Comments on: Which Way Do You Lean

By: James

James — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:08:46 +0000

I like the tag “populist.” When used by Wm Jennings Bryan it meant something different, but still relevant. Sadly his “Cross of Gold” is nostalgia these days.
Today I think populism aptly describes the angst felt by a lot of conservatives about “big government and freedoms” and liberals in the context of “multi-nationals and war” etc.
So consider me a populist, even if it is of my own creation
Total Comment by James: 1

By: Martin Kelly

Martin Kelly — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:00:38 +0000

Cosmo, I love it. I definately don’t want the fish. Has anyone in Washinton (or Topeka, Austin, or Sacremento for that matter) ever heard of getting the pizza half pepperoni and half canadian bacon?

I took a more careful look at the polical compass. It seems that everyone is conservative. The charts on the canditates from the last election showed that President Obama and Vicepresident Bidden both became more liberal after the primaries (but still right of center) while Senator McCain became more conservative. The scale seems to put the center rather far to the left for my tastes, but then again I fell almost at the center. It is easy to criticize these quizes. If it was easy, any one of use would develop a better one.
Total Comments by Martin Kelly: 184

By: kosmo

kosmo — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:38:19 +0000

OK, I took the political compass test.

First of all, I’m surprised that they tried to slip this one past people. Are there people who are unaware of the origin of this quote? Maybe.

“from each according to his ability, to each according to his need” is a fundamentally good idea.

How did I do?

Economic: -1.75
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.69

In terms of the parties themselves, I think it only makes sense that they shift slightly left or right to pick up unaffiliated voters as needed. If you’re hungry for pepperoni pizza, would you rather compromise a bit and have canadian bacon pizza, or be forced to allow the other party to choose and get stuck with fish?
Total Comments by kosmo: 589

By: The Angry Squirrel

The Angry Squirrel — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:17:18 +0000

I agree the Nolan Chart was pretty simplistic, but for ease of use it has to be pretty vague to spit out a result quickly. I also thought the question selection over the course of the political compass one was weird at times and also felt that the right answer was not there all the time either. Although I felt it a more accurate projection overall.

I was right on the line of liberal in the centrist portion on the Nolan and scored -7.38/-3.65 on the Political Compass one.
Total Comments by The Angry Squirrel: 73

By: Martin Kelly

Martin Kelly — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:33:15 +0000

Wow. I took both tests. Squeeky’s had me dead on the corner of centrist/conservative/libertarian. I expected this as I consider myself a fiscal conservative and a social centrist. Liz’s test put me almost dead center, Economic -0.25, Social -0.31 which suggests just slightly libertarian slightly liberal. I was surprised by the high number of questions focusing on sex, but I guess that is a hot topic right now (no pun intended).

Squeeky, I appriciate your comment on my posting on Monday. You were right, I did enjoy this article.
Total Comments by Martin Kelly: 184

By: Squeaky

Squeaky — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:18:34 +0000

Great comments! I totally agree, this is a little simple. It looks to pigeon hole you in a short amount of time. In today’s society, 10 questions is about all most people will spend on subjects like this. You three are obviously OK with spending more time on these type of questions much like I am.

Liz, I like the link you included. Thank you and welcome to thesoapboxers.com.

I’m impressed to see a few people come out as centrists and still take the time to read a conservative posting. I’ll see you all next month!

Squeaky…
Total Comments by Squeaky: 187

By: Evan @40Tech.com

Evan @40Tech.com — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:16:01 +0000

I came out as Centrist- almost dead center. Liz does make a good point. Years ago, the Republicans did a masterful job of co-opting their current social platform, to bring in voters that would otherwise never vote Republican. There was a book about how the right clamped onto historically non-conservation platofrms. I wish I could remember the title, but it talked about how an area of Kansas (I think?) is now predominantly Republican, after always being Democratic. It was the social issues (gay marriage, etc.) that brought about the change.
.-= Evan @40Tech.com´s last blog ..What’s On My iPhone — Part One =-.
Total Comments by Evan @40Tech.com: 104

By: kosmo

kosmo — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:39:29 +0000

I agree with Liz – this seems a bit too simplictic. But that’s the tradeoff with ease of use.

Personally, I’m quite liberal socially, and pretty moderate fiscally – but this put me right at the intersection of centrist, conservative, and libertarian.

Taxes on internet sales don’t bother me a lot. If I buy a book at Wal-Mart, or on Amazon, why shouldn’t the two purchases be taxed in a consistent manner. Because Amazon’s an internet company?

Although, from a vendor point of view, I’m happy that Iowa excludes digitally delivered content from sales tax, so that I can avoid collecting sales tax for purchases from The Casual Observer’s store.
Total Comments by kosmo: 589

By: Liz

Liz — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:42:28 +0000

I tested as a Centrist Libertarian. I’m a registered R, and highly religious, but I believe in less government intervention. I do have to say that there were at least a few questions that I didn’t feel like any of the answers given were the “right answer” for me, so I picked the closest. Not ideal.

My definition of a conservative is a little different than yours. I think of “fiscal conservatism” as being the chief component of conservatism. The “family values” aspect is interesting, but is really relatively recent in the grand scheme of the timeline, and many times this subgroup proposes legislation that contradicts the “small government” part of the conservative makeup. If I want to convert people to my system of values, I don’t think government control is the best way to do that.

Good article – nice to encourage people to get perspective on where their beliefs actually are.

Here’s a site I’ve used in the past for the same purpose. They often show the compass reading of major political candidates or figures:
http://www.politicalcompass.org/

You can see where Barack Obama is here:
http://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection2008

I’m -4 Libertarian, and more in the middle of right/left, which I suppose means the political compass and the test you linked are giving similar results!
(Incidentally, I voted for Bob Barr, who is further to the right than McCain, but also more Libertarian leaning.)
.-= Liz´s last blog ..Getting Started Losing Weight – The Proper Tools =-.
Total Comment by Liz: 1