Political Compass

[HughMoran]

I had forgotten about this site. Someone in GD posted this link again. Who knew I was more liberal than Dennis Kucinich? Who knew my self-described "libertarian-liberal" wasn't at all far from the truth (at least according to this relatively well-respected measure.)

http://www.politicalcompass.org/

[DFLforever]

1. I haven't taken this one for awhile

I'm about where you are on the chart except I'm up one on the middle line in libertarian. You know why we're to the left of these famous people? We're not in office. At least I'm not. I don't have to compromise. I can have any opinion I please on any subject. I don't have to deliver on any of them either. Which is why I can't truly say I'm to the left of Dennis Kucinich or Pres Obama.

I don't care for the word libertarian but I'll accept it here because I've never been comfortable butting into other people's business. Privacy is to me a basic civil and moral right. But economic libertarianism makes me shudder.

[HughMoran]

3. Yes, it's true what you say

We don't have to compromise and so we get more 'purist' scores. Of course it's not the same 'Libertarian' that people argue about in GD - but try to tell a single person that - they'll call you the spawn of the Devil or tell you that there's 'no such thing' as small 'l' libertarian. Whatever, I find it kind of funny. I find the whole notion of tagging people serves no other person than to divide people here. That's why being in the company of Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and Ghandi shows how ironic people are when they call you a 'cheerleader' or worse. This was the point I was making by posting this. It's all bullshit.

[CTLawGuy]

2. interesting site

Is Obama's answer based on his actually taking the test or their "guess" as to where he would be?

I have a problem with some of the questions that may screw up my answers.

Pg. 2

"'from each according to his ability, to each according to his need' is a fundamentally good idea." What do they mean by "good idea"? Do they mean "good" as in "practical", i.e. it should be made the US's governing philosophy as things stand, or do they mean "good" as in "moral", i.e. in a perfect world, this would be the philosophy the US would follow.


"It is regrettable that many personal fortunes are made by people who simply manipulate money and contribute nothing to their society." Is this referring to people who work in financial industry or is it referring to people who make money primarily off of investments and don't work?

"Those with the ability to pay should have the right to higher standards of medical care." What do they mean by "right", the freedom to get a higher standard of care, or an actual government entitlement to higher standard of care?

pg 3

"When you are troubled, it's better not to think about it, but to keep busy with more cheerful things." this one really needs a "depends" choice.

pg 4

"A significant advantage of a one-party state is that it avoids all the arguments that delay progress in a democratic political system." not sure what this question is supposed to elicit about political philosophy, I think everyone objectively would agree, assuming it is a true one party state where everyone agrees with each other or no disagreement is allowed.

"Multinational companies are unethically exploiting the plant genetic resources of developing countries." I think this question may be over most people's heads, i.e., most people won't have a sufficient knowledge background to properly answer the question.

[HughMoran]

4. I'll assume people with expressed stances on these subjects were 'guessed' at

And yes, that makes elected people 'seem' more right that they are or would answer these questions on their own. I assume this bias. Obama is still more liberal than most other Democrats who were running in '08 with the noted exception of Kucinuch (Edwards was slightly leftward but touching Obama.)

I answered the Marx question that it wasn't a good idea based on the failed experiments to achieve that ideal. It can't be achieved in the real world (IMO) but it's too complicated to explain why (it would take all day, and then some), thankfully the question is multiple choice!

I assumed that anybody who manipulates money for a living was not contributing to society in a meaningful way (but yes, my prejudice is primarily against Wall St.)

I think 'right to higher standard of medical care' means 'pay for the best doctors'. I didn't take an extreme position on this (because many who have the ability to pay more have worked very hard to achieve that, though I generally disagree that 'well off' should mean 'better healthcare'.)

Can't argue that a couple of those questions are 'silly', though they may weed out some more extreme people who would take a strong stance where I might be looking for 'neutral'.

[bigwillq]

5. Me

Economic Left/Right: -7.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.56

[CBR]

6. This is me... total centrist

http://www.politicalcompass.org/facebook/pcgraphpng.php?ec=-9.12&soc=-5.95

[HughMoran]

8. lol @ radical

radical 'cheerleader' that is :rofl:

[CBR]

11. ...

[HughMoran]

12. hah!

:rofl:

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

7. Damn near perfectly aligned with DK.

Can't say I'm shocked. I like his positions but think he's a nutjob politically.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/printablegraph?ec=-3.00&soc=-1.59

[jaxx]

9. I am still left....can't remember the other time I took it, but it was left.

Economic Left/Right: -7.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.15

[HughMoran]

10. Since I removed the 'compass' from my signature, here's where I am at

[quiet.american]

13. Recently, I came to the conclusion I'm a center-left moderate. Well, a pic is worth a 1000 words. :)

My results:



(Thanks, Hugh, for posting the link, by the way.)

[Jennicut]

14. I am libertarian left as well, most of us are very liberal here. We just have different tactics to

get to our goals.

[Uzybone]

15. Here is mine (Libertarian - Liberal as well)

The Political Compass

Economic Left/Right: -6.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.90


http://www.politicalcompass.org/printablegraph?ec=-6.88&soc=-5.90

[HughMoran]

16. When I click on it, the graph doesn't match your numbers

That's why I clipped it off the screen :D

[Uzybone]

17. LOL. My bad, that was someone else's graph

Ive updated my post. Thanks.