Political Compass

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

www.politicalcompass.org

Intersting site which tries to map your politics on a more accurate spectrum than just left/right.

I got this:

Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -5.50
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -9.69



Slightly difficult, since I don't agree with public funding for museums in principle (since I don't agree with the tax system that allows it), but in practice, it's the only way to keep them going under the present system, there are other questions that I had either ambiguos responses to or couldn't really answer honestly. Interesting though, and puts me pretty much where I expected.

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

second try:

[Sergio Zamora]

That's all nice and good, Nat, but where's the link?

[Monte Smith]

I think I did this before--the questions are all based on British political realities, creating an interesting bias. I forget what my score was, but evidently I should be Prime Minister. Here, here.

Sergio, there is another link in the Killing For Oil thread, but the site seems to be down right now, I can't get it open anyway. Maybe thats why Nat is having a hard time getting it to post here.

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

OK. link posted in the first post. sorry about that guys, although I'm glad you're all so keen. Can't post the graph since it appears to be several layered gifs. If anyone works it out, let me know.







Left....................x................................................Right

Libertarian...x.......................................................Authoritarian

That's the best I can do for now.

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

I'm at the bottom of the green square, towards the middle.

[Monte Smith]

One can poke holes in the bias of this test with even the first question, of course.

"If globalisation is inevitable, it should primarily serve humanity rather than the interests of trans-national corporations."

Which presumes many things: that the two interests are exclusive, that some uncorrupt, informed body can determine humanity's interests wisely enough to be trusted, etc.

I bet the judgements rendered are as slanted as the questions. I would be very interested in taking a more objective test, but this one will have to serve.

Economic Left/Right: 3.62
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -1.23

--Geez they don't even place a single example in my quadrant.

[Dr Dave]

Fascinating. Here's my score:

Economic Left/Right: 0.12
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -4.00

I come out right in the middle on economics, with a slightly libertarian bias. My nearest political soulmate is Jean Chretien. No wonder I feel like a voice in the wilderness around here. I AM in the wilderness. I mean, there are no "suggested readings" available for centrists.

A Manifesto for Centrists!

Which reminds me, I'm sure I'll be condemned as wishy-washy for having a centrist position. I can see Jazzcornerites left and right either demanding to know where I really stand or simply saying that my results are proof that I stand for nothing. Anticipating this, I refute both claims. I do not believe polarization around issues equates to strongly held political beliefs. I think instead that it is simply easier to take a position and hammer on it. It's certainly a lot easier than actually thinking about how the world might actually work. It is possible, for example, to believe that rehabilitation is a good idea for criminals, while at the same time believing it will not work for all criminals. Similarly, it is possible to be against the criminalization of sexual behavior and against censorship while at the same time believing our daily life has become unhealthily saturated with sexual images.

And there is one issue on which I'll never budge: It is NEVER all right to hit kids. Parents who hit their kids are simply proving their inadequacy as parents. There! An unabashed stand! I feel better.

[Noj]

Economic Left/Right: -5.50
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -5.08

[Brian Olewnick]

Economic Left/Right: 5.38
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -6.56

Placing me slightly beneath and to the left of the center of the lower right hand quadrant.

Agree that many of the questions don't give nearly enough info to make a definitive statement.

Economic Left/Right: -3.00
Authoritarian/Libertarian: 0.97



I'm a lefty, I'm a lefty!!!!!!!!!!!

I really liked the question 'some people are just naturally unlucky'. And thats supposed to tell me what?

Interesting test Nat, but if this is what you use as a true compass to determine left and right, then I can certainly see why you think I'm confused about it all.

[Sergio Zamora]

Economic Left/Right: -8.00
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -7.13


Dude, I'm way more libertarian than Libertarian Brian. What's up with that?

[Brian Olewnick]

It's the heroin.

[TheloniousFunk]

Economic Left/Right: -5.62
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -3.18

Glad I'm closer to Gandhi than Hitler.

[Miles]

Economic Left/Right: -7.75
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -6.00

Just me and Nelson Mandela.

[blawless]

Economic Left/Right: -6.12
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -6.67

If you care. Say, not to hitch on Nat's thread, but here's another know-yerself test. (I know, next everyone will be sharing their DSM-IVr classifications.) This one ostensibly measures how much tension there is in your belief system. Personally, I think the more the better, but I also think less is best.

http://www.philosophers.co.uk/games/check.htm

[Brian Olewnick]

My Tension Quotient was only 7% (Average is 28%). I'm very relaxed about this result.

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

Yeah the questions are flawed in many ways, but the four way thing is why I think it's good..

Sergio, you're more libertarian socially than Brian, but more collectivist economically (about 10-15 points economically). Which makes you a far left-libertarian, whereas I'd be a centre-left libertarian.

Scott, you come out as slightly north of centre in the social axis - which is where I think most of your right-wingness is - things like foreign policy, social policy, as opposed to economics.

This is why I think people get so confused about left/right - there are two distinct aspects to both left and right that aren't necessarily tied in.

[walto]

I would have preferred this test, and been able to answer more of the questions if there'd been a choice between "agree" and "disagree" (like "unsure or no opinion"). As it is I came up right in Chretien's lap, with something like -1 and -4 (or vice versa?), but I often had to just flip a coin.

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

Here's their response to some of Monte's questions

Your proposition on globalisation suggests that corporations and humanity can't both benefit.
This one sometimes ruffles feathers on right wings. What the proposition actually suggests is that humanity should be the priority.

Critics argue that there's no conflict of interest. Transnational corporations naturally and unfailingly serve humanity by serving themselves. In enriching business , globalisation will subsequently benefit humanity. Prioritising humanity would only limit the ability of the corporations to ultimately do greater good. So advocates of this trickle down approach should simply click 'strongly disagree' We don't see the problem.

For respondents who report that they strongly agreed with the proposition, names like Bophal and Enron are often mentioned. Such opponents of the trickle down theory might do well to explore it in more depth through the works of one of its principal architects, Milton Friedman. www.ideachannel.com/Friedman.htm On the other hand, the Friedman faithful could benefit from a visit to www.corpwatch.org.

Some of the questions are slanted

All of them are slanted ! It's important to understand that this isn't a survey, and these aren't questions - they're propositions. Some are extreme, some are more moderate. That's how we can show you whether you lean towards extremism or moderation on the Compass.

[Gordon B]

We've taken tests like this before. This particular one has a lot of loaded questions. A good test would be one where there would be no way to quess where the questionaire creator stood on the political spectrum. This isn't it.

Example 1,,
"Abortion, when the mother's life is not threatened, should always be illegal."

If I wanted to load the question the other way, I would write

Abortion, when the fetus is viable outside the womb, should always be legal.

Now, if both questions were there, there would be no bias.

Example 2,
"The businessman and the manufacturer are more important than the writer and the artist.
"
More improtant to ?????

This is an assinine question.

I didn't score myself.

[walto]

Whether put in their original form or with Gordon's amendments, I'd still want a "don't know/care" option. I mean, does everybody HAVE to know what to think about, say, abortion?

Exactly Walto. Which is why I found this test to be so damn interesting. It's a goof really, at least if it isn't, it should be. It's like a really boring party trick.

Nat, I think anybody who relied on this 'test' would be the only ones really confused. Besides, it says I'm a lefty, nuff said.

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

They said they do that on purpose, so people can't wimp out.

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

About 20%, although I was more unsure of my stance on a lot of those than the politics one, so at least 3-4 could have been less tense.

[Uli]

fweiw

left/right - 4.50
authoritarian/libertarian-5.44

[clinthopson]

I'm

Economic Left/Right: -3.12
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -4.46

I show up in the upper part of the lower left quadrant, right with Nelson Mandela which should come as no surprise to anyone.

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

Scott, I'll point out again that I don't think the test is great.

My point is that a four-way political spectrum is a much more accurate way to think about things than a two-way spectrum. It also includes political viewpoints not represented by conservative/liberal fascist/communist etc., which is my main beef with your constant leftie-liberal statements. A lot of people on the "left" are quite authoratarian socially, a lot of people on the right are quite libertarian socially.

It's not the test that's important (although it's interesting), it's the way of thinking about left/right.