What's your political compass?

[llanlad2]

The following is from this website whose thesis is that left wing and right wing doesn't describe the social dimension of politics adequately. The Political Compass tries to take this into account. You can also take the test yourself at this link. It only takes about 5 minutes and the result for me matched with what I would have thought.

We can show, for example, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung and Pol Pot, with their commitment to a totally controlled economy, on the hard left. Socialists like Mahatma Gandhi and Robert Mugabe would occupy a less extreme leftist position. Margaret Thatcher would be well over to the right, but further right still would be someone like that ultimate free marketeer, General Pinochet.
That deals with economics, but the social dimension is also important in politics. That's the one that the mere left-right scale doesn't adequately address. So we've added one, ranging in positions from extreme authoritarian to extreme libertarian

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With their own analysis (so obviously could be biassed) they concluded the following regarding some leaders.




Quite often there are left wing vs right wing points of views on itulip when the bigger discussion/threat (in my opinion) is authoritarianism which I am sure resonates with many on this site.

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: What's your political compass?

The empty lower right quadrant is where America used to be.

[flintlock]

Re: What's your political compass?

I'm almost dead center Left/Right. -2 towards the Libertarian side.

[Jeff]

Re: What's your political compass?

How the hell did this serial entrepreneur end up south of Mandela and east of Gandhi and the Dali Lama?

[BiscayneSunrise]

Re: What's your political compass?

I'd like to see where the average American places themselves on the grid.

[llanlad2]

Re: What's your political compass?

How the hell did this serial entrepreneur end up south of Mandela and east of Gandhi and the Dali Lama?

Isn't that what you would have expected? I would expect entrepreneurs by nature to be anti-authoritarian (south) and anti-communist (east).

I'd like to see where the average American places themselves on the grid.

I think most westerners (the public in general ) would like to think of themselves as more libertarian. However governments and politicians by nature will end up authoritarian because politicians become politicans because they believe they know what is good for the people. Socialists certainly think like this and unfortunately for the US so do Neo-cons.
If the public don't wake up soon I think those little red dots will just keep heading up.

[GRG55]

Re: What's your political compass?

Isn't that what you would have expected? I would expect entrepreneurs by nature to be anti-authoritarian (south) and anti-communist (east)...

I would have thought the same thing...that's about where I ended up also...heavily "south" and close to center.

I would guess that most Canadians would end up further north and further west than me.

[WDCRob]

Re: What's your political compass?

Slightly south and slightly west. Not too far from the origin.

The fact that there aren't really any societies in that bottom right corner strongly suggests that it's an unstable place to be in terms of societal evolution.

[flintlock]

Re: What's your political compass?

Slightly south and slightly west. Not too far from the origin.

The fact that there aren't really any societies in that bottom right corner strongly suggests that it's an unstable place to be in terms of societal evolution.

Or a bias in the way the results are calculated. But I tend to agree with your statement.

[c1ue]

Re: What's your political compass?

The problem with the compass is that the definition of authoritarian, libertarian, left and right are all arbitrary.

Every society has different views on what constitutes each category.

From a Japanese perspective, I'd bet all Americans be they Demo or Rep, Montanan survivalist or Massachusetts Brahmin, are anarchistic and selfish whereas in return pretty much all Japanese would be considered authoritarian and right.

[bcassill]

Re: What's your political compass?

How the hell did this serial entrepreneur end up south of Mandela and east of Gandhi and the Dali Lama?

Do you mean West of Gandhi and the Dalai Lama? Anyhow, I wound up the Dalai Lama camp (SW). Funny, though. I always thought of myself as more of a Centrist.

[Sharky]

Re: What's your political compass?

I recall taking this test some time ago. I took it again just now, and I'm right in the middle of that empty lower-right quadrant:

Economic Left/Right: 4.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.56

However, the test is seriously flawed. The assumption that there was a simple agree/disagree for some of the questions is just wrong.

The fact that there aren't really any societies in that bottom right corner strongly suggests that it's an unstable place to be in terms of societal evolution.

The message I got from their graph is that most government leaders are pro-authoritarian. No surprise.