roses]

5. true.. but in general

[Kurska]

8. I'd support the "Right" in some countries and the "Left" in others

I wouldn't vote for the English right, but I would vote for the spanish right. I wouldn't vote for the Venezuelan left, but I woudl vote for the Canadian left.

Left/right means very little, especially in a global context.

[havocmom]

9. In general, 'in general' is pretty ambiguous and easily manipulated

[Blue_Roses]

11. well, I'm always open to suggestions that would

clarify--as I keep saying in this post;)

[Aloha Spirit]

6. Two questions --confusing.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. Neither. I'm an Anarchist.

"Freedom is the absolute right of all adult men and women to seek permission for their actions only from their own conscience and reason, and to be determined in their actions only by their own will, and consequently to be responsible only to themselves, and then to the society to which they belong, but only insofar as they have made a free decision to belong to it." Mikhail Bakunin

"Freedom for the supporters of the government only, for the members of one party only - no matter how how big its membership may be - is no freedom at all. Freedom is always for the man who thinks differntly." Rosa Luxemburg

"I know of but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind." Antoine de Sainte Exupery

[Odin2005]

27. That would put you on the "individualist" axis of the chart I posted.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

30. As an Anarchist I refuse to be stereotyped.

Aren't we all "individualists"? We all make our own choices, whether ingrained, or pressured by the the society we live in, or as "free moral agents" (as Thomas Jefferson put it). Or, as another anarchist put it: "In matters of conscience, the law of majority has no place." Gandhi

[Odin2005]

35. Oh, I wasn't trying to stereotype. I was just showing an example of why a simple 1-D spectrum is...

simplistic and misleading.

[ElboRuum]

13. Without cogent definitions...

...it's kinda pointless to poll this.

I'm a fiscal conservative (don't waste my money with shit we don't need) with a progressive bent to government spending and recognizing the importance of a social safety net (if we need it, open up the damn purse guys) and a pure social libertarian (what I do with my free time that isn't criminal is none of the government's friggin' concern nor anyone else's) with a progressive self-limitation from doing harm to other concerns, including the environment. I also believe that we could easily take a quarter to a half of the defense budget and use it to do hard science to get alternative energy online ferreal.

I call this "Normal", but I didn't see that as an option, so I said center-left, although I should have said very left, since the right is off the chart and center means right, and center-left is probably right too, although radical I'm not, at least I don't think so.

Wow, this is so damn confusing.

[Blue_Roses]

14. I think a lot of us feel this way

on one issue or another. Overall, I guess is what I'm trying to ask.

[Odin2005]

28. I'm in complete agreement with you!

[Sebastian Doyle]

15. Since half the people in this poll (so far) have voted "very left"

Then doesn't that, by definition, mean that "very left" is the TRUE "center"?

As opposed to the false construct of the DLC "center" - which is actually corporatism.

[Froward69]

16. What the hell is "Moderately conservative"?

I have yet to meet anyone that would fit that criteria.

I would think "foaming at the mouth Insane" starts there, then continues to the right. With Greed and selfishness as key components.

[LWolf]

17. Left wing radical.

Of course, 8 years ago, I was a left-leaning moderate.

My positions haven't changed. I just haven't joined the stampede to the right with the rest of the nation.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. Take Out Slightly

Center leans left.

If there are three solutions to a problem; a centrist one, a conservative one, and a liberal one. I can't see myself choosing the conservative one...

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. I'll have to qualify

on a world scale, center left, on the US scale... left wing radical....

After all we have a right wing party and a mental case in the US

[LeftishBrit]

20. I was thinking I should have put 'left wing radical' for the same reason!

I put 'very left', but that was by the standards of my own country, the UK. Which has moved to the right, but I think the centre here is still to the left of your centre.

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. Yes it is. Our "lefties" are where your conservatives are

scary uh

[kjackson227]

21. This explains just about everything.

[Throd]

23. Depends on the issue...

[Odin2005]

25. I don't beleive in a simple, one-dimensional spectrum.

I label myself a Left-Libertarian. I'm on the stereptypical "left" on some issues and in the stereotypical "center" on the others.

A chart of the ideological alignment of the US during the past 20 years:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8388877



I fit in the "Radical"/True Left part of the chart, maybe leaning slightly towards "Individualist"/Upper Left.

For orientation, Bill Clinton was in the "communitarian" zone, and the labels "Progressive", "Neoconservative", and "Theoconservative" are self-explanitory. Obama is in between the "communitarian" and "progressive" axes, Pat Buchanan is on the Paleoconservative axis, and Ron Paul is on the Paleo-Libertarian one.

[NeedleCast]

26. Poll is to general, sorry

I don't feel like any of those apply to me.

[WI_DEM]

29. which is considered liberal?

center leans left or very left or radical left?

whichever one is considered liberal that's what I am.

[omega minimo]

31. I use a thumb

:thumbsup:

[bertman]

32. Very left to radical. Democratic socialist might be a better choice.

[BigBluenoser]

33. To me a left wing radical...

is one who would be proposing violent rebellion edit: and willing to enact violence against the existing capitalist structure and the replacement with a new social order (be it communism, anarchism etc.)

You can't be radical and be part of the establishment.

I would define the political center to occupied by those on the left or right who subscribe to the idea of "progress" achieved through incremental changes within the confines of the law. Their desired "end game" is one that can be understood by your typical citizen. I would say this is where the vast majority of democratic reps/sens lie and most of the US pop.

"Very Left" I would define as people who want to see drastic changes in the existing social structure (moving directly to socialism say) but still doing so within the confines of the legitimate political process. The "end game" requires one to reject a large number of widely shared beliefs & myths (competition, meritocracy,individualism etc.)

YMMV.

[michreject]

34. Blue Dog

Southern Democrat. Several generations. Gun owning, pick-up truck driving, long haired red neck.

[bigwillq]

36. Very, very left (nt)