10
   

I finally figured out my problem with the American presidential race! The Political Test:

 
 
Reply Sat 9 Apr, 2016 11:09 am
https://www.politicalcompass.org/chart?ec=-5.25&soc=-5.08

https://www.politicalcompass.org/test

https://www.politicalcompass.org/images/axeswithnames.gif

About the Political Compass ™

In the introduction, we explained the inadequacies of the traditional left-right line.
single left-right axis

If we recognise that this is essentially an economic line it's fine, as far as it goes. We can show, for example, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung and Pol Pot, with their commitment to a totally controlled economy, on the hard left. Socialists like Mahatma Gandhi and Robert Mugabe would occupy a less extreme leftist position. Margaret Thatcher would be well over to the right, but further right still would be someone like that ultimate free marketeer, General Pinochet.

That deals with economics, but the social dimension is also important in politics. That's the one that the mere left-right scale doesn't adequately address. So we've added one, ranging in positions from extreme authoritarian to extreme libertarian.
cartesian plane with horizontal left-right axis and vertical authoritarian-libertarian axis

Both an economic dimension and a social dimension are important factors for a proper political analysis. By adding the social dimension you can show that Stalin was an authoritarian leftist (ie the state is more important than the individual) and that Gandhi, believing in the supreme value of each individual, is a liberal leftist. While the former involves state-imposed arbitrary collectivism in the extreme top left, on the extreme bottom left is voluntary collectivism at regional level, with no state involved. Hundreds of such anarchist communities existed in Spain during the civil war period

You can also put Pinochet, who was prepared to sanction mass killing for the sake of the free market, on the far right as well as in a hardcore authoritarian position. On the non-socialist side you can distinguish someone like Milton Friedman, who is anti-state for fiscal rather than social reasons, from Hitler, who wanted to make the state stronger, even if he wiped out half of humanity in the process.

The chart also makes clear that, despite popular perceptions, the opposite of fascism is not communism but anarchism (ie liberal socialism), and that the opposite of communism ( i.e. an entirely state-planned economy) is neo-liberalism (i.e. extreme deregulated economy)
chart with Stalin, Gandhi, Friedman, Thathcher, Hitler

The usual understanding of anarchism as a left wing ideology does not take into account the neo-liberal "anarchism" championed by the likes of Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman and America's Libertarian Party, which couples social Darwinian right-wing economics with liberal positions on most social issues. Often their libertarian impulses stop short of opposition to strong law and order positions, and are more economic in substance (ie no taxes) so they are not as extremely libertarian as they are extremely right wing. On the other hand, the classical libertarian collectivism of anarcho-syndicalism ( libertarian socialism) belongs in the bottom left hand corner.

In our home page we demolished the myth that authoritarianism is necessarily "right wing", with the examples of Robert Mugabe, Pol Pot and Stalin. Similarly Hitler, on an economic scale, was not an extreme right-winger. His economic policies were broadly Keynesian, and to the left of some of today's Labour parties. If you could get Hitler and Stalin to sit down together and avoid economics, the two diehard authoritarians would find plenty of common ground.

A Word about Neo-cons and Neo-libs

U.S. neo-conservatives, with their commitment to high military spending and the global assertion of national values, tend to be more authoritarian than hard right. By contrast, neo-liberals, opposed to such moral leadership and, more especially, the ensuing demands on the tax payer, belong to a further right but less authoritarian region. Paradoxically, the "free market", in neo-con parlance, also allows for the large-scale subsidy of the military-industrial complex, a considerable degree of corporate welfare, and protectionism when deemed in the national interest. These are viewed by neo-libs as impediments to the unfettered market forces that they champion.
Your Political Compass
Economic Left/Right: -5.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.08
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Type: Discussion • Score: 10 • Views: 6,211 • Replies: 86

 
engineer
 
  3  
Reply Sat 9 Apr, 2016 12:00 pm
@bobsal u1553115,
So what is your problem?
bobsal u1553115
 
  2  
Reply Sat 9 Apr, 2016 02:01 pm
@engineer,
Take the test: https://www.politicalcompass.org/test
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  2  
Reply Sat 9 Apr, 2016 02:11 pm
they've moved Sanders to the left since the last time I took this (4 or 5 months ago) but still say this about him

Quote:
Quite why Sanders is describing himself to the American electorate — of all electorates — as a 'socialist' or 'democratic socialist' isn't clear. His economics are Keynesian or Galbraithian, in common with mainstream parties of the left in the rest of the west — the Labour or Social Democrat parties. Surely 'Social Democrat' would be a more accurate and appealing label for the Sanders campaign to adopt. While Sanders claims to admire particularly the Scandinavian model, he neglects to point out that a characteristic of all social democracies is a low defence budget, reflecting not only a degree of anti-militarism, but also social spending as a priority. Beyond tinkering, though, Sanders has no appetite for significantly cutting the Herculean defence budget or criticising imperial adventures. His urging for the World's most authoritarian country, Saudi Arabia, to assert a stronger military presence in the Middle East is a bizarre position for a social democrat to hold. These odd clusters of attitudes are reflected in our placement of Sanders. Domestically the man is an undoubted progressive — not the least for his courageous attack on corporate campaign funding. But on foreign policy, you could expect a President Sanders to be strikingly similar to his predecessors.


__

I keep heading further into deep libertarian left territory. At this pace, I'll be joining my pal Bogowo as a libertarian anarchist before I'm 70.
ossobuco
 
  2  
Reply Sat 9 Apr, 2016 02:20 pm
@ehBeth,
I took this test, or type of test at a2k a couple of times. Don't want to hunt for the thread or threads; I was somewhere close but not right below Ghandi and edging to libertarian (if I remember).

Re your point on Sanders, ehBeth, I agree with that as odd to the max. I figure fear's in there in the mix or maybe just dumbness.
0 Replies
 
snood
 
  2  
Reply Sat 9 Apr, 2016 06:14 pm
Here's me:
https://www.politicalcompass.org/chart?ec=-6.63&soc=-4.15
ossobuco
 
  2  
Reply Sat 9 Apr, 2016 07:13 pm
Hmmm. Here's me, for today:

https://www.politicalcompass.org/chart?ec=-5.75&soc=-7.79
ehBeth
 
  2  
Reply Sat 9 Apr, 2016 07:31 pm
@ossobuco,
hey sister! Smile

we're sitting on pretty much the same square
snood
 
  2  
Reply Sat 9 Apr, 2016 07:54 pm
Buncha @!%^&*(#$!! leftwing bleedin heart ###%%^&&*(!!
Lash
 
  2  
Reply Sat 9 Apr, 2016 08:06 pm
https://www.politicalcompass.org/yourpoliticalcompass?ec=-4.88&soc=-6.56
ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Sat 9 Apr, 2016 08:12 pm
@ehBeth,
I knew I liked 'ya!

0 Replies
 
ossobuco
 
  2  
Reply Sat 9 Apr, 2016 08:14 pm
@snood,
You're so right, Snood. Oh, wait, I mean so left..
0 Replies
 
ossobuco
 
  2  
Reply Sat 9 Apr, 2016 08:19 pm
@Lash,
got to put the Img thingies around it..

Nope - but that worked for me to show the image.

https://www.politicalcompass.org/yourpoliticalcompass?ec=-4.88&soc=-6.56
RABEL222
 
  1  
Reply Sat 9 Apr, 2016 09:51 pm
@ossobuco,
ertarian/Authoritarian: -2.97
personalised chart

If I copied this right I am about where the rest of you liberals are
RABEL222
 
  2  
Reply Sat 9 Apr, 2016 09:52 pm
@RABEL222,
Damn im never going to figure how to post pictures and things.
0 Replies
 
bobsal u1553115
 
  1  
Reply Sun 10 Apr, 2016 07:03 am
@snood,
Damn, snood: we're close.
0 Replies
 
engineer
 
  4  
Reply Sun 10 Apr, 2016 08:22 am
@bobsal u1553115,
I've done this before and got about the same answer this time (right in the middle of the green box). What I thought was surprising was the website takes on various politicians. I took the test again putting in answers the way I thought Clinton would answer and shading my responses towards the right and conservative if I wasn't sure. I got completely different results than the authors of the website.

Engineer's take on Clinton
https://www.politicalcompass.org/chart?ec=-0.63&soc=-1.95

Then I did the same thing trying to answer for Sanders but shading my answers towards left/libertarian if I was uncertain.
https://www.politicalcompass.org/chart?ec=-7.0&soc=-6.51

This is a lot different than the website authors. They put President Obama and Romney right about where Clinton is in 2012.
https://www.politicalcompass.org/images/us2016.png

It might be interesting to have people who think they can honestly answer to try doing this for themselves if only to see how people see each candidate.
ehBeth
 
  3  
Reply Sun 10 Apr, 2016 09:28 am
@engineer,
engineer wrote:
What I thought was surprising was the website takes on various politicians.


they've changed it a LOT since the last time I took it.

The last time I did this - they both showed up as being almost exactly where you are - with Clinton showing up lower more toward libertarian (as socialists traditionally are more on the government/authoritarian side of things). They've clearly fiddled things.

I'd always questioned the bias of the site but it's become blindingly obvious.
0 Replies
 
revelette2
 
  2  
Reply Sun 10 Apr, 2016 09:31 am
@engineer,
I tried to do it but since I am almost never passionately disagree or agree on anything, I simply didn't like the test to do it again. I fell more to the right than I am really am since I am not passionate.
Lash
 
  -1  
Reply Sun 10 Apr, 2016 11:16 am
@revelette2,
No. It's because you're a DINO. Just accept it.
 

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