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Your Political Identity

Two nice tests to discover more about your own political identity:

Long test
Short test (via Libertarian party, so I am not sure about its credibility / accuracy)

All in good fun of course.



41 Responses to “Your Political Identity”

  1. Ryan says:

    Took the short test as that’s all I have time for at the moment. Shock of all shocks, I’m a centrist! My personal issues score was 60%, my economic issues score was 50%.

    No surprise to me, I fell directly between liberal and libertarian, leaning slightly away from conservative and statist.

  2. C.Prez says:

    Your political compass
    Economic Left/Right: -4.00
    Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.85

    Pretty close to gandhi and the dalai lama, actually.

  3. Chris says:

    -2.6 and -2.4
    About 1/2 way between Gandhi and the center.

    I might have been closer to center if some of the loaded questions had been phrased differently. Otherwise, a pretty cool profiler.

  4. Kevin H says:

    -2.5 Econ
    -4.87 social

    for the long test

    it would be really interesting if they put a score density report up on the site, so that you could see where you fall in relation to the rest of the people who have taken the test. A related question: is the mean really 0,0?

    it would be interesting idea if a congressional canidate would post their score to this or a similar test to see how he compares to voters.

  5. I’ve taken this test at least 3 times, and while I’d like the option for a “don’t care” type of responses, it doesn’t bug me too much. What I find the most interesting is how my answers and position on the compass have drifted since the first time I took it. I first took the test pretty early after it popped up, and I was predictably libertarian and economic left. Since then I’ve moved further and further left economically (and somewhat more libertarian) as a response to what I perceive as BS from the current Administration. What the test hasn’t been able to gauge effectively, unfortunately, is that while I’m strongly left/libertarian, I’ve also developed a strong streak of political pragmatism that would make me an excellent “cross-aisle” type of politician if I could ever get elected.

    IMO, the political compass is a great starting point, and it’s worlds better than the current linear representation of politics, but it’s still not measuring everything that’s IMO important.

  6. Kevin H says:

    Hmm, after some looking at their results for other people, they seem to rate the green party on the libertarian side of the economic scale… that seems odd to me. They are anything but laissez faire.

    Also it probably should be a 3D matrix with Militarism as our third axis. I’m a bit more hawkish than most greens

  7. chris-moderate-democrat says:

    I’m a little left of centrist. I’m pleased with my score.

  8. Kim Ritter says:

    What a relief! I was starting to worry that my views against Bush and Iraq were turning me into part of the lunatic lefty fringe, but drumroll here, I took the short test and I’m a

    CENTRIST!

    Michael does this mean that I won’t get banned for extremity on TMV?

  9. Lynx says:

    Economic Left/Right: -5.63
    Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.46

    I’m more lefty on economic issues than I thought, but am not surprised by my social score, being as I am very liberal on sexual issues and very conservative on criminal issues. Count me as another one close to Gandhi, except for the whole rising up of nations bit ;)

  10. bellisaurius says:

    I really didn;t know where to go with some of the questions. It sort of forced you to pick a side. Even more, which way do you answer when you agree with a policy, but disagree with the rationale?

  11. egrubs says:

    -3.5 Economic
    -6.72 Social

    Pretty much the anti-Hitler, both in angle and magnitude (not sure if that second is a good thing).

  12. Rudi says:

    Michael whats wrong with the Libertarians?

  13. Jim S says:

    Well, here’s mine.

    Your political compass
    Economic Left/Right: -5.13
    Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.46

    Rudi, I’m not Michael but as far as libertarians are concerned I think the hardcore ones have less of a grasp on reality than someone on a strong dose of LSD.

  14. BrianOfAtlanta says:

    I’m pretty much where I thought I’d be:

    Economic Left/Right: 1.13
    Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.26

    Pretty darn near the center of things.

    Odd that there is a dearth of politicians in the lower right quadrant.

  15. Rambie says:

    The Political Compass
    Economic Left/Right: -0.75
    Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.10

    I first took this test 2 years ago just before the 2004 election. I still have the bookmark saved. I’m pretty much the same, slightly left of center and Libertarian… no wonder I don’t really agree with either major party.

    The Libertarian party here in Utah is small; the Republicans have pretty much a strong-hold on the state.

  16. Pyst says:

    Centerist ever so slight lean towards left Libertarian.

    Your PERSONAL issues Score is 70%.
    Your ECONOMIC issues Score is 60%.

    left Libertarian again.

    Economic Left/Right: -4.63
    Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.10

    One tick down, and over on the graph from Ghandi. Much like Lynx on sex, and criminal issues. I can live with being in Ghandi’s neighborhood :)

    “JimS-I’m not Michael but as far as libertarians are concerned I think the hardcore ones have less of a grasp on reality than someone on a strong dose of LSD.”

    I gotta agree with tha sentiment about hardcore followers of any political mindset. Extremism in any type of governmental/political system is dangerous, period. And that includes democracy, for too much of a good thing is bad at some point.

  17. Pyst says:

    I got an even better test for the rabble here to take.

    It’s a fascism test, good luck to those that lean towards neo-con LOL.

  18. Pyst says:

    Dammit, where’s my link???

    http://www.anesi.com/fscale.htm

  19. Ryan says:

    Now that I have time for the full test, here are the results. I’m still placed almost dead center between left and libertarian, leaning a bit libertarian. It seems as though I’m in line with quite a few others here. I actually came back more economically left than I expected but I suspect that’s because of the wording of the questions and the lack of a “neutral” type option. I didn’t agree or disagree with some statements outright but I had to decide between agree or disagree and I found myself leaning toward the left when forced to agree or disagree.

    Economic Left/Right: -4.25
    Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.67

  20. Rudi says:

    Jim S,
    CATO and Reason are not the Wolrd Bank/New Order crowd. LewRockwell has some nuts, but many are like the CATO group. Anti-War does have more nuts and racists, but Leon Hadar, Bill Lind, Charley Reese and others have interesting opinions that evoke thought and debate. Some of the webcasts (like Republic Radio) are crazies, mostly the hosts not all the guests. The female Guard General, that took a big hit over AG, seems to be an anti-Semite and a little crazy. Like the Democrats and Republicans, the Libertarains have their share of reason and irrational thought. The Libertarians seem to be more inclusive than either mainstream party. MvgD will not address his Libertarian attack, i’m “considered” part of the Sal/ChippedChips fringe – LOL. This may be because of challeges to his links to AceofSpades types and the MEMRI crowd.

  21. C Stanley says:

    Pyst,
    That was a pretty silly test: my score was 2 which says that I’m a liberal airhead LOL!

    What was silly about it is that everything was worded in such extreme terms, that I’m sure I would not have scored so low if the wording had been different. There were a lot of statements that I disagreed with because they used terms like “always” or “the most important”.

    Not that I would have wanted to score high as a fascist, but it definitely skewed me much farther left than I really am.

  22. Kim Ritter says:

    I just took the long test and was surprised that my scores are still center-left-
    -1.63 econ left/right
    -3.79 libertarian/authoritarian

    Honestly, I consider myself a moderate stuck in immoderate times, who is becoming radicalized by immoderation on the right-but my scores don’t show it?? I do have very strong views against Iraq and collusion of government and corporate interests, but its not scoring like that?

  23. C Stanley says:

    My results on the long political compass test:
    Economic Left/Right: 1.50
    Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.33

    Rudi:
    I think MvdG is just occupied with personal family concerns right now, not that he’s ignoring you.

    My view of libertarianism is that the central thesis is 100% correct and so much in sync with our founding fathers, that it is hard to see how anyone could disagree: Government exists at the pleasure of the citizens and exists only to serve the interests of the citizens.

    From there, though, I tend to see a lot more reasons for government intervention than the Libertartian (big L) party does. I definitely believe though, that we should start with the premise of no government involvement in any arena unless the people feel there is a compelling societal reason for the government to be involved.

  24. sh0ter says:

    Your political compass
    Economic Left/Right: -4.88
    Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.00

    I can totally tell I’ve been reading more Hienlien recently…

  25. bellisaurius says:

    LOL, shoter. I’ll take a cold Hiene over warm Bush any day!

  26. Ryan says:

    Honestly, I consider myself a moderate stuck in immoderate times, who is becoming radicalized by immoderation on the right-but my scores don’t show it??

    Kim, I actually thought the exact same thing when I first saw my results. However, I then thought about the questions and how I answered them. Had I taken the test 6 years ago, even with the same views I hold today, I would have answered some of the questions differently. My views on the present situation, in these immoderate times, undoubtedly pushed my score more toward the left.

  27. Rambie says:

    Kim: “Honestly, I consider myself a moderate stuck in immoderate times, who is becoming radicalized by immoderation on the right-but my scores don’t show it??”

    I think your score does show you as a moderate, 1.63 to the left, does not make you a rabid liberal. I also agree with Ryan, as I too, feel some of us moderates are being pushed away form the conservatives.

    Not that we want to jump into bed with the Dems, but the GOP -in its current form- is also distasteful to us. Why should I vote for a party that sees me as a traitor and did everything it could to push me away in 2004?

    That’s why I feel voting against the party who’s doing this is a good way to protest as most of us will only have two real candidates to pick from.

    That was my feeling in 1994 and that’s how I voted and I think it’s time for another change.

  28. MvgD will not address his Libertarian attack, i’m “considered” part of the Sal/ChippedChips fringe – LOL. This may be because of challeges to his links to AceofSpades types and the MEMRI crowd.

    Good Lord, I have explained this on NOUMEROUS occasions by now: I DO NOT HAVE TIME TO PARTICIPATE AS MUCHJ AS I WOULD LIKE. Its called READING Rudi.,

    There is NOTHING wrong with Libertarians, perhaps you should try to use your freaking brains for yourself. the test i gave you is FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY. So, I do not know in how far the test is accurate since it would be good for them if EVERYBODY is called a libertarian by the test.

    According to both tests, I am quite far towards Libertarian. -4.
    Left – Right -> depends: I am quite often in doubt: I differ from center right, to center, dependent on what choice I make: sometimes it’s truly.. both are wrong. No less wrong choice either, so you have to choose one.

  29. Ow and my grandmother died today at 3.45PM

  30. Ryan says:

    Michael, best wishes to you and your family. My thoughts are with you during this difficult time.

  31. C Stanley says:

    MvdG: Please accept my sympathy for your family’s loss.

  32. Rudi says:

    Soory Michael – about any misunderstanding and your grandmother. I just want to make the point that the Libertarian party could be a centerist party, it has an infrasturcture, if more moderates Democrats and Republicans would switch alliances and empower the Libertarians. Their policies embrace both small government Republicans and social Liberal Democrats.

  33. Rudi, I agree with that. You do not seemed to have noticed, but I share a great deal with libertarians. We do not have ‘libertarians’ in the Netherlands. Well, they are not called like that, but I notice that Liberal conservatives albeit especially classically liberals have a lot in common with American Libertarians.

  34. Rudi says:

    Yes and most moderate (Fiscal economically and Socially Liberal) Democrats share the same beliefs. From your original post I thought you were attacking ALL Libertarians as the conspiracy nuts World Bank crowd. If more D+R join the Libertarians to moderate their fringe, the Libertarians could be the third party that the US desparately needs. Once again, sorry about your grandmother. The Libertarians are for less government and personal responsibility, some of the other issues are for the fringe.

  35. BrianOfAtlanta says:

    My results on the long political compass test:
    Economic Left/Right: 1.50
    Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.33

    C Stanley, as the only other posted right of center person around here, welcome to the lunatic fringe!

  36. Brian: I am right of center as well.

  37. Pyst says:

    Michael, Rudi, what you both were hashing out, and the conclusions you both kind of reached is exactly why I voted for a moderate Libertarian presidential canidate in ’04….Badnarik.

    I hope your family is doing ok Michael, I send my regards.

    Bryan

  38. Rudi says:

    Pyst,
    With the race close in 04, I had to make the lesser choice and vote Kerrey. If it’s a choice between St McCain and Hillary in 08 any Libertarian candidate would be a logical choice. I wish Paul would change his alliegence over to the Libertarians instead of his RINO label. Maybe a couple of Lib’s in the Congress would make the party stronger. I am waiting for Jones(R-NC) to join the Paul group.

  39. Kim Ritter says:

    Ryan,Rambie-My situation is a little different- I was much more liberal when I was younger. Now that I have a home and a family, I have become part of the establishment, and understand more about how business works- I have moved to the right. But the war in Iraq , country’s strange push to the far right , and other policies of this administration, have radicalized me. That’s why I was surprised my score is still centrist.

    I consider myself a centrist, but I consider those in power further to the right than I ever thought our government would go. What has amazed me is that there is so much support for it??? I have always leaned Democratic, but in the past would vote Republican if they were a moderate and a good candidate. Now? NEVER

  40. Pyst says:

    Well if my state hadn’t decided Nov. 3rd 2000 how it was going to vote in ’04, and could have swung the other way I would have voted to stop the idiot in chief. But I live in Alabama so you know how that went.

  41. BrianOfAtlanta says:

    MVDG wrote:

    Brian: I am right of center as well.

    Michael, we already knew you were a radical. Heh.

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