Political Compass

Economic Left/Right: 1.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.44

(Insert standard disclaimer about how the questions are biased and/or annoyingly flawed in some other way here)

Economic Left/Right: 6.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 1.33

Thanks for the responses.

As I said in my original post, it's not so much the questions are flawed, but there is an issue of how to interpret them.

Economic Left/Right: -0.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.21

That's about as bull's eye center as you can get. Guess I belong on TMV.

I remember being a bit more conservative economically the first time (a long time ago). I think I was a lot more libertarian too if I recall.

Apparently, I'm closer to the Dhali Lama than I am George Bush or Barack Obama.

Interesting that we are exact opposites, both almost dead center

Economic Left/Right: -2.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.74

yikes...last time I took this I was more to the right economically.

The -5 does ring true. I am very liberal on social issues.

Well the second one isn't so much social issues as government authority.

That is what I like about this thread, it shows that one can be quite liberal on economic issues yet believe in a great deal of government control.

Economic Left/Right: -6.12
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.31


To me, the most important thing that is left out is the willingness to accept, or even demand, that one's own leanings be tempered by those on the other side. I think I am generally right, but I also know that self-delusion is impossible to self-diagnose. The best way to keep me from making errors and dragging things too far to the left is to have a legitimate counter-balance on the right.

I think that attitude, more than any single issue stance, qualifies me as a moderate. I am a liberal, but I think it's best that the country steer a bit to the right of me.

That is intersting.

One thing I've noticed is that most of the responses, so far, have us as anti-authoritarian - or at least on the libertarian side of the line. That may be the one common thread we all share - no matter where we land economically.

>(Insert standard disclaimer about how the questions are biased and/or annoyingly flawed in some other way here)

Well, yes...but the individual numbers are not so meaningful by themselves, what is more important is how those numbers are in *relation* to others. That helps wash out any biases in the questions themselves.

For me, my score is -2.12/-3.74, which means I have remained steady on the libertarian scale over the years, but have slowly drifted to the left economically over the past couple of times I've taken the test.

Here's another test from 3rd Party Central, that matches you with a compatible party:

http://www.3pc.net/matchmaker/quiz.html

It would be interesting to see where some of us end up.

Mine had me firmly in the Constitution Party (83%), with the Libertarian Party a close second (72%).

Economic Left/Right: -2.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.85

I ended up more left than I would have thought. I consider myself a conservative Democrat, but for me, that's a recent leftward trend.

Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -7.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.62

According to the Party Matching Site:
1) Green Party 88%
2) Democratic Party 76%

Economic Left/Right: 1.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.49

Pretty close to the center. Interesting that no world leaders are in the same quadrant as I am.

81% Libertarian Party
69% Constitution Party

Economic Left/Right -6.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian -6.15

77% Green Party
73% Natural Law Party

Economic Left/Right: .05
Social Libertarian/Authorian: -.05

Party Matching:

1. Constitution
2. Libertarian
3. Democratic

I'm not a congenial fit for either of the major parties but am closer to the Democratic than to the Republican, something I figured out for myself a long time ago.

I think that the Political Compass is most useful on a gross level. The farther you are from the center, the more ideological you are in one way or another.

Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -3.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.72

My "results" show me as more centrist than some and less centrist than others. ;-) I've taken many similar tests over the years, and each seens weighted a bit differently. I usually show up near center, other times as libertarian, and often leaning liberal.

This question on the test made me laugh out loud:

"When you are troubled, it's better not to think about it, but to keep busy with more cheerful things."

I believe that particular philosophy is a little too prevalent today. I like to take a break from concerns as much as the next person - for example I'll be out raking mountains of leaves here in a little while, and drinking a beer and watching a ball game later, but I also think there is too much turning away and too much denial.

As someone far out in Chomsky land I will agree but I would guess that agreement is unsurprising lol.

Wonder how many tried this & didn't report the results. Here are mine, a bit of a surprise on the economic scale, thought I'd be in + territory; no surprise on the social side.

Economic Left/Right: -1.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: - 6.77

Most interesting on party compatibility, R and D came in tied for 5th/6th at 33%

I agree with JD's observation that, based on the sample so far, the common thread at TMV seems to be a social libertarian bent.

1) Reform Party 78%
2) Green Party 72%
3) Libertarian Party 61%

Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -3.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.79

Your political compass

Economic Left/Right: -2.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.85

Interesting how many of us here seem to be relatively close to each other, while at the same time having some pretty heated threads.

Very true...

I think I moved more to the left economically because I view corp America and the government as almost the same entity these days. And since I am much more libertarian than I am economically left or right, my economics went left this time around.

I just checked out the reform party...interesting, but not my cup of tea.

MSF, call it "Nelson Mandela" land, it sounds less controversial. ;-)

Your political compass

Economic Left/Right: 4.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.38

*Ahem!*

"Yes by all means you should shelve your personal convictions in favor of fitting in with a herd label. Here, take our questionaire to see where you"fit". Now, shut your mind off and follow where that label tells you to go."

Sincerely, Acme Labelmakers Inc. "our motto: If the label fits, the herd will follow"

Economic Left/Right: 0.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.10

Hmph. As DaGoat noted, this is a lonely quadrant to occupy.

"Well, yes...but the individual numbers are not so meaningful by themselves, what is more important is how those numbers are in *relation* to others."

I agree. I was half-joking in anticipation of what I thought would be many people trying to find problems with the questions (turned out there's not much of that). But even when trying to use these numbers to compare one person to another, I still think we need to be careful. In some cases the interpretation of the question affects how you answer, and it's likely that the same question is interpreted in different ways by two different people. I especially dislike questions with words like "never" in them because I can almost always find an exception to the rule that makes me have to answer contrary to what I would like to.

In any case, I'm not trying to over-analyze the test. It is interesting, I just don't think we should take it too far to compare two people.

1) Libertarian Party 93%
2) Constitution Party 86%
3) Republican Party 57%

The site though admits to the purpose of raising the profile of 3rd parties. Not that I think that's a bad thing, but it does raise questions about the test's objectivity.

Economic Left/Right: -6.12
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.41

Make of it what you will. Of course my reasoning for some of my economic views is a bit different from most, I think.

The party matching is somewhat amusing, and I'm just a tad skeptical.

1) Libertarian Party 100%
2) Constitution Party 70%
3) Republican Party 60%

Everything else came in 50% or lower.

I do find this exercise interesting in one regard, though. The people with whom my results seem to most closely align are those with whom I most often agree here on TMV.

Economic Left/Right: 3.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.90

Well, since it is now out in readable numbers, let's at least not suggest this is predominately a moderate centrist blog.

Just took the test. Results:

Economic Left/Right: -7.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -8.21

I have to confess I'm not good at parsing charts and graphics, so I'm not sure exactly what this means in terms of this particular test's criteria. I already know I'm very liberal and not at all authoritarian, so I'm assuming that's what it shows.

Perhaps you're right, CO. It should be renamed the "Modestly Libertarian Voice" given that all but one of the respondents so far fall on the libertarian side of the libertarian v. authoritarian social scale. I choose "Modestly " Libertarian because only two of the above come out more than 5 to the libertarian side.

Or, we could rename it the Schizophrenic Voice given the modestly left economic leanings of the majority above, juxtaposed against the above-mentioned modestly libertarian bias on the social scale.

Maybe we should just leave it The Moderate Voice. Just so you'll always have something to harp on...he said with a wry smile on his face. :-)

Edit: Three commenters over 5 on the libertarian side of the social scale. Kathy posted her comment as I was struggling to find the correct key strokes.

I agree with that last, definitely. I chose "Disagree" for that one, because I do think that *sometimes* it's good to distract yourself, but the difficulty many people have with emotion is a problem, in my view.

A few of the questions were rather bizarre and unrelated to any ideology. I'm more interested in the etiology of some of these tests than the test results themselves. I think this one wasn't terribly balanced, although I've seen worse.

Not really surprising. I am very libertarian on economics and conservative and authoritarian on most social issues.

Economic Left/Right: 5.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 1.64

On the party scale, I came in at

1) Constitution Party - 75%
2) Libertarian Party - 67%
3) Republican Party - 63%

All the rest came in at less than 35%. Again, this is unsurprising.

I just saw the link to the Party Compatibility Test.

1) Green Party 92%
2) Democratic Party 71%
3) Natural Law Party 71%
4) Reform Party 67%
5) Libertarian Party 33%
6) Constitution Party 29%
7) Republican Party 25%

I was surprised the results were so accurate for me, because I thought the design of the questions was very shallow. It's not always clear what "regulation" means in every context.

Of course my reasoning for some of my economic views is a bit different from most, I think.

You are Communist? :-)

Party Compatibility Test.

1) Libertarian Party 87%
2) Constitution Party 57%
3) Republican Party 52%
4) Reform Party 43%
5) Green Party 35%
6) Democratic Party 30%
7) Natural Law Party 13%

CO - interesting that your numbers are the closest to mine - fairly right on economic issues, much more libertarian socially.

I am curious what you would get on the party affiliation link JD provided.

I'm not good at parsing charts and graphics, so I'm not sure exactly what this means in terms of this particular test's criteria.

It means according to this test you are an Anarchist-Communist! :-)

Communism is even more foolish than libertarianism. I try to think outside of simplistic labels. I also recognize that we are heading towards problems that won't be solved by people who let themselves be trapped in those simplistic concepts. Conservatives, by their nature, don't have a clue when it comes to solutions to modern problems because they insist that 18th century solutions should work just fine for everything.

Economic: 1.62
Social: -3.13
Libertarian: 95%
Constitution: 77%
Reform 55%

I'm happy to report that the major parties didn't show up in the top 3. I also had problems with some questions, but in the end, I showed up more moderate than I thought.

It means according to this test you are an Anarchist-Communist! :-)

That must mean I'm nothing, because those two sides would cancel each other out. :-)

I agree. Not quite sure what an example of a true anarchist-communist would be, if it is even a valid combination.

Someone who wants a collective that promotes disorder and chaos? :-)

I'm not sure, either, but it seems like the more accurate companion to anarchist would be libertarian. Libertarian is a very broad category, but in general don't libertarians want less government? And anarchists want no government?

Well, there is a HUGE difference between wanting less government, but accepting that government has a true and legitimate role (Libertarians), and Anarchists. There is a HUGE difference in general between Libertarians and Anarchists, and they really have little to nothing in common.

Libertarians believe, as a whole, in self-determination and empowerment of the individual against the state; Anarchists in disorder and violence:

lib⋅er⋅tar⋅i⋅an [lib-er-tair-ee-uhn]
–noun
1. a person who advocates liberty, esp. with regard to thought or conduct.
2. a person who maintains the doctrine of free will (distinguished from necessitarian).
3. one who advocates maximizing individual rights and minimizing the role of the state.
4. advocating liberty or conforming to principles of liberty.
5. maintaining the doctrine of free will.

an⋅ar⋅chist [an-er-kist]:
–noun
1. a person who advocates or believes in anarchy or anarchism.
2. a person who seeks to overturn by violence all constituted forms and institutions of society and government, with no purpose of establishing any other system of order in the place of that destroyed.
3. a person who promotes disorder or excites revolt against any established rule, law, or custom.

Did ya notice that most of the moderate or conservative voices are Libertarian/Constitution party matches and most of the liberal voices are Green/Democrat party matches?

I personally find that number disturbing.
With these numbers, why do we find it so difficult collectively to pull the lever for anyone other than a Democrat or Republican? I'm convinced that the two parties have entrenched themselves in a system that guarantees their survival.

I'm pretty sure the last election was the very last time I will do so.

Hey Kat and Austin....

Wouldn't a true "anarchist-communist" be a Hippy Commune?

Jim,

The 18th century solutions you alluded to are the framework for solutions - not the solutions themselves. The founding fathers new political science and philosphy very very well. They know the general tendancies of governments, and that of unchecked power. That's why they attempted to put the power with the people - the first time in history for such an endeavor. And against their warnings, portions of our government turned away from the Constitution year after year, and hoarded for themselves a bit more power and money. That's the general tendancy of government when the Constitution is NOT followed.

18th Century framework - the PEOPLE should provide the solutions not the government. Just let the government be the referee.

Well, I was someone who looked at the questions and balked. At least on the party affiliation one. Would I increase, maintain, or decrease regulation to what purpose? What's the goal? What sort of regulation in particular? So I left it.

I've done the compass one before and like many here, I come out as fairly left on social issues and middle of the road to the economic stuff.

With these numbers, why do we find it so difficult collectively to pull the lever for anyone other than a Democrat or Republican?

Because we don't have a proportional system, If I vote for the Green Candidate, it's very likely that all that I will do is undermine the Democratic Candidate and get the Republican elected, (See Bush v Gore 2000) and all things being equal I would rather see a Conservative Democrat with whom I am agreement 50% of the time get elected than Liberal Republican (an oxymoron if there has ever been one) with whom I am agreement 80% of the time since the Republican is pretty much guaranteed to vote the Party line 90+% of the time once he/she gets to DC.

A few impressions.

1. The party compatibility test seemed deeply flawed. My top two, in nearly a dead heat at about 80%, were Libertarian and Green, which I regard as diametrically opposed phiosophically.

2. Many of our self professed "libertarians" were very laizzez faire economically, but not strongly libertarian socially.

3. Many of our self professed "liberals" came out strongly liberal on economic issues, but were a mix on the social scale in terms of how libertarian they tended.

Not fully agreed, my double negative scoring friend.

The liberties questions posed can't discern a libertarian from a liberal because it did not link in the economic side into the same issue. There is no individual right on earth I would not grant to you.....abortion, pot smoking, joining the single payer Pelosi health plan.......just don't let any of it have any effect on my rights or my funds.

And what really is the logical demarcation between "agreeing" and "strongly agreeing"? I'm not prone to emotional histrionics, so it seems to me "agreeing" gets the job done.

CO -

I agree that the test was flawed; both of them were. Not only because of the "strongly" category, but also because there was no "I don't give a damn" option, which I for one would have hit on a few, simply because I could see agreeing in some instances but not in others. I found myself constantly wanting to ask "Could you please rephrase the question?" In the end, these tests didn't prove much, but were fun exercises. That's all they were.

I remember back when Patrick addressed this topic back in July 2008 under a post titled Test Your Ideology. I haven't taken the test since that time, but I suspect that my current score would be similar to what it was then, given that my political beliefs have not really changed all that much in the last 16 months.

As I mentioned in thecomments section to that post, there are some noteable flaws with Politcal Compass:

I just retook this test for the first time in a couple of years, and although it approximates my political leanings, I feel that it is a highly subjective and somewhat misleading tool.

For one thing, many of the questions asked have nothing to do whatsoever with politics. Whether I think abstract art is meaningful or not has nothing to do with my political leanings. Believing that most abstract art is meaningless does not indicate that someone has socially conservative leanings (as The Political Compass would imply), not does believing that most abstract art is meaningful indicate that someone has socially liberal leanings (as The Political Compass would imply).

Also, questions regarding the motives and appropriate aims of businesses and corporations are also not fundamentally political in nature. I might believe many corporations to be greedy and feel that they have a personal responsibility toward society as a whole (a supposedly economically liberal position), but that does not necessarily indicate that I feel that government should have the responsibility to regulate such practices (with opposition to governemnt regulation being a economically conservative position).

Since none of these questions offers a "none of the above" or "unsure" option, the test taker is given no opportunity to abstain from questions which are politically ambiguous (at best) or having nothing to do with ones political beliefs (at worst).

Secondly (and this is an admittedly minor objection compared to the first), the whole layout of the Compass itself is all wrong. Instead of assigning the terms "authoritarian" and "libertarian" their traditional meanings (with "authoritarian" meaning favoring broadly increased government power and "libertarian" meaning favoring broadly decreased government power) the creators of this test apply the terms "authoritarian" and "libertarian" solely to the social freedom axis. The result is the distorted labels that test takers derive from this test. People in the left lower quandrant will call themselves "Left Libertarians", despite the fact that a good number of these people have views that are economically authoritarian. Similarly, people in the right upper quandrant will call themselves "Right Authoritarians", despite the fact that a good number of these people have views that are economically libertarian. And finally, Authoritarians in the upper left quadrant and Libertarians in the lower right quandrant are labeled as on the "left" and "right" respectively. Such logic would erroneously lead us to conclude that Adolf Hitler was "left-wing" while Tommy Chong would be "right-wing."

Personally, I'd recommend the political test at www.quiz2d.com. It's politically biased to some extent (as are just about any political test you'd take), but the chart makes more intuitive sense in its layout, the questions are more politically relevant and allow for middle-of-the-road type answers, and the test allows you to gauge how important each political topic is to you so that your answers can be weighted accordingly.

Political Compass results:
Economic left/right: 0.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.05
Political label: (left-leaning) Right Libertarian

Political Quiz in 2D results:
Economic axis: ~65%
Social axis: ~95%
Political label: Left-Leaning Freedom Lover

Anyone familiar with Gartner's magic quadrant graphs knows the northeast is the one to be in. And most folks here are in the southwest. I came out about where I figured, (1.88, -4.10).

But I disagree with the test's vertical axis naming. I'd rate most progressives quite high on authoritarianism.

Of course, AR. I only meant that it would be more logical to liken libertarians to anarchists (in the sense that anarchists take libertarianism to the farthest possible extreme) than it is to compare anarchists to communists, who are opposites, and thus on two completely different scales.

I know. It was just refreshing to have a civilized discussion, and I was just making talk.

I may think you are socialist with almost communist leaning (and I do mean that not in a mean or insulting way, but in what seems to be your economic leanings, in a pure sense, not a Stalin/Mao sort of way), but I don't think you are an anarchist.

You think are a nice lady (who loves animals), with whom I have have strong disagreements on what would best help our country and Americans in the next 5 - 20 years. And who isn't afreaid to mix it up, either! :-)

The type of anarchism they are speaking of seems to be the Emma Goldman variety which is basically a Socialist/Libertarian or Left wing Libertarian stance. Its a small segment of the population but it exists, I am one of them though I dont really vote that way mostly because it only works well in rural settings but it is also the same system that Chomsky and others like him ascribe to. The best way I can think of to describe it is anti-authoritarian socialism or to just use this Emma Goldman quote that was part of the test "from each according to his ability and to each according to their needs." It is not the classic anarchisim of history but what I call the neo-anarchisim of the 20's/30's that was pretty popular in the 90's counter culture. I know a little on the topic, I have it tattooed on my wrist as a reminder in fact.

Emma Goldman quote that was part of the test "from each according to his ability and to each according to their needs."

MSF - that is not a Emma Goldman quote. That is from Karl Marx in his "Critique of the Gotha Program:

In a higher phase of communist society, after the enslaving subordination of the individual to the division of labor, and therewith also the antithesis between mental and physical labor, has vanished; after labor has become not only a means of life but life's prime want; after the productive forces have also increased with the all-around development of the individual, and all the springs of co-operative wealth flow more abundantly—only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be crossed in its entirety and society inscribe on its banners: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!

I freely own the socialist leanings -- although democratic socialist, as in Western European countries. Communist, no -- at least not in my understanding of Communism or Marxism. Soviet-style Communism, iow. That is not what I believe.

Basically, I believe in a mixed economy (public/private), which the U.S. is, but to a much lesser extent than most of the other mixed economies in the world. On social issues such as abortion for example I think I'm actually more of a libertarian than a lot of people who call themselves libertarian.

P.S. And thanks for the kind words!

By the way, AR, you might be interested to know that I chose "Disagree" as a reply to that question in the test. :-)

LOL Thanks AR, that quote is commonly attributed to Goldman and now I know where she got it. I still think quoting Adam Smith is a much better way to fight capitalism's abuses than quoting Marx but quoting Marx is a wonderful way to fight socialism's abuses. Goldman is interesting in my opinion only in her ability to provoke populist fervor and quoting Marx just makes it a bit to easy so now I am even less impressed with her, I will stick with my Chomsky it makes life much more depressing :).

I'm on the right-hand side of the libertarian quadrant in the quiz2 test, but no bleeding into the conservative quadrant whatsoever.......must have been my selection on the porn question..lol!

"With these numbers, why do we find it so difficult collectively to pull the lever for anyone other than a Democrat or Republican?"

Like I said, I’m a little suspect of the questionnaire since its run by people promoting third parties. Still, I agree that we ought to vote for the person we think is best able to do the job, regardless of political affiliation. Some people say that is throwing your vote away, but I disagree. I believe the 2-party system is the equilibrium point in our political system, but that doesn’t mean third parties don’t play a role in shaping those 2 parties. We should not measure the success of a third party only by whether they win elections. More here: http://sovereignmind.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/t...

In 2008 I found myself disgusted with both campaigns and so considered voting for a third party. But Barr was too libertarian for my taste, and as I looked at the other parties I didn’t see anyone that seemed to have the basic qualifications (I’m not just voting for an ideology, but also a person of course). So in the end I held my nose and stuck with the major parties. On the other hand, it’s hard to have qualified candidates until you start winning more local elections, and and the more local the election the more probability there is to be a qualified candidate in a third party. So my principle is simple: vote for the person who would be the best in office. If everyone did that, over time that would result in more local officials who are from third parties, which would result in more qualified candidates for higher office, which would result in more pressure on the 2 major parties to adopt some of the principles of the 3rd party, which as I argue in the link above is the main purpose of minor parties.

According to quiz2d, I am well within the centrist circle, slightly leaning toward libertarian/conservative. So, similar results as the political compass. I don't know if that makes me nuanced and interesting or ignorant and boring (according to many news reports towards the end of the last election cycle it was the latter. I was undecided up until about a week before the election and was frequently told I was uninformed for not picking a side, as if all one needs to do to make the obvious choice is the listen to the candidates' and parties' drivel.)

Actually, JD, the 18th century solutions I refer to are those of the conservative's bastardized version of Adam Smith's writings and the beliefs of David Ricardo. The modern conservative acts as though all of the changes the world has gone through cannot change those economist's theories no matter how much it changes the environment economics operate in. What does comparative advantage mean when production and labor, whether that of manufacturing or many services can be moved anywhere in the world? Why does the writing of Adam Smith that praises laissez faire seem to be the only part that conservatives listen to while ignoring his warnings about how it can go wrong? Constitutionalism seems to go hand in hand with worship of the free market and refusal to recognize its flaws and the place that government is going to have to have unless we choose to ignore the fact that private charity no longer has the resources to ameliorate suffering caused by massive economic dislocations inherent in unfettered capitalism.

"For one thing, many of the questions asked have nothing to do whatsoever with politics."

Which is probably it's biggest flaw. I consider myself to be a personal conservative, but politically more libertarian, which means that there are a lot of things that I consider wrong and harmful to both people and the society as a whole, but I don't believe that they can be usefully addressed by a government. It's an idea that seems to confuse many people, especially in abortion statistics, where a majority are against abortions, but also against it being illegal.

I just can't look at the government as a genie, or as a god, while seeing the real effects of its (usually) well-intentioned laws.

Wow someone remembers something I wrote over a year ago ?

Oh, okay. I didn't realize you were talking economics. I get your point now.
IMHO..... Supply side AND Demand side economics both are unrealistic.

And I absolutely stand against "unfettered" capitalism. Regulation is needed as long as greed exists. Case in point: Railroads, coal companies, sweat shops, in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Hey! The quiz2d result had me where I "thought" I'd be with the other quiz.
"Right-leaning Freedom Lover"
But it still had me close to centrist, only above it to the upper right.
No shock there.