NationStates Jolt Archive

http://www.politicalcompass.org/ ...where do you fit in? Take the poll...it's multiple choice so you can put down both of your categories, also, post your results here. This will be interesting no doubt.

Anyway, I attached two of the graphs so that people who don't care to visit the site get an idea of what this is, also so we have easy reference to the chart with all the world leaders on it. I like the GWB is farthest right and Hussein is farthest left, hehehe...anyway, here are my results:

Economic Left/Right: -0.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.18

Not very deep in either side and probably quite varying. I'm sure I dabble all around the origin there...last time I took it I remember being almost the exact same socially but about +0.8ish Economically. Who knows...

Not again!

-9 (social)
-2.5 (economic).



Did you see this picture:

http://www.digitalronin.f2s.com/politicalcompass/images/USPrimaries031002.gif

How can John Edwards be 'one of the most liberal senators in congress'?

Economic Left/Right: -5.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.46


The closest famous people to me...

Ghandi.
Nelson Mandela.

Your forgetting the Dalai Lama. ;)

Economic Left/Right: -8.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -9.03

Economic Left/Right: -9.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -8.00

w00t?


how many times must we discuss this webpage on this board?

somewhere between -8 and -10 for both axes, depending on my mood. the closest historical figures would be kropotkin and malatesta. too bad they didn't qualify globally known figures...

I've been down and left the last billion times this topic appeared.

Last time I took it I was about -8, -7

I had no idea i was so left-wing.

I remember mine from a while back

Left/Right= -10
Libertarian/Authoritarian= -8.41

ph34r me.

I've been down and left the last billion times this topic appeared.

I'm exactly the same, but close to the centre, like -3, -3; -3, -2; around there.

Last time I took it I was about -8, -7

I had no idea i was so left-wing.

i guess that non-americans turn out to be more left-wing than they think they are when being judged by american standards.

i guess that non-americans turn out to be more left-wing than they think they are when being judged by american standards.
They aren't American standards. They're normal people's standards

Left/Right - 9.12
Libertarian/Authoritarian - 7.59

They aren't American standards. They're normal people's standardsSubstantiate that.

Isn't the website British?

The problem with the political compass is that, whilst the concept is excellent, the test is quite poor, as the difference between "strongly agree" and "agree", and between "strongly disagree" and "disagree" is totally subjective. Therefore, the test is likely to get your general leanings right, but how extreme you are deemed to be is dependent on your interpretation of those differences.

About 2 weeks ago I got this: Economic Left/Right: -5.88, Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.74. But I think I click "strongly" more readily than most people.

Isn't the website British?
You're right. I am going to point to this post as an example of what I mean by 'substantiate' from now on. ;)

Economic Left/Right: -4.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 0.67

Economic Left/Right- -4.00.
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian- -3.69.

I think the SL/A is unfair- I like freedom (legal but expensive and regulated marijuana, same-sex marriage, limited but legal pornography, etc.), but I also think if you question your government and don't find it lacking you should obey proper authority.

Plus, my No Religion In Government philosophy boosted me from centrist to left-wing since I had to answer "Strongly Disagree" to almost all of those questions.

Economic Left/Right: -3.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.13

Hmm, quite drastic left, I don't think I'm as leftist as that. I'm prolly closer to the middle. But I dunno...

They aren't American standards. They're normal people's standards


Ergo "American people != normal people"?

Ergo "American people != normal people"?

American political values are concentrated in slightly authoritarian right values besides radical parties such as the Libertarians and Greens.

Other countries have much more complete distribuations of political ideologies, ergo, America =!= standard political spectrum.

Economic - -9.00
Social - -8.97

Awesome, I've taken this test 2 other times, and am getting progressively more left-wing.

i guess that non-americans turn out to be more left-wing than they think they are when being judged by american standards.

Well I am an American and I got:

Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -6.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.38

;)

*looks at the poll*
Whoa! NS is more left-wing than I thought!

Economic Left/Right: -4.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.56

I think the poll churns out more lefties because everyone is politically concious when they take it. For instance, how many people really wanted to answer "my race has advantages over others" but didn't because they know it isn't socially acceptable? (I don't think that, FYI)

Also, many of us are sick of the Right after Bush when we'd otherwise be centrist or conservative (I'm a left-centrist but because I oppose Bush I gradually shifted into the moderate liberal area.)

And, most liberals are young- NS has a large percentage of young people.

Authoritarianism rocks!

this has nothing to do with the poll question, but what in the hell does "ZX81 H4x0r0r" mean???

this has nothing to do with the poll question, but what in the hell does "ZX81 H4x0r0r" mean???
It could have someting to do with the Sinclair (?) ZX81.

I got a perfect -10/-10, the last time I took this quiz. Libertarian Communist all the way!

My rating:

Economic Left/Right: 8.38
Social Authoritarian/Libertarian: -1.24

Economic Left/Right: -3.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.62

Economic Left/Right: -3.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.10

oo oo oooo that puts me in with gandhi, nelson mandela and the dalai lama

much more interesting than seeing who shares my astrological sign

It could have someting to do with the Sinclair (?) ZX81.

whats is the Sinclair???

whats is the Sinclair???
One of the very first computers.

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=263

I think the rank is trying to imply tha you have been a 'hax0ror' (or whatever) since the days of the ZX81.

Why is it there are 46 total voes for social and only 38 total for economic?

Some have only voted in one category.

Economic Left/Right: -6.12
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.85

I get lower and to the left every single tiem I take it

Economic Left/Right: 2.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 0.72

Most like Gerhard Schroeder, Paul Martin and a bit like Tony Blair.

BTW, who are Gerhard Schroeder and Paul Martin?

Economic Left/Right: -2.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.08

I'm a little bit more economic left than it says- I believe in Welfare Capitalism- same social benefits as socialism, but with a very strong free enterprise private sector. So somewhere more than two and less than four, probaly. Social libertarian, the only issue that I hold anything but a "Do whatever you want" position is drugs, and I do believe that people can take nonviolent revenge if they want, but not governments. That also might have pushed it up.

By the way, I've taken the test before.

Gerhard Schroeder is Germany's leader, Paul Martin is Canada.

While I think a 2-axis political spectrum is far more sophisticated than the meaningless 1-axis "left-right" one, this one has some serious weaknesses and bad methodology. Someone on a different board wrote a really good critique of it awhile ago which I will post here.

I dunno; I agree with Vro in that I thought this poll was pretty amateurish. The questions weren't precise enough, and many of them made me second-guess what I was thinking the questioners wanted me to answer. I mean, some of the questions were so poorly worded that I think it would have been better if they had just given up all pretense of trying to articulate them clearly, and instead done something like put up words in big red letters (ABORTION!!!) and ask us our gut reaction: "Boo" or "Yay".

For instance:A significant advantage of a one-party state is that it avoids all the arguments that delay progress in a democratic political system.

Um, did they want me assess whether I would prefer a one-party system to a two-party system, or did they in fact just want me to assess whether one significant advantage of a one-party system is... (blah blah blah)? Because I can strongly prefer a two-party system even while strongly agreeing that this is a significant advantage of a one-party system.

And some of the questions were pretty silly, and I bet have at best only a weak correlation with political axis alignment, as opposed to being constitutive of that alignment. An example of a constitutive, defining question for libertarianism, for example, would be whether you think marijuana should be legalized. But questions like:Abstract art that doesn't represent anything shouldn't be considered art at all. Huh? Where did that come from? Isn't it possible, however unlikely, that anyone on any point on a political and economic spectrum can take any point of view on art at all?

This one isn't even a complete sentence:An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. (Boo!)

And in general they're all worded pretty badly. For instance: Those with the ability to pay should have the right to higher standards of medical care. It seems they were getting at the divisive contention that health care is like any other economic commodity like cars and televisions, something we purchase but have no fundamental right to. But this sentence so badly expresses the idea and mangles it completely, as by assuming that we all have the right to health care, but that the question is whether rich people have the right to higher quality care. Posing this question to someone who really believes the contention, that there is no right to health care, would be like asking someone who opposes wife beating whether he thinks he should stop beating his wife.

And then I think I'm kind of confused about their two dimensional analysis, because it seems to me that their two dimensions aren't independent. A full-blooded libertarian has a lot of commitments about the appropriate level of economic freedoms, and likewise an authoritarian. Or perhaps the scales are just misnamed, and should really be called something like how much social and economic freedoms you prefer, with the most free in both axes being the lower right and the most regulations being the upper left.

Anyway, I found a much better political spectrum poll a few years ago (that uses a 2-D "social freedom" and "economic freedom" scale); maybe I can dig it up again.
Anyway, I found a much better political spectrum poll a few years ago (that uses a 2-D "social freedom" and "economic freedom" scale); maybe I can dig it up again.

Found it (http://www.self-gov.org/quiz.html). Now that I look at it again, I realize how biased this quiz is (the one to which I linked), because it poses questions in a way that makes one option seem more attractive than the other, and it's actually kind of a funny exercise to go through and Bizarro each question to try to elicit the other response:


Military Service should be voluntary. (No draft)
(In extreme situations, a country should be allowed to call on its citizens to fight for it.)

Government should not control radio, TV, the press or the Internet.
(Media needs to be regulated for the good of all.)

Repeal regulations on sex for consenting adults.
(Some sexual acts are so heinous that they should be forbidden, even between consenting adults.)

Drug laws do more harm than good. Repeal them.
(Drug laws serve an important function in our society and should not be repealed.)

People should be free to come and go across borders; to live and work where they choose.
(Governmental regulation of immigration and emigration is important and permissible.)

Businesses and farms should operate without govt. subsidies.
(Some businesses are important enough to our welfare to necessitate government assistance.)

People are better off with free trade than with tariffs.
(The government should be allowed to place tarrifs on foreign goods to protect the interests of its citizens.)

Minimum wage laws cause unemployment. Repeal them.
(The government should mandate a minimum wage to ensure that no one is exploited.)

End taxes. Pay for services with user fees.
(The government should be allowed to tax its citizens to pay for important social institutions.)

All foreign aid should be privately funded.
(Part of the government's responsibility is to be charitable towards less fortunate countries.)

Economic Left/Right: -1.12
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.05

I'm pretty much centrist.

I always come out centrist on this.

While I think a 2-axis political spectrum is far more sophisticated than the meaningless 1-axis "left-right" one, this one has some serious weaknesses and bad methodology. Someone on a different board wrote a really good critique of it awhile ago which I will post here.
Yea, I felt kind of the same way taking the quiz (even though I started this thread). You know of a better place?

Economic Left/Right: 10.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 6.21

Pure free enterprise and a powerful state to crush wrongdoers.

Yea, I felt kind of the same way taking the quiz (even though I started this thread). You know of a better place?
Unfortunately no. But I am actually writing my own political spectrum theory. It won't be as "fun" and I won't be writing a test for it (though I have sample test questions), but it is based on reality. So I guess it won't have the pop appeal of Politicalcompass.org.

My two axis are "inclusiveness-exclusiveness" (or "collectivist-individualist") and "authoritarian-libertarian".

For a test you would actually need to take it several times because no one occupies a single point on the spectrum for all circumstances. A person may feel very collectivist towards his family, somewhat collectivist towards his country, and not at all collectivist with his social class.

A Questionnaire Methodology
A questionnaire to allow people to determine their position on this political spectrum would require multiple iterations. Respondents would be required to take the test several times, for each collective group they identify with. For example: their family, their race, “class”, nation, gender, sexuality, basketball team, etc. For each of these groups their feelings of exclusiveness and inclusiveness would be determined through questioning as well as the amount of authority they will tolerate from that group.
Here are the sample questions I thought up. The ones with "family/race/nation" (which are only examples. see more examples in the paragraph above) would need to be answered for each noun separately (ie: 3 times).

“I am entirely defined by my family/race/nation.”
“My family/race/nation has the right to my life.”
“An attack on my family/race/nation is an attack on me.”
“My family/race/nation, right or wrong.”
“It isn’t wrong to kill for my family/race/nation if there is a need.”
“It isn’t wrong to steal for my family/race/nation if there is a need.”
“Everyone should be made to help those in need.”
“A doctor has a duty to the sick before himself.”
“I freely volunteer to help my family/race/nation.”
“I feel compelled to help my family/race/nation.”

This is me:

Economic Left/Right: 0.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.72

It somewhere in the Right/Libertarian section. :D

Cool.

Kylara

I can't believe the results many of you are getting. You're getting results which suggests that you favour a more authoritarian system and are happy about this yet you complain and whine about how oppressive the current system is, which is not as nearly as authoritarian as the results you are getting. No wonders there were so many communist governments formed last century.

Economic Left/Right: -7.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.62

I think the last time I did it I was more left-wing. I must have been in a more empathetic mood that day.

I can't believe the results many of you are getting. You're getting results which suggests that you favour a more authoritarian system and are happy about this yet you complain and whine about how oppressive the current system is, which is not as nearly as authoritarian as the results you are getting. No wonders there were so many communist governments formed last century.

what the hell are you on about? its called libertarian socialism for a reason.

and its the wave of the future. hell, it should have been the wave of the future a century ago, but the damn authoritarians took power and everybody decided to follow them because "they got things done". well, that and they killed off everyone who didn't.

what the hell are you on about? its called libertarian socialism for a reason.

If the figure you get in the quiz for Social Libertarian/Authoritarian is negative then you favour a more authoritarian government, thus the reason for my concern.

If the figure you get in the quiz for Social Libertarian/Authoritarian is negative then you favour a more authoritarian government, thus the reason for my concern.

you might want to check that again.

http://www.digitalronin.f2s.com/politicalcompass/images/bothaxes.gif

Economic Left/Right: -6.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.79


Gee... I feel so conservative compared to many people around here. It is an interesting change :)

BTW, who are Gerhard Schroeder and Paul Martin?

Gerhard Schroeder is the Chancellor of Germany, and Paul Martin is the Prime Minister of Canada, even after his disastrous poll results recently.

Does no one else find it highly ironic that the leader of the main leftist party in Britain comes on the right-wing for economy, and is also above the axis, making him authoritarian! Surely this is the opposite of where he should be?! I guess the accusations of the "nanny state" are not so misleading or false after all...

I have memorised my results...

Economic: 8.50
Social: -5.75

Gerhard Schroeder is the Chancellor of Germany, and Paul Martin is the Prime Minister of Canada, even after his disastrous poll results recently.

Does no one else find it highly ironic that the leader of the main leftist party in Britain comes on the right-wing for economy, and is also above the axis, making him authoritarian! Surely this is the opposite of where he should be?! I guess the accusations of the "nanny state" are not so misleading or false after all...
Makes one wonder where David Blunkett would come.

Economic Left/Right: -2.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.33

this poll is funtamentally flawed. just visit politcalcompass.org I dont ahve time to stay and chat, but it looks like some of you have already been there

Does no one else find it highly ironic that the leader of the main leftist party in Britain comes on the right-wing for economy, and is also above the axis, making him authoritarian! Surely this is the opposite of where he should be?! I guess the accusations of the "nanny state" are not so misleading or false after all...

well, the authoritarian bit makes sense, though those on the relative left will usually come in as slightly less authoritarian than those to the right of them. but the libertarian left has never really gotten into mainstream politics, and actually is on its first major upsurge in a long time. the past century, with a few notable exceptions, was the century of authoritarians of various colors and dimensions. as for being on the right, its because blair and new labor are just neoliberals with a tiny bit of vaugely left-leaning social democratic baggage. same thing with most democrats in america.

but the right making accussations of leftists wanting an authoritarian nanny state is laughable when you consider the utterly authoritarian positions the right takes on just about everything that isn't related to allowing elites to do whatever they want - which is itself a fairly authoritarian position.

this poll is funtamentally flawed. just visit politcalcompass.org I dont ahve time to stay and chat, but it looks like some of you have already been there

¿que?

-7.50/-6.05

I think another axis they should add is how nationalist you are (I'm not sure what the reverse would be), for questions such as war being sometimes justified, tolerance of dissent, how you should treat other nations, ect. Kinda like Nation States actually, with the social axis/civil rights rating, economic axis/economic rating, and nationalist/political rights rating.

so i sat down and compiled all the numbers so far (and will update it - so right wingers and authoritarians, take the test and get your friends to do so too).

and thus...

you might want to check that again.

http://www.digitalronin.f2s.com/politicalcompass/images/bothaxes.gif

My mistake. Thank you for the correction.

I always come out centrist on this.

Which isn't really representative of my beliefs.

Well, I took the test and came up with:

Economic Left/Right = +1.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian = -0.36

Kind of strange, though. Although I agree with the economic score (I believe free trade should be replaced with some form of fair trade), my social views are very traditionally conservative. So I don't quite see where the social score comes from.

The libertarian/authoritarian scale is such that you can be socially conservative though not authoritarian per se, hence the centrist score.

"Economic Left/Right: 2.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 1.08"

Thats my result today: Depending on my mood it differs a bit. But it is always pretty much centre-right, always right in the economy and always slightly authoritarian. I guess I´m pretty close to Tony Blair actually. He is my favorite foreign politican as a matter of fact. Well: my favorite politican at all actually.
He stands for what he believes in. He showed that during the Iraq crisis. I have the highest respect for his standing in this difficult times.

so i sat down and compiled all the numbers so far (and will update it - so right wingers and authoritarians, take the test and get your friends to do so too).

and thus...
Oooh, it seems like Anarchists are in the majority (wever they know it or not).

Maybe we could start a revolution.

(btw, I do not think that this quiz is truely representative of political beliefs)

Economic Left/Right: -0.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.03

thats a pretty one sided poll. I took that a long time ago. I was in the top right corner of the compass.

(btw, I do not think that this quiz is truely representative of political beliefs)

see, that's the thing though - it seems to fairly reliably put people who know where they ought to go in roughly the right spot. but then i'm not sure how it does for people who haven't really thought about sorting out their political ideals yet, or how good it is for centrists. in fact, i wonder what being exactly on its axes actually mean in terms of a person's beleifs.

additionally every time is see this thing done there is a strong libertarian leaning to the results, but i have no idea if that is a problem with the test or a problem with the sample or if people actually do tend to be far more anti-authoritarian than they give themselves credit for. really, someone should probably test this thing out on a sizeable random sample of people.

thats a pretty one sided poll. I took that a long time ago. I was in the top right corner of the compass.

define "one-sided"