[Psudo]

It's an old political point: political ideologies are typically described as lying in a scale from right to left, with communism at the extreme left and capitalist plutocratic hegemony at the extreme right. But we all know it doesn't.

The typical response to this over-simplification is to add another axis: authoritarian to libertarian. And, yes, that makes sense enough, but it is both biased and incomplete to imagine those two axes describe political views generally. Are there really the same number of authoritarians as libertarians in North America? The center of that axis popularly leans libertarian and suggests an inherent morality to libertarianism and evil to authoritarianism. I suspect this was intentionally included by the US Libertarian Party. But that's another post.

And that still leaves out significant attitudes in political ideology. Compare the Westboro (so-called) Baptists in the USA to Chinese citizens who celebrate their traditional Communist heritage. Which is the conservative and which the liberal? Are the Westboro group anti-authoritarian for defying government policy or are they authoritarian for trying to impose new legal restrictions?

I assert that it's impossible to describe one's political leanings without contrasting them with either some functioning government or some other ideology. Any supposedly objective scale of A vs B falls apart unless A and B are both actual ideologies being compared relative to each other.

Thus, the fundamental measure of ideology is not right vs. left, but support vs. opposition. Do you support this ideology, this government, this view, or do you oppose it? This is the essence of any democratic process.

Secondary to that is regulation vs. abstention; do you involve government or don't you? Whatever your opinion of a particular policy implementation, do you hold that opinion because it increased regulation or because it removed it? This is a removal of moral judgment from the authoritarian-libertarian scale; authoritarianism has the connotation of evil, but regulation in various cases can be preferable to none (or so the supporters of the financial bail-out tell me).

Thomas Jefferson supported physical maiming as the legal punishment for homosexual activity. It is possible to support his view because it was a harsh punishment for moral failure or because it was a softening of the previous sentence (death) and, thus, a step towards moral liberty. It is also possible to oppose it as the start of a slippery slope to moral failure, or because he didn't do enough aid the cause of freedom. Opposition or support for his view alone does not describe ideology; the addition of which change would further improve the position makes it more clear.

Coming in as a distant and subjective third is conservative vs. liberal: generally, are you more likely to support government regulation in areas of personal choice or of personal property? But this has little practical application except to promote partisanship.

And, of course, any system of classifying political ideology lacks what really matters: a measure for how right or wrong a position is. Barring that, even a measure for how rationally considered vs. dogmatically advocated would be nice.

[Pseudonym]

I think you should make a quiz.

[Psudo]

Hrm... maybe I should. I did make a political quiz once before, but a quiz with this political outlook would be interesting.

[Pseudonym]

Nice website.

[Chumley]

Psudo wrote:

Hrm... maybe I should. I did make a political quiz once before, but a quiz with this political outlook would be interesting.

I think I am getting addicted to these things.
Like all the other ones I have seen, many of the questions I find have mixed options that leave me undecided as to which to choose.
IE. Choice 1 has A and B, choice 2 has C and D, but I would choose A and C.
I answered as best I could. Any Idea how I can post that page exactly as it is?

[Psudo]

Thanks, Pseudonym, but speaking as one who makes websites for a living you really are giving it too much credit.

Chumley: Are you asking how to show other people your results exactly as they were shown to you? If so, the only way really is to take a screenshot. It was not designed as a social networking tool, but as a way of measuring yourself.

[Pseudonym]

I particularly enjoyed the stories, but they MUST BE COMPLETED. Although I think "Steel" actually has a legitimate stopping point for a short story.

[commanderkai]

Just did the quiz, and I believe it's quite good, fits me well. One question...

"The exception is the Authoritarian graph, which only goes from 0 to 100% and doesn't fit into standard left/right political terms. Too much authoritarianism makes you a dictator; either a fascist (red) or a communist (blue). Very low authority (with a lot of yellow) means you're libertarian; that is, you refuse to tell people what to do. All that yellow is caution tape; you're more at a risk of anarchy."

So....the authoritarian bar would be either red or blue....but mine is green. Is that the middle ground between a fascist and a communist (make more sense for purple, just saying). Not being critical, but I'm just really curious what green stands for on the authoritarian bar, IF anything.

[martin14]

just took it too.. nice work

Overall Score: 24% →



Foreign Policy: 28% →


does it make me a lefty, a righty, a commie or a facist ?

or maybe just confused



Social Policy: 8% →



Fiscal Policy: 42% →



Authoritarian: 71%

[Chumley]

Overall Score: 28% →



Foreign Policy: 42% →

Social Policy: 16% →

Fiscal Policy: 28% →

Authoritarian: 57%


Your Individual Answers
Military Philosophy Neoconservative
Whenever the innocent are oppressed, we must act.

Diplomatic Goal Pax Americana
Freedom is our greatest export.

Trade Philosophy Free Trade
Unregulated trade allows everyone to create wealth.

International Role Internationalist
We should work with the international community.

Enviromental Policy Sustained Development
Commerce and the environment can balance their needs.

Abortion Position Private Pro-Choice
Women have the right to an aboriton, but not to a free one.

Family Values Moderate Values
There must be a balance between the traditional and the progressive.

Religion's Role Token Deism
There's nothing wrong with tolerant religious devoution.

Freedom of Expression Conservative Funding
The government doesn't need to fund expression to defend it.

Law Enforcement Get the Bad Guys
Strictly punish the true sickos.

Corporate Policy Regulated Capitalism
A few rules will keep corporations in line.

Budget Priority Libertarian
The less the government pays for, the better.

Taxes Largely Cut
High income taxes create an incentive NOT to work.

Campaign Contributions Anti-Corporate
Corporations' wealth shouldn't give them more political power.

[Psudo]

commanderkai: Sorry for the confusion. The (red) and (blue) in the comments refer to what color you see most often in the other fields, not to the Authoritarian field itself. The authoritarian field is always green on yellow, with yellow representing libertarianism and the green being a little political jab at the environmentalist political movement. =]

Martin14: From your stats, it looks like you're a fiscal conservative and a social moderate with some authoritarian tendencies. Probably somewhat of a Reform Party type.

Chumley: Your stats are pretty moderate except in foreign policy where you're almost as radical as me. =] I'd guess you're a pretty mainstream Canadian Conservative, or about a California conservative in the US spectrum.

[CanadianJeff]

Well I think Psudo nails it in his first post. I've always had a very very harsh dislike for the ideology of using left right as a means of evaluating people's ideas. I specifically dislike dogmatic opinons vs logical ones however so I suppose I'ts always going to be impossible for me to make peace with the idea so long as we use a scale of kinds to measure human opinon.

But hey to be fair in the light of hating all the scales I did take the exam so there ya go. I think I'm pretty much just where I expected to be. Almost dead centre with some slight liberal leanings. A bit more in the foriegn policy scale but that's mostly becuase I don't like to poke my nose into my neighbours business.

Overall Score:  ← 4%

Foreign Policy:  ← 42%

Social Policy: 16% →

Fiscal Policy:  0%

Authoritarian: 78%

[Psudo]

CanadianJeff wrote:

I don't like to poke my nose into my neighbours business.
[. . .]
Authoritarian: 78%

Heh heh heh. =]

[Pseudonym]

I disagree with the portrayal of the reasoning behind some of the choices I made, but apart from that it seems pretty reasonable.


Overall Score: 56% →

Foreign Policy: 42% →

Social Policy: 50% →

Fiscal Policy: 71% →

Authoritarian: 42%


Your Individual Answers
Military Philosophy Neoconservative
Whenever the innocent are oppressed, we must act.
Diplomatic Goal National Sovereignty
No foreign power should have power over us.
Trade Philosophy Free Trade
Unregulated trade allows everyone to create wealth.
International Role Isolation
To preserve national identity is to avoid international contact.
Enviromental Policy Sustained Development
Commerce and the environment can balance their needs.
Abortion Position Absolute Pro-Life
Abortion is murder, and there is no excuse for it.
Family Values Conservative Values
Our traditional values still have value.
Religion's Role Religious Tradition
God helped us become what we are. He deserves some credit.
Freedom of Expression Conservative Funding
The government doesn't need to fund expression to defend it.
Law Enforcement Get the Bad Guys
Strictly punish the true sickos.
Corporate Policy Conservative Capitalist
The more freedom corporations have, the richer we all are.
Budget Priority Conservative
A small, effecient government is ideal.
Taxes Abolishment
It is immoral for the state to take private money as a tax.
Campaign Contributions Open Contributions
Campaign donations are an expression of free speech.

[Scape]

Overall Score:  ← 8%

Foreign Policy: 14% →

Social Policy:  ← 25%

Fiscal Policy:  0%

Authoritarian: 57%


These results use basically the same color coding as the 2000 and 2004 US elections did: red means conservative and/or Republican, whereas blue means liberal and/or Democrat. The ← and → arrows indicate left and right wing respectively. Anything less than 20% is moderate, whereas anything greater than 50% is radical.

The exception is the Authoritarian graph, which only goes from 0 to 100% and doesn't fit into standard left/right political terms. Too much authoritarianism makes you a dictator; either a fascist (red) or a communist (blue). Very low authority (with a lot of yellow) means you're libertarian; that is, you refuse to tell people what to do. All that yellow is caution tape; you're more at a risk of anarchy.

If you're wondering if my political opinions bias this quiz one way or the other, it's very possible. I tried to keep things unbaised, but maybe I missed some things. My Overall Score is around 60% →.
Your Individual AnswersMilitary Philosophy Realist
War is ugly, but sometimes must be used in self-defence.
Diplomatic Goal National Sovereignty
No foreign power should have power over us.
Trade Philosophy Free Trade
Unregulated trade allows everyone to create wealth.
International Role Internationalist
We should work with the international community.
Enviromental Policy Sustained Development
Commerce and the environment can balance their needs.
Abortion Position Socialized Pro-Choice
Free abortions should be quickly available for all women.
Family Values Moral Equivalancy
Who are we to judge others' personal choices?
Religion's Role Religious Tradition
God helped us become what we are. He deserves some credit.
Freedom of Expression Liberal Freedom
As a rule, we should financially support free expression.
Law Enforcement Prison Reform
Good prisons help stop crime.
Corporate Policy Conservative Capitalist
The more freedom corporations have, the richer we all are.
Budget Priority Conservative
A small, effecient government is ideal.
Taxes Moderate Increase
We're not greedy, but we do need to balance the budget.
Campaign Contributions Socialist
All canidates should recieve an equal chance.