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IMHO..... Supply side AND Demand side economics both are unrealistic.
And I absolutely stand against "unfettered" capitalism. Regulation is needed as long as greed exists. Case in point: Railroads, coal companies, sweat shops, in the 19th and 20th centuries.
1. The party compatibility test seemed deeply flawed. My top two, in nearly a dead heat at about 80%, were Libertarian and Green, which I regard as diametrically opposed phiosophically.
2. Many of our self professed "libertarians" were very laizzez faire economically, but not strongly libertarian socially.
3. Many of our self professed "liberals" came out strongly liberal on economic issues, but were a mix on the social scale in terms of how libertarian they tended.
The liberties questions posed can't discern a libertarian from a liberal because it did not link in the economic side into the same issue. There is no individual right on earth I would not grant to you.....abortion, pot smoking, joining the single payer Pelosi health plan.......just don't let any of it have any effect on my rights or my funds.
And what really is the logical demarcation between "agreeing" and "strongly agreeing"? I'm not prone to emotional histrionics, so it seems to me "agreeing" gets the job done.
I agree that the test was flawed; both of them were. Not only because of the "strongly" category, but also because there was no "I don't give a damn" option, which I for one would have hit on a few, simply because I could see agreeing in some instances but not in others. I found myself constantly wanting to ask "Could you please rephrase the question?" In the end, these tests didn't prove much, but were fun exercises. That's all they were.
The 18th century solutions you alluded to are the framework for solutions - not the solutions themselves. The founding fathers new political science and philosphy very very well. They know the general tendancies of governments, and that of unchecked power. That's why they attempted to put the power with the people - the first time in history for such an endeavor. And against their warnings, portions of our government turned away from the Constitution year after year, and hoarded for themselves a bit more power and money. That's the general tendancy of government when the Constitution is NOT followed.
18th Century framework - the PEOPLE should provide the solutions not the government. Just let the government be the referee.
1) Libertarian Party 100%
2) Constitution Party 70%
3) Republican Party 60%
Everything else came in 50% or lower.
I do find this exercise interesting in one regard, though. The people with whom my results seem to most closely align are those with whom I most often agree here on TMV.
I personally find that number disturbing.
With these numbers, why do we find it so difficult collectively to pull the lever for anyone other than a Democrat or Republican? I'm convinced that the two parties have entrenched themselves in a system that guarantees their survival.
I'm pretty sure the last election was the very last time I will do so.
Because we don't have a proportional system, If I vote for the Green Candidate, it's very likely that all that I will do is undermine the Democratic Candidate and get the Republican elected, (See Bush v Gore 2000) and all things being equal I would rather see a Conservative Democrat with whom I am agreement 50% of the time get elected than Liberal Republican (an oxymoron if there has ever been one) with whom I am agreement 80% of the time since the Republican is pretty much guaranteed to vote the Party line 90+% of the time once he/she gets to DC.
Like I said, I’m a little suspect of the questionnaire since its run by people promoting third parties. Still, I agree that we ought to vote for the person we think is best able to do the job, regardless of political affiliation. Some people say that is throwing your vote away, but I disagree. I believe the 2-party system is the equilibrium point in our political system, but that doesn’t mean third parties don’t play a role in shaping those 2 parties. We should not measure the success of a third party only by whether they win elections. More here: http://sovereignmind.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/t...
In 2008 I found myself disgusted with both campaigns and so considered voting for a third party. But Barr was too libertarian for my taste, and as I looked at the other parties I didn’t see anyone that seemed to have the basic qualifications (I’m not just voting for an ideology, but also a person of course). So in the end I held my nose and stuck with the major parties. On the other hand, it’s hard to have qualified candidates until you start winning more local elections, and and the more local the election the more probability there is to be a qualified candidate in a third party. So my principle is simple: vote for the person who would be the best in office. If everyone did that, over time that would result in more local officials who are from third parties, which would result in more qualified candidates for higher office, which would result in more pressure on the 2 major parties to adopt some of the principles of the 3rd party, which as I argue in the link above is the main purpose of minor parties.
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.44
(Insert standard disclaimer about how the questions are biased and/or annoyingly flawed in some other way here)
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 1.33
As I said in my original post, it's not so much the questions are flawed, but there is an issue of how to interpret them.
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.21
That's about as bull's eye center as you can get. Guess I belong on TMV.
I remember being a bit more conservative economically the first time (a long time ago). I think I was a lot more libertarian too if I recall.
Apparently, I'm closer to the Dhali Lama than I am George Bush or Barack Obama.
One thing I've noticed is that most of the responses, so far, have us as anti-authoritarian - or at least on the libertarian side of the line. That may be the one common thread we all share - no matter where we land economically.
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.74
yikes...last time I took this I was more to the right economically.
The -5 does ring true. I am very liberal on social issues.
That is what I like about this thread, it shows that one can be quite liberal on economic issues yet believe in a great deal of government control.
I think I moved more to the left economically because I view corp America and the government as almost the same entity these days. And since I am much more libertarian than I am economically left or right, my economics went left this time around.
I just checked out the reform party...interesting, but not my cup of tea.
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.31
To me, the most important thing that is left out is the willingness to accept, or even demand, that one's own leanings be tempered by those on the other side. I think I am generally right, but I also know that self-delusion is impossible to self-diagnose. The best way to keep me from making errors and dragging things too far to the left is to have a legitimate counter-balance on the right.
I think that attitude, more than any single issue stance, qualifies me as a moderate. I am a liberal, but I think it's best that the country steer a bit to the right of me.
Well, yes...but the individual numbers are not so meaningful by themselves, what is more important is how those numbers are in *relation* to others. That helps wash out any biases in the questions themselves.
For me, my score is -2.12/-3.74, which means I have remained steady on the libertarian scale over the years, but have slowly drifted to the left economically over the past couple of times I've taken the test.
I agree. I was half-joking in anticipation of what I thought would be many people trying to find problems with the questions (turned out there's not much of that). But even when trying to use these numbers to compare one person to another, I still think we need to be careful. In some cases the interpretation of the question affects how you answer, and it's likely that the same question is interpreted in different ways by two different people. I especially dislike questions with words like "never" in them because I can almost always find an exception to the rule that makes me have to answer contrary to what I would like to.
In any case, I'm not trying to over-analyze the test. It is interesting, I just don't think we should take it too far to compare two people.
http://www.3pc.net/matchmaker/quiz.html
It would be interesting to see where some of us end up.
Mine had me firmly in the Constitution Party (83%), with the Libertarian Party a close second (72%).
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.85
I ended up more left than I would have thought. I consider myself a conservative Democrat, but for me, that's a recent leftward trend.
Economic Left/Right: -7.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.62
According to the Party Matching Site:
1) Green Party 88%
2) Democratic Party 76%
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.49
Pretty close to the center. Interesting that no world leaders are in the same quadrant as I am.
81% Libertarian Party
69% Constitution Party
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian -6.15
77% Green Party
73% Natural Law Party
Social Libertarian/Authorian: -.05
Party Matching:
1. Constitution
2. Libertarian
3. Democratic
I'm not a congenial fit for either of the major parties but am closer to the Democratic than to the Republican, something I figured out for myself a long time ago.
I think that the Political Compass is most useful on a gross level. The farther you are from the center, the more ideological you are in one way or another.
Economic Left/Right: -3.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.72
This question on the test made me laugh out loud:
"When you are troubled, it's better not to think about it, but to keep busy with more cheerful things."
I believe that particular philosophy is a little too prevalent today. I like to take a break from concerns as much as the next person - for example I'll be out raking mountains of leaves here in a little while, and drinking a beer and watching a ball game later, but I also think there is too much turning away and too much denial.
Economic Left/Right: -1.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: - 6.77
Most interesting on party compatibility, R and D came in tied for 5th/6th at 33%
I agree with JD's observation that, based on the sample so far, the common thread at TMV seems to be a social libertarian bent.
2) Green Party 72%
3) Libertarian Party 61%
Economic Left/Right: -3.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.79
Economic Left/Right: -2.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.85
Interesting how many of us here seem to be relatively close to each other, while at the same time having some pretty heated threads.
Economic Left/Right: 4.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.38
"Yes by all means you should shelve your personal convictions in favor of fitting in with a herd label. Here, take our questionaire to see where you"fit". Now, shut your mind off and follow where that label tells you to go."
Sincerely, Acme Labelmakers Inc. "our motto: If the label fits, the herd will follow"
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.10
Hmph. As DaGoat noted, this is a lonely quadrant to occupy.
2) Constitution Party 86%
3) Republican Party 57%
The site though admits to the purpose of raising the profile of 3rd parties. Not that I think that's a bad thing, but it does raise questions about the test's objectivity.
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.41
Make of it what you will. Of course my reasoning for some of my economic views is a bit different from most, I think.
You are Communist? :-)
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.90
Well, since it is now out in readable numbers, let's at least not suggest this is predominately a moderate centrist blog.
Or, we could rename it the Schizophrenic Voice given the modestly left economic leanings of the majority above, juxtaposed against the above-mentioned modestly libertarian bias on the social scale.
Maybe we should just leave it The Moderate Voice. Just so you'll always have something to harp on...he said with a wry smile on his face. :-)
Edit: Three commenters over 5 on the libertarian side of the social scale. Kathy posted her comment as I was struggling to find the correct key strokes.
I am curious what you would get on the party affiliation link JD provided.
Economic Left/Right: -7.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -8.21
I have to confess I'm not good at parsing charts and graphics, so I'm not sure exactly what this means in terms of this particular test's criteria. I already know I'm very liberal and not at all authoritarian, so I'm assuming that's what it shows.
It means according to this test you are an Anarchist-Communist! :-)
That must mean I'm nothing, because those two sides would cancel each other out. :-)
Someone who wants a collective that promotes disorder and chaos? :-)
Economic Left/Right: 5.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 1.64
On the party scale, I came in at
1) Constitution Party - 75%
2) Libertarian Party - 67%
3) Republican Party - 63%
All the rest came in at less than 35%. Again, this is unsurprising.
1) Green Party 92%
2) Democratic Party 71%
3) Natural Law Party 71%
4) Reform Party 67%
5) Libertarian Party 33%
6) Constitution Party 29%
7) Republican Party 25%
I was surprised the results were so accurate for me, because I thought the design of the questions was very shallow. It's not always clear what "regulation" means in every context.
1) Libertarian Party 87%
2) Constitution Party 57%
3) Republican Party 52%
4) Reform Party 43%
5) Green Party 35%
6) Democratic Party 30%
7) Natural Law Party 13%
Social: -3.13
Libertarian: 95%
Constitution: 77%
Reform 55%
I'm happy to report that the major parties didn't show up in the top 3. I also had problems with some questions, but in the end, I showed up more moderate than I thought.
Libertarians believe, as a whole, in self-determination and empowerment of the individual against the state; Anarchists in disorder and violence:
lib⋅er⋅tar⋅i⋅an [lib-er-tair-ee-uhn]
–noun
1. a person who advocates liberty, esp. with regard to thought or conduct.
2. a person who maintains the doctrine of free will (distinguished from necessitarian).
3. one who advocates maximizing individual rights and minimizing the role of the state.
4. advocating liberty or conforming to principles of liberty.
5. maintaining the doctrine of free will.
an⋅ar⋅chist [an-er-kist]:
–noun
1. a person who advocates or believes in anarchy or anarchism.
2. a person who seeks to overturn by violence all constituted forms and institutions of society and government, with no purpose of establishing any other system of order in the place of that destroyed.
3. a person who promotes disorder or excites revolt against any established rule, law, or custom.
I may think you are socialist with almost communist leaning (and I do mean that not in a mean or insulting way, but in what seems to be your economic leanings, in a pure sense, not a Stalin/Mao sort of way), but I don't think you are an anarchist.
You think are a nice lady (who loves animals), with whom I have have strong disagreements on what would best help our country and Americans in the next 5 - 20 years. And who isn't afreaid to mix it up, either! :-)
MSF - that is not a Emma Goldman quote. That is from Karl Marx in his "Critique of the Gotha Program:
Basically, I believe in a mixed economy (public/private), which the U.S. is, but to a much lesser extent than most of the other mixed economies in the world. On social issues such as abortion for example I think I'm actually more of a libertarian than a lot of people who call themselves libertarian.
P.S. And thanks for the kind words!
Wouldn't a true "anarchist-communist" be a Hippy Commune?
I've done the compass one before and like many here, I come out as fairly left on social issues and middle of the road to the economic stuff.
As I mentioned in thecomments section to that post, there are some noteable flaws with Politcal Compass:
Which is probably it's biggest flaw. I consider myself to be a personal conservative, but politically more libertarian, which means that there are a lot of things that I consider wrong and harmful to both people and the society as a whole, but I don't believe that they can be usefully addressed by a government. It's an idea that seems to confuse many people, especially in abortion statistics, where a majority are against abortions, but also against it being illegal.
I just can't look at the government as a genie, or as a god, while seeing the real effects of its (usually) well-intentioned laws.
But I disagree with the test's vertical axis naming. I'd rate most progressives quite high on authoritarianism.
"Right-leaning Freedom Lover"
But it still had me close to centrist, only above it to the upper right.
No shock there.