The Political Compass

Economic Left/Right: -4.38
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.46

I dislike the way many of these questions are structured. They are too complex for simple agree/disagree answers. This is an example of one of the more poorly constructed questions:



Am I agreeing that it is significant, or that it is an advantage, or that it avoids all the arguments?

My answers to that question aren't unanimous yet I am forced to answer unanimously.

Economic Left/Right: -7.62
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.41

Besides what Butrflynet said above, I think that just four possibilties to answer isn't correct as well.

I was very astonished to see Pope Paul on the left site - he is considered in Europe as kind of ultra-conservative-right. And Schröder right as well? Tell that our conservatives!

I quit halfway. Some questions would be either incompatible with my politics or logical fallacies if answered. Yes, sometimes the policies I most despise can be beneficial. But if the choice is either to deny that and better represent my position or to cede that it's possible (which is logically correct) and misrepresent what that means to my political position then the test's results are compromised.

BTW, this test (from a cursory glance) seems to steer away from being an authoritarian and many elements of it remind me of the "world's smallest political quiz".

Here is a link about the "smallest quiz", I think this test does many of the same things.

Here's an old thread about political tests that are skewed toward an answer.

This one's much better than it's more famous counterpart, but still badly enough done that I think we could do better.

This is the exact same question I was referring to when I mentioned a postulate you agree with, but you don't want things that way.

Of course you avoid arguments. Of course you avoid delay. But, do you really want a one-party government with no opposition running things anyway they want.

I'm a Republican. And yet, I'm now considered a Liberal Democrat. Have things shifted that much since I last evaluated my stance on everything?

Economic Left/Right: 2.12
Libertarian/Authoritarian: 1.08 ... pretty close to center.

I had no idea I'd score so similarly to Carol Mosely Braun, John Kerry, and Gerhard Schroeder. Well, I don't feel any different ... about myself, about them, or about the "survey"; none of which should be taken too seriously.

Interesting that only Sharpton and Kucinich, among contemporary American politicians charted, score to the left of center. Not surprising though; politically, The US as a whole is to the right of most of the developed world. I expect neither that nor the relative US economic, political, and military position within the world community are accidents.

I really got a kick out of "The Smallest Quiz" Here's my plot:

Both tests skew toward left/libertarian.

You righties might be surprised at your scores but I'm not.

Thanks. I had a slight clue, but I wasn't ready to analyze. I had been drinking and thought there was a slight problem. It's game day for crying out loud. I took the test between touchdowns.

LOL! It is I, Nelson and the Dalai Lama out there - but I am more centrist. In reality, I think I am more centrist economically than the test allowed me to express. Wishy washy to the core, I am

Lots of Authoritian Libertians Here.
Does that mean fascist tight asses?

Does what mean fascist drunken donkeys?

I didn't really respect the test, but found it interesting enough to follow through.

I felt the test was skewed, and tendentious. By that, i don't mean that it was necessarily biased toward a particular ideological stand, but rather that it appeals to many ridiculous points of view in the questions asked, and for which the responses provided were often inadequate. It finds that i am a leftist libertarian, which is not an offensive description to me, just silly. Transferring traditional categories from a line to a graph does not represent any great development in "political categorizing" in my opinion.

Apart from that, on many of the questions which i considered silly, i wished for a "no opinion" option.

I'll post first and comment after I've read the other posts from you guys:

Economic Left/Right: -1.75
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.87

Not very surprised. Like nimh, those "some(times)" are difficult for me to answer.

Some questions are also FAR too simple - e.g. the unemployment v. inflation one!

Having thought about it a bit further, a few things occur.

Politicians are always likely to be more authoritarian than the people they represent - the more they control, the better for them! Also, we fear that really letting everyone do as they choose will cause havoc, not progress. Anarchy is the most extreme form of libertarianism, of course.

I'm amazed at some of the questions, which are total "non-issues" in the UK/pars of Europe. Abortion is legal and no significant group is campaigning to outlaw it. Marajuana is close to de-criminalised, already.

The sex before marriage question was from another era entirely and what was the nonsense about "naturally homosexual"?

It seems like a test aimed at rednecks, so it's no wonder we (thinking people, whether normally "liberal" or "conservative") would end up to the Left/Libertarian side of the scales.

I'm left leaning but, as an accountant, I know that large corporations making profits means money in pension funds so that shareholders can afford heating, medical care and something to pass on to the next generation. They also provide jobs, the materials or services we use and take care of certain social needs. The question on "humanity" versus "corporations" did not address any of that.

Profit motives get things done (organisations with no profit motive can be very "stagnant"), yet I still prefer the Marx quote about ability and need and think that the Friedman one on profit-only motives for companies.

Tests like this are too simple but at least give us cause to discuss HOW we make political and moral decisions.

KP

Economic Left/Right: 5.38
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.62

There are not politicians in my square to whom I can compare myself. Maybe that is why I always have so much trouble in the voting booth!

Economic Left/Right: 3.62
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.05

1) No politicians in my quadrant. Odd. I guess the explanation is that if you don't believe in governing the country, you won't make an effort to govern it for a living. I'd be happy to learn though.

2) Too bad there wasn't an option labelled "Don't agree with premise. Can neither agree nor disagree." I would have chosen this answer about once out of every three questions.

3) Milton Friedman, the only prominent person in my quadrant, was my previous avatar. So the quizz did get something right.

Ha Ha

You radical leftist.

I'll bet you have a poster of Che Guevara on your closet door. :wink:

... and I was called a centrist (e.g. by George)! [can't nearly write - red flag in the one, maschine-gun in the other hand, waving hammer and sickle with my feet]

Your political compass

Economic Left/Right: 5.88
Libertarian/Authoritarian: 6.36

Puts me a little deeper in the Authoritarian Right than my hero Margaret Thatcher.

Then again I suppose it shouldn't surprise me.

Love the test BTW .... sent it to a bunch of my friends ... thanks for taking the time to find and post it.

I have an even simpler quizz:

Do you agree with my political positions, without quibble or cavil, even though you may not know what all of them are?


_____ Yes


_____ No


If you answered yes, you are a stable, political realist, and show excellently good taste in political demagogues. If you, however, you answered no--you are a lunatic fringe crackpot, and we'll be gunning for you.