[Millennium]

We've all seen the political compass before, but it seems to have expanded significantly. It's no longer the tiny ten-question quiz it once was; it seems to be going into much more detail now.

My results:
Economic Left/Right: 4.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.26

If I recall correctly, last time I took this quiz there were only five points per axis; they now measure out of ten, so on the previous quiz's scale I'd rate an Economic 2 and a Social 0 (I don't think it was granular enough to count an 0.13 at that time).

I find this interesting. Last time I took this quiz, I was an Economic 1/Social 1, or slightly right/authoritarian. I've dropped to just a hair below the line on social issues (putting me slightly on the libertarian side of things) but I've moved rather sharply to the right on economic issues.

I don't know. Do you guys think that periodic self-evaluations like this are useful?

[CD Hanks]

http://www.politicalcompass.org/

edit: I'm not sure how this works, but here are my stats:

Economic Left/Right: -4.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.23

Apparently I'm right where Ghandi is on the chart.



edit 2:
1 left/right -1.8423 (-0.1109)
2 pragmatism +1.7898 (+0.1077)

This one makes more sense to me, because it positioned me almost smack dab in the center of the whole grid.

[SimeyTheLimey]

I don't seem to have come out much different from before. Economic Left/Right 6.38, Social Libertarian/Authoritarian -1.28.

[TETENAL]

Your political compass


Economic Left/Right: -4.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.87

I didn't like some of the questions.

ps:

I'm in shocking distance to Gerhard Schr�der! No wonder I never liked him.

[Earth Mk. II]

I think these tests do well to fin your "average" inclinations, but I don't know how well it takes into account a priority of values beyond agree/disagree and strongly agree/disagree.

For example, I could strongly agree with two concepts that are typically non-exclusive, but in some cases a much higher priority placed on one could cause a severe break from my "average" score grouping.

That said, my results came out like this:

Economic Left/Right: -7.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.87

That might explain my attraction to concepts like anarcho-syndicalism and liberation theology.

But, again, from the way the quiz is structured, even people with very similar scores might strongly disagree on some key issues. So, I don't know how useful this is, aside from giving a very general idea of where someone most probably stands on a set of economic or social issues.

[Shaddim]

Almost identical to where I was.

Economic Left/Right: 4.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.23

Maybe just a bit more "right".

[Spliffdaddy]

It says I'm a 'neocon'.

Seems Lerkfish was right all along.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by Earth Mk. II:
I think these tests do well to fin your "average" inclinations, but I don't know how well it takes into account a priority of values beyond agree/disagree and strongly agree/disagree.

[ snip ]

But, again, from the way the quiz is structured, even people with very similar scores might strongly disagree on some key issues. So, I don't know how useful this is, aside from giving a very general idea of where someone most probably stands on a set of economic or social issues.

True, and frankly, I find this to be a change for the worse. They used to at least have a "neutral" option on the questions, but they don't seem to have had that anymore. A priority scale could also be a Good Thing, though they never had that.

Still, in terms of general ideas, I think it's useful to see how a person's beliefs change over time.

[voodoo]

Originally posted by CD Hanks:
http://www.politicalcompass.org/

edit: I'm not sure how this works, but here are my stats:

Economic Left/Right: -4.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.23

Apparently I'm right where Ghandi is on the chart.

I'm pretty close to you!

Economic Left/Right: -2.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.85

Closer to Nelson Mandela than Ghandi but hey

[Ω]

Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -4.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.05

To be compared to Ghandi, Mandela and the Dalai Lama, I think I can live with that

[E's Lil Theorem]

For whatever it's worth...

Economic Left/Right: -1.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.00

[voodoo]

Good to see so many in the dual negative quadrant!

[Joshua]

Economic Left/Right: 7.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.64

[Zimphire]

Economic Left/Right: 2.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 2.77

[Joshua]

Here's the thread from the last time the political compass went around.

The new version gave me pretty different results.

[voodoo]

Originally posted by Zimphire:
*****

A right wing authoritarian! that explains a lot. republicans are your party.

[Zimphire]

Originally posted by Joshua:
Here's the thread from the last time the political compass went around.

The new version gave me pretty different results.

Some of the questions in there are pretty questionable on how they are worded.

[lil'babykitten]

Economic Left/Right: -4.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.95

[Millennium]

Originally posted by voodoo:
A right wing authoritarian! that explains a lot. republicans are your party.

Actually, those scores seem to be slightly further left/libertarian than Kerry (I wish they'd give the actual numbers for the candidates). Not by much, but a bit.

[Joshua]

I prefer this test, in that it's open about how your numbers are calculated. My results:

Left/Right: +2.8956
Pragmatism/Idealism: +4.1263

[voodoo]

Originally posted by Millennium:
Actually, those scores seem to be slightly further left/libertarian than Kerry (I wish they'd give the actual numbers for the candidates). Not by much, but a bit.

Naturally, I don't understand really why Zimphire doesn't support Kerry. Perhaps he just conciously decided against it. Their real POVs are not that far a part. In the US there are twi right wing political parties.

[Zimphire]

Because Kerry is a fraud and I don't like his politics?

[TETENAL]

Originally posted by voodoo:
In the US there are twi right wing political parties.

Did you ever consider abolishing the majority voting system? With two right wing parties a large part of the population can't get represented in their views which strikes me as not very democratic.

[Zimphire]

Originally posted by Joshua:
I prefer this test, in that it's open about how your numbers are calculated. My results:

Left/Right: +2.8956
Pragmatism/Idealism: +4.1263

I like that because it offers a "no opinion" option.

1
left/right
+3.9225 (+0.2361)

2
pragmatism
-1.1770 (-0.0708)

[voodoo]

Originally posted by TETENAL:
Did you ever consider abolishing the majority voting system? With two right wing parties a large part of the population can't get represented in their views which strikes me as not very democratic.

Sure naturally that would be for the best, but the president of the US would likely always be a representative of either of the two parties, since there is only one position to fight for. Congress would rather be helped by abolishing the majority voting system. Maybe it is that way I don't know.

[Spoogepieces]

Economic Left/Right: 5.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 7.28

[voodoo]

1
left/right
-3.1977 (-0.1925)

2
pragmatism
-0.4979 (-0.0300)

[Spoogepieces]

1 left/right +11.2395 (+0.6765)
2 pragmatism +1.8478 (+0.1112)

[SimeyTheLimey]

Originally posted by TETENAL:
Did you ever consider abolishing the majority voting system? With two right wing parties a large part of the population can't get represented in their views which strikes me as not very democratic.

You are forgetting that political parties naturally center themselves around the center of mass of the population. They do that because they try to get as much support as possible. However, where that center of mass is varies from country to country.

It isn't that we have a huge unrepresented left wing. It is that our left wing would be kind of right wing in Germany. What would be mainstream left wing in Germany is very much on the fringes of the political spectrum here




thankfully.

[spacefreak]

I definitely don't like the many too-generalized question, but I answered them as best as I could:

PoliticalCompass.org
Economic Left/Right: 3.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.72

Politics.Beasts.org
left/right +0.8509 (+0.0512)
pragmatism +1.6766 (+0.1009)

[voodoo]

Originally posted by SimeyTheLimey:
You are forgetting that political parties naturally center themselves around the center of mass of the population. They do that because they try to get as much support as possible. However, where that center of mass is varies from country to country.

It isn't that we have a huge unrepresented left wing. It is that our left wing would be kind of right wing in Germany. What would be mainstream left wing in Germany is very much on the fringes of the political spectrum here




thankfully.

No not really. It just happens that the right POV is prevailent in both US parties. You'll find the entire spectrum of people in both parties - except the hadcore idealists. You'll find pro gun, pro life, pro capital punishment, racist, right wing SOBs in the Democratic party and you'll find evironmentally concious, left leaning, family and social value concious, pro gay, pro choice, anti capital punishment leftish persons as active Republicans. The parties are so huge that they are essentially teams rather than actually political parties. Either party can in fact represent almost evey single person, not just in the US but in any country.

[TETENAL]

Originally posted by SimeyTheLimey:
You are forgetting that political parties naturally center themselves around the center of mass of the population.

Maybe true, but the generally very low voter turnout in the USA suggests that a large percentage of the population feels unrepresented by either party.

[spacefreak]

Originally posted by Millennium:
My results:
Economic Left/Right: 4.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.26

Wow..we're pretty close on this one. (Econ Left/Right: 3.75; Soc. Libert./Auth.: -0.72)

Did you try the other one suggested by Joshua?

I'd be interested to see if your numbers come out similar to mine in this one as well.

[Shaddim]

Originally posted by Spoogepieces:
Economic Left/Right: 5.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 7.28

Damn... just... damn... Those are almost identical to my dad's numbers last time he tested, and he's former Army intel.



Well, Simey's more Eco. Rt. than you are.

[Millennium]

Interesting...

1 left/right +4.4068 (+0.2653)
2 pragmatism +0.6010 (+0.0362)

Open and honest, perhaps, but not flawless.

It is good to see that it provides a neutral option for propositions,; the lack of this is a flaw in politicalcompass.org's test. However, the propositions themselves tend to be more extreme and inflexible on both sides of the equation, pretty much forcing strong or neutral responses to many questions. Frankly, some of the propositions also use heavily-loaded language, with something of a leftward bias. Politicalcompass.org also has this problem, but not to the same degree.

At the same time, the quiz like this could be modified without too much trouble. I'd actually like to see a quiz which runs through the same questions twice: once presented positively, and once presented negatively. It would be fascinating to see how people can be swayed by the language used to present the propositions.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by TETENAL:
Maybe true, but the generally very low voter turnout in the USA suggests that a large percentage of the population feels unrepresented by either party.

Possible, but does this mean that all of that percentage is on the left? For every American Communist Party, there is a "Constitution Party" (the name of which leaves a bad taste in my mouth, insult to the Constitution that they are).

[Zimphire]

Originally posted by Millennium:
At the same time, the quiz like this could be modified without too much trouble. I'd actually like to see a quiz which runs through the same questions twice: once presented positively, and once presented negatively. It would be fascinating to see how people can be swayed by the language used to present the propositions.

I'd love to see that too.

[Shaddim]

Originally posted by Millennium:
Possible, but does this mean that all of that percentage is on the left? For every American Communist Party, there is a "Constitution Party" (the name of which leaves a bad taste in my mouth, insult to the Constitution that they are).

My dad raves about them (Constitution Party), thinks they're the "true" American party. But, he's still voting for Bush, his dislike for Kerry is too great for him to waver.

[RAILhead]

Your political compass

Economic Left/Right: 3.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 4.00

[MindFad]

Economic Left/Right: -5.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.10

[Millennium]

At the same time, the quiz like this could be modified without too much trouble. I'd actually like to see a quiz which runs through the same questions twice: once presented positively, and once presented negatively. It would be fascinating to see how people can be swayed by the language used to present the propositions.

After further exploration of the site, it seems that they do have some variance in their statements, of which only one is presented at any given time.

This said, it's still not quite what I'd like to see, because each person only answers one form of the statement when they take the quiz. Also, the statements which I saw as too extreme in one form tended to also be too extreme in the converse. What's needed, I think, is a set of statements which can be graded on a sliding scale from "always" to "never".

[SimeyTheLimey]

Originally posted by TETENAL:
Maybe true, but the generally very low voter turnout in the USA suggests that a large percentage of the population feels unrepresented by either party.

I think that has more to do with apathy than anything else. If there was any huge mass of voters out there just waiting to vote for a third party, a third party (or one of the other two) would go after it.

Another explanation is contentment. The US economy is very largely in private hands, so people don't necessarily see such a direct connection between politics and their economic, social, and spiritual lives. A lot of non-voters I know are very engaged in their communities or business, just uninterested in electoral politics.

[Zimphire]

Yeah the "Abortion is never an option" or whatever. Using extremes.

[Earth Mk. II]

Originally posted by Millennium:
What's needed, I think, is a set of statements which can be graded on a sliding scale from "always" to "never".

I think that'd be a much better approach in general.

I'm not a big fan of "no opinion" options, simply because it's rare that someone is completely neutral on a subject. Perhaps they don't care enough to rase a fuss about it, but they have a preference.

[PacHead]

TEST #1

Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: 1.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 0.00

*************************************
TEST #2

left/right
+1.6980 (+0.1022)

pragmatism
+1.2569 (+0.0757)

[voodoo]

Originally posted by SimeyTheLimey:
I think that has more to do with apathy than anything else. If there was any huge mass of voters out there just waiting to vote for a third party, a third party (or one of the other two) would go after it.

Another explanation is contentment. The US economy is very largely in private hands, so people don't necessarily see such a direct connection between politics and their economic, social, and spiritual lives. A lot of non-voters I know are very engaged in their communities or business, just uninterested in electoral politics.

Apathy is a symptom not a problem as such. What cause the apathy? Perhaps that the 2 parties don't represent much more than half the USAmerican population after all.

[SimeyTheLimey]

Originally posted by voodoo:
Apathy is a symptom not a problem as such. What cause the apathy? Perhaps that the 2 parties don't represent much more than half the USAmerican population after all.

A hundred things could cause apathy. It probably varies from individual to individual. There is no reason to assume that there is one reason, let alone that you know what that reason is.

[Zimphire]

Originally posted by voodoo:
USAmerican

[Cody Dawg]

Economic Left/Right: -4.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.18

Hmmm...

Wonder what that means?

I've always considered myself a hardcore Republican.

[voodoo]

Originally posted by SimeyTheLimey:
A hundred things could cause apathy. It probably varies from individual to individual. There is no reason to assume that there is one reason, let alone that you know what that reason is.

that was a stupid useless post