Saturday, July 22, 2006

Politics, it's not simply 'left' vs 'right'.

I sometimes get accused of being a right-winger, a neocon. But I disagree with that 'handle. For a start, I am not 'authoritarian' in my views - in fact, I find common ground with those who consider themselves to be libertarians.

I don't believe it is a simple, two-dimensional line on which you identify where you sit. There are at least three factors to consider, making it a multi-dimensional descriptive task, Those three being, at least; your economic views, your views on society and it's organisation, and your attitude towards authority.
By way of example, Hitler and Stalin were considered examples of the extreme right and left respectively, yet both were harsh authoritarians. Niether had time for the democratic process of choosing political representatives. As I've seen it put; 'If government has it's boot on your throat, it matters not whether it is the left or right boot!'.

So, where do I fit in this multi-dimensional matrix? There are on-line quizzes you can take. Interesting way to find out, somewhat more objectively than may otherwise be the case, where your views actually lie.

First, there is the Political Compass. Useful not least because it plots some past and present world leaders on that matrix. (I sit slightly right of centre, and tending slightly towards the libertarian on this quiz).
Then there is 'The World's Smallest Political Quiz'. I took this and, surprise, found it identifies me as a libertarian.

"...LIBERTARIANS support maximum liberty in both personal and economic matters. They advocate a much smaller government; one that is limited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence. Libertarians tend to embrace individual responsibility, oppose government bureaucracy and taxes, promote private charity, tolerate diverse lifestyles, support the free market, and defend civil liberties...".


And it even gives you a nifty chart.

Take the test! You may even challenge some perceptions you had about your own views.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Phil (Prac), I've been meaning to comment earlier but I'm somewhat turned off by the image authoriser due to the fact I don't use images and it peeves the hell out of me but I understand the need for bot blockers.

A much more sensible Australian oriented test is this one: Oz Politics Test

It'll nail your party basis on policy. As a side note I've found myself using the word liberal as in classical liberal and libertarian now and refer to the flip side as social democracy or variation thereof

Cheerio

Saturday, July 22, 2006 9:12:00 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi there Vee. Great to hear from you.

I find I don't have the image auth problem and pop-ups with 'FireFox'.

I didn't realise you had a blog. Excellent. Now linked and good luck with it.

How are things on TerraPoliticus? Last I visited the site was down for a holiday, and i didn't have time to do it justice anyway

Sunday, July 23, 2006 6:47:00 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

TP is on life support. They're trying a normal discussion site here but it's about as active as TP

I use firefox but I tend not to use images due to the time they take to load on my PC, that's all.

As for blogging, I haven't been that motivated to do much of it lately.

Later

Monday, July 24, 2006 1:53:00 pm  
Blogger pumuckl said...

thnx 4 this link! I guess my views in terms of sexuality, abortion, gays put me slightly left of the centre.... definitely libertarian, though.

thanks and keep on blogging.... u happy with blogspot?

greetings from holidays in switzerland,
pumuckl

Friday, July 28, 2006 8:42:00 am  
Blogger Phil said...

Hi p... Happy Holiday!

Blogger - I've had a few problems with it going offline, not being able to post etc.

I have been thinking of going to Wordpress on my PrimerPocket site.

(Interesting aside - one of the soldiers killed in sth Lebanon recently was an 'Ozraeli' from Sydney - Sgt Asaf Namer).

Friday, July 28, 2006 8:35:00 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Politics is a question of liberty, alot of online tests dont discern on the differences in social and economic liberty so the traditional left and right dichtomoy is pretty coarse and inaccurate for those that may not be liberterian but see social and economic liberty as important.

cam

Tuesday, August 22, 2006 11:46:00 pm  

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