VIP!: What's your political orientation? (a seminal question)

[TahitiNut]

Poll question: VIP!: What's your political orientation? (a seminal question)

In the positive interests of stamping out linear thinking and unidimensional rhetoric, from which stems an abundance of misunderstanding and misdirected antagonisms, I strongly encourage all DUers to weigh in on this poll.

As most might already know, the Political Compass offers a somewhat better disciplined and expansive portrayal of political ideologies than the often-misstated "Left vs. Right" linearity. A majority of the issues raised on DU seem to relate, not with the economic spectrum of principles, but with fundamentally differing views of 'social engineering'.

Thus, I strongly encourage DUers to take the survey at the link above, and "Vote" their results. I've accommodated seven separate clusters in this poll, under the assumption that the majority of DUers find their orientation somewhere in the Left-Libertarian quadrant. Thus, I've delineated four 'subquadrants' for Left-Libertarians.

Please take care and let's appreciate our diversity of perspectives. This perhaps will offer a richer perspective both of the registered DU audience, and of the variety of value structures driving our stances.

For reference, I offer this chart ...

[TahitiNut]

1. No ideological allies of Pope John Paul II yet?

C'mon, DUers -- weigh in.

Not too surprisingly (at least today), I find myself very close to the Dalai Lama, only slightly more Libertarian, which might be understandable given his iconic position. In yesteryears, I'd be surprised to not find myself closer to the (0,0) intersect. I prefer to think the world has moved and I've been indolent. ;-)

[ronnykmarshall]

17. Me too

I'm just about the same as the Dalai Lama as well. So when Richard Geer gonna call me?


Economic Left/Right: -3.88
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -5.49

[TahitiNut]

25. No ideological allies of Tony Blair or Gerhard Schröder yet?

C'mon, DUers -- weigh in. Show our diversity! (Or should we get a smaller tent?)

[inthecorneroverhere]

46. close but no cigar

I'd be close to them, except I'm to the left of them economically.

Chirac's my man, and I guess I better start going to church, because I'm supposedly real close to the Pope! :silly: :silly:

Economic Left/Right: -3.88
Authoritarian/Libertarian: 0.77

[inthecorneroverhere]

44. me!

I'm hangin' out with the Pope and Jacques Chirac!

My score
Economic Left/Right: -3.88
Authoritarian/Libertarian: 0.77

edit: added score

[inthecorneroverhere]

49. I see hardly anyone but myself, Chirac and the Pope in this region

No one even mildly in the NW quadrant?!?

me
Economic Left/Right: -3.88
Authoritarian/Libertarian: 0.77

C'mon, I won't bite. If this were the continental United States, Chirac, the Pope and I live somewhere on a farmstead in northwest Kansas. If you're afraid of being purged or :puke:'d by Joe Stalin, he's waaaaaay out in Seattle, being drenched by that never-ending rain. He's got moss on his back! :silly: :silly:

[poskonig]

2. SSW

-3.12 economic, -5.33 social

Too bad there isn't a third foreign policy axis on this quiz.

[berry]

7. I agree that it's too bad there were no questions about foreign policy,

military policy, etc. Maybe the absence of such is because it is (or was) less of an issue in the UK than it certainly is in the US.

I also have taken this quiz a few times before, and the results vary a little because sometimes I feel more "strongly." Also, there are a few questions that one could answer as to what one thinks is fact or how one feels about it. Eg., I wondered about the question asking if 1st generation immigrants could ever fully assimilate--my dad was an immigrant who lived in the US over 60 years before he died, and there were ways in which he was unassimilated. Anyway, I answered that I agreed (not strongly) that they could not--BUT I believe that nations should strive to make it easier, and I'm not anti-immigration. Actually, I'm not sure what the question was measuring....

My score: econ -8.88
auth/lib -7.18
I guess that puts me pretty far out there. I will "blame" my father, who used to say the US was in many ways a "backward" country--eg, not having national health services (which were in place in Sweden when he was born there), or not having strict forestry policies (replacement, etc--also the law in Sweden from way back). Dad was never sorry he came to the US, but he never thought it was perfect.

[Walt Starr]

3. I'm a pretty Liberal Libertarian

Economic Left/Right: -7.12
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -7.08


At least I'm in good company with Ghandi!

:evilgrin:

[Mz Pip]

4. The Dali Lama?

Works for me, though I am not particularly spiritual.

x 4.88
y -6.00

MzPip
:dem:

[LWolf]

5. I've taken this several times.

As I recall, there are 2 versions; one with a UK bent, one modified for americans.

I'm always a leftist libertarian. A little further left and south than Ghandi.

Economic Left/Right: -7.88
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -6.05

[theemu]

6. Economic: -6, Social -4.8

Weird. I've taken this test in the past before and gotten opposite results.

BTW, they have a great test, with one of my favorite new quotes on it, on this website:

"To occupy Iraq would instantly shatter our coalition, turning the whole Arab world against us and make a broken tyrant into a latter-day hero ... assigning young soldiers to a fruitless hunt for a securely entrenched dictator and condemning them to fight in what would be an un-winnable urban guerilla war. It could only plunge that part of the world into even greater instability."

Can you guess who said that?

[LSdemocrat]

21. George H.W. Bush

Ironic, isn't it?

[blue america]

8. I'm absolutely horrible with math

Never mind, I did the poll:
Economic Left/Right: -7.00
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -6.56

I'm a lot more SW than I thought.

[TheDonkey]

9. Social Democrat

The chart doesn't do a very good job of mapping out the north-west quadrant.

I'm about as left as Sadam but close to John Paul's position.

[tomp]

10. ok, so where do we mark the "center"?

how far in each direction do we go and still be able to unite on common principles?

let's say you arbitrarily call the center 3or 4 in all directions. what would that get you? probably no one i'd be happy with (Economic Left/Right: -8.62/Authoritarian/Libertarian: -7.49). this objectifies the idea that the center, at least to me, is a bad place, as likely to cause problems as solve them.

.

[MSchreader]

11. My political compass

Economic Left/Right: -8.88
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -8.97

Martin

[w4rma]

12. Economic Left: -8.12, Libertarian: -6.97 (n/t)

[bicentennial_baby]

13. Mine

Economic Left/Right: -8.00
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -7.85

[scarletlib]

32. I'm right there with you

Economic = -8.25 and Authoritarian = -7.59

Whoa I am extreme! So to answer a question raised in another thread yesterday asking if one gets more conservative as one gets older I would have to reply with a resounding NO. I getting older and more liberal every year.

on edit: Yeah! I finally got my star.

[zoidberg]

14. No wonder so many people dislike me - I'm the only one of my kind!

Economic Left/Right: 1.88
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -2.72

[ButterflyBlood]

15. more extreme than anyone else

Economic Left/Right: -9.88
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -8.21

[lastliberalintexas]

19. Right there with you

Even more to the left than the last time I took this.

-9.88 economic
-9.32 authoritarian/libertarian

I just get more left-wing everyday! :)

[JohnKleeb]

29. holy cow I thought I was liberal about -8 on both

[JanMichael]

37. stunned silence.

I thought that I had this one under control...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=18357&mesg_id=21527&page=

Wow.

[lastliberalintexas]

48. LOL

I was actually surprised that my authoritarian score was that low. I just knew I'd score a perfect -10 on that part of the test!

[Rich Hunt]

23. Me, too

Down in the corner with Uncle Noam, -8.75, -8.97.

[JohnKleeb]

28. dang and I thought I was left

I am about 8 on both btw.

[TahitiNut]

31. "+" or "-"??

Gandhi or Thatcher? ;-)

[JanMichael]

36. Not quite.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=18357&mesg_id=21527&page=

[ThirdWheelLegend]

16. wierd

I would have expected a more extreme result.
far SW quadrant tho.

TWL

[jpgray]

18. I am the Dalai Lama

:)

[Aaron]

20. Economic Left/Right: -4.88 & Authoritarian/Libertarian: -5.85

Interesting quiz. Thanks :)

[LSdemocrat]

22. Econ. : -4.5 Auth/Lib: -4.36

[Loonman]

24. Economic Left/Right: -2.50 Authoritarian/Libertarian: -3.74

Yep.

[TheBigGuy]

26. Done this before...score around Jean Chretien

Moderate liberal.

[election_2004]

27. question about my scores

Economic Left/Right: -6.25
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -5.85

Does that put me closer to Mandela or Chretien?

[ButterflyBlood]

30. Mandela

Chretien would be around -2 to -3 on the Y-axis and -1 to -2 on the X-asis

[JanMichael]

33. Far SW. -9.88 & -8.87

Economic Left/Right: -9.88
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -8.87

I've taken this test before starting a couple of years ago and have moved from the -6/-6 area to the far, far, Libertarian Left.

[xchrom]

34. mine was

economic 8.88
libertarian/authoratarian 8.26

[KamaAina]

35. Southwesterner moving into his brand-new adobe

I took that a while back. I forget my exact numbers, but my neighbors are Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, and Gandhi (not shown on the above graphic).

Rahter an interesting foursome for bridge, wouldn't you say?

[killbotfactory]

38. Far SW

Economic Left/Right: -5.75
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -5.38

[HootieMcBoob]

39. Very Cool Test

I ended up right around the Dali Lama and Mandela there.

[buddhamama]

40. my political compass

Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -8.75
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -7.85

[ChaoticSilly]

41. Economic -8.25, authoritarian -7.54

And I've always considered myself to be a moderate, live and let live kind of person. :silly:

[Suspicious]

42. SW

Economic L/R: -7.5; Authoritarian/Libertarian: -8.15

I've taken this Q/A -- both versions -- about three times, and I always end up in the neighborhood of the Dalai Lama, Mandela and Gandhi. Not bad company to be in, as far as I am concerned.

I do think some of the questions could be a bit less vague. A couple of them could be interpreted several different ways.

An example: Religion and morality are closely linked.

Well...I think it is obvious that religion and morality are closely linked, but I don't think "religion", in the formal sense of the word, is a prerequisite for morality.

Maybe I just need to quit thinking so hard about it. :think:

[MrPrax]

51. Ditto and Agree

Religion and Morality are closely linked...

I have done the test before and usually end up in the back forty of the sww quadrant...
In fact I keep wondering what the Dolly Lamer is doing there...
I mean I wouldn't take CIA junkets ;-)
And Ghandi was a Hindu Nationalist who told the Jews in 1938 to go commit suicide...
I would tell them to slice as many German throats as possible or flee!!

Its rigged

[TahitiNut]

43. Nobody willing to admit being a "Northeaster"???

C'mon, DUers. 'Fess up and weigh in. Don't we all have the courage of our convictions? :silly:

[JanMichael]

45. I would.

That, however, is not the case.

Sorry...

[Az]

47. Ok... So I'm a leftist liberal

Economic Left/Right: -8.50
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -8.31

I can deal with that.

[loudsue]

50. I'm the Dolly Mama

sittin' on the lap of the Dalai Lama.

Come....we meditate and smile.

[TahitiNut]

52. Ommmmm...

"Fish will be the last to discover water." (Einstein)
"Fish forget they live in water; people forget they live in Tao." (Lao Tsu)

[inthecorneroverhere]

53. This is interesting

Keep it going. I'd like to see a little more diversity of opinions here.

[TahitiNut]

55. I thought so.

While the Political Compass can certainly be nitpicked, it's seems unarguably more ideologically descriptive than the typically drain-bamaged unidimensional (if even that) rhetoric that infests DU (and other media) regarding "centrists," "leftists," etc. Without a common language we are reduced to a Tower of Babel (or other effluence).

[David Zephyr]

54. Far Southwest.

Naturally. :hi: