Political Compass Thread

http://www.politicalcompass.org/

Inspired by the Milennial quiz of doom; I take this quiz every 5 or so years to see how accurately it judges me. Some of the questions are utterly terrible but some are pretty good, like: "A significant advantage of a one-party state is that it avoids all the arguments that delay progress in a democratic political system." That shit's so directed and obvious who could possibly disagree; only fools I say! Anyway my general objective is to score as close to the center as possible despite having extreme opinions on either side of the spectrum, thus highlighting the worthlessness of the exercise. I seem to be failing at this in the last two attempts, but originally I was almost dead center.

I consider myself to be quite authoritarian (and answered all relevant authoritarian questions as such) and more or less moderate; so it was still pretty useless even if the goal failed. The trend towards Stalin continues, however. I gather you have to be racist to be fully authoritarian according to the sages who made the test (which holds up for historically bad rulers but not historically excellent ones), unfortunately I'm never going to be stupid enough to be racist though I'm also not stupid enough to deny my existing prejudices and stereotypes that are inherent in the process of socialization.

Figures!

Where do I go to take this test?

@geraltitude: Sorry, put the link at the top of the post.

Oh hey we had a thread like this many, many moons ago. I think my results are still in my images.

Two years ago:

I redid the test and it is exactly the same but more libertarian. Roughly 2 ticks down from where it is on that graph.

@ben_h: Well the whole point is to take it again.

@geraltitude: here

Her is mine as of now ..... yeah If I recall is still somewhat similar to the last time

I can't link pictures on this tablet for some reason, but I got:

Economic Left/Right: -1.25

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.31

Which means that I'm centre left on the economy, and leaning strongly libertarian on social issues. That seems about right.

yep, same as last time pretty much.

and as usual, 60% of the site will be in the green

Damn! Looks like @animasta is just ever so slightly more Gandhi than I am.

@geraltitude: that's so ghandi

@animasta:

Sure, why not.

I've taken tests like this before, they always seem to come out the same.

My stance on politics, not surprising for an International Law Major, can usually be summed up as, "Hey guys, how about we act a little less shitty towards each other?"
For example, "Hey that guy is dying of a treatable illness and can't afford his medical bill, why don't we stop being shitty individuals and not let that guy die?"

Almost exactly the same as the last time I took it. Just a few pixels higher. Nice to see I'm consistent.

.

A bit more to the left as last time.

"A significant advantage of a one-party state is that it avoids all the arguments that delay progress in a democratic political system."

What a dumb question. Obviously that's true, a single minded body can make decisions quicker than an arguing one would. That's just fact. How do I answer it though? Do I say yes because it's true, or is it asking if I would support it? This question is dumb.

EDIT: Anywho, here is mine:

Which is a little weird because honestly most things that libertarians say are a little crazy to me. I thought for sure I'd be toward the center left.

Some of those questions I wasn't so sure on, like whether it is better to improve inflation or unemployment. I've never really understood the forces that move the economy particularly well.

@dasacant2 said:

Some of those questions I wasn't so sure on, like whether it is better to improve inflation or unemployment. I've never really understood the forces that move the economy particularly well.

Yeah that one was a dumb question. Unemployment in economic terms is the biggest factor because it refers to not only unemployment of workers but also resources. If you control unemployment then you can usually control inflation. In the real world I doubt anyone actually chooses between the two. It's like saying "well do I maintain my car or my house?" Well, you should probably maintain both.

No one's hating on the astrology question yet? How is that political and/or answerable?

Figures, typical millennial. Could I be any more boring?

@lunnington: Yeah that question really bugged me too.

Ahh thanks for the explanation. I remember learning that inflation and unemployment were inversely related but it seems that is not a hard rule.

@cale: Everyone's Gandhi, what a shitty world.

Yeah, suppose so.

Apparently I'm a left wing libertarian millennial.

Wow. For my country I'm actually pretty conservative.

There probably should have been more financial questions as opposed to "do you hate the gays?" for that to show through, however.

As I grow older, I seem to be moving towards being more left/libertarian. I was practically dead centre when I was 15... Ah well. I can live with it.

Center left libertarian. Yep, sounds about right.

More or less what I expected.

@erhard: Conservative scumbag!!!!!!! (I kid I kid, good with some variety here)

@lunnington: I would argue that it's asking if that is indeed an advantage or not with a one-party system. Like, is it generally a good thing, or do you think the checks and balances that comes with a democratic system is, on Balance, better? That's how I took the question at least.

@amyggen: Most people who occupy that quadrant can't be considered conservatives of any kind. I don't want to seem too eager to defend myself, but it put me that far to the right for my answers to the economic questions rather than my social views, which I'm willing to bet are more liberal than most people's. And, anyway, not being a collectivist or a socialist is not enough to be called a conservative.

The last time I took this was on November 5, 2012. Then it was: Economic Left/Right: -4.5, Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2

Took it again today, and the results were almost exactly the same, I just moved to the left another .5, so Economic: -5.00, Social: -2

Here's the one from 2012:

And here's the new one:

@erhard: I was kidding, of course. I'd say that your "score" makes you either a moderate Republican or a conservative Democrat, to put it in American terms.

To put things in perspective, in Norway I'm considered to be conservative with my score, so it's all relative.

@amyggen: I know you were kidding. In Sweden I'm considered an ultraliberal (or "nyliberal," which was shrieked at me on one occasion). I'm not even close to being either a moderate Republican or a conservative Democrat. But I suppose that's the fault of the compass, which is really completely useless since it tries to define political convictions on a chart, of all things, with something as inconsistent and muddy as the right-left system.

That's about what I expected. -7.25, -6.92

The wording on some of the questions where a bit strange, but I just answered based on the exact wording, and not what I'm guessing was the intended meaning. As such I might actually be slightly lower, and possible more to the left.

Also some of the questions doesn't really seem viable in this context, such as the one about astrology.

When I took the test for myself, I was in the green square. When I took it again answering as (well, what I believe anyway) a crazy person I was very close to Mitt Romney (although Obama is somewhat close to him as well, which surprised me).

Same place I was the last time I took this test,

Holy shit. I moved to the left a lot.

I don't really know about the economic questions, though. I'd probably place myself more towards the center.

Roughly in the middle of the greensquare. I didnt think to grab the graph when i was actually on the results page.

@kalmia64: American politicians have identical viewpoints except for social issues for all intents and purposes; it's like ever so slightly more in favor of the not rich with a Democrat in charge but still more or less in favor of the rich.

I'm curious about the topic, but I'm kind of concerned about engaging much in a political thread by you, @fredchuckdave. Whenever politics are involved, you kind of strike me as really scary. Like, I feel as though you'll be shouting at someone and the government and a kitten that looked at you wrong by the end of this thread.

buncha commie reds the lot of you. D:

I haven't done it in a while, but here's the last one for me:

It's far from an ideal test, but I think it's a lot more accurate than the traditional linear left-right spectrum.

Also, yes, I'm anarchist as fuck. Come at me, fascists.

@truthtellah: I have no stance on American politics; I will join whichever side is undermanned in a group debate to improve my own competence (I have a lot of opinions on either side and thus no true bearing). Also poking fun at people that take politics seriously is comedy gold. The failure of American society is endemic, it isn't "the government" or some nebulous conspiracy it is simple decay though at a much more rapid rate then one would expect from a superpower (though not quite rapid enough for my tastes).

I don't think anyone can save the US at this point, even an utterly exceptional leader. I would have voted for Obama if he had a chance of losing my state, but that's just because Obama is a better public speaker; one could argue that the global good (which is the only thing that matters to me in a political sense) is best served by hastening the US' demise and that the Republicans are much more likely to increase that rate of decay; but this is an inherently corrupt action and I'm disinclined to taking those unless it is absolutely necessary.

See, that's kinda what I'm talking about. When any kind of politics or current event comes up, I'm not sure how you can take your own comments seriously. You just kind of go off on people.

Maybe that's what you mean by poking fun at those who takes politics seriously? Are your comments some kind of meta joke that isn't immediately obvious? I guess I'd just like to better understand the joke if you wouldn't mind explaining.

Wow. Lots of lefties on Giant Bomb!

A little bit more lower-left than last time, but some of my views have changed since last time. Still, I would be considered an "American Libertarian" - in other words, fiscally conservative but socially liberal, but stopping just short of total Anarcho-Capitalism. In general I'm a voluntaryist but with some right-wing views (immigration, national defense, gun control etc...) It's kind of hard to define on a left-right paradigm. Lots of grey issues that wouldn't line up with either side. It's the stereotypical "Liberals think I'm conservative but conservatives think I'm liberal" kind of thing.

Mine came up pretty accurate.