To start off, I’m going to unapologetically tell you that I scored around -5 on the economic scale, which seems to indicate a pretty strong leaning toward the dreaded “communism”, and also -5 on the social scale, leaning towards what they call “libertarianism”.
Wow, I’m a libertarian communist. Never woulda known it. I just thought I was a liberal. Anyway, it turns out I’m actually in pretty good company, because my score was very close to Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and the Dalai Lama.
In fact, I think everyone in North America is in for a surprise when they take this test. Whoever’s blog I learned about PoliticalCompass.org from was horrifed to find he ranked as a libertarian, like me. Most “conservatives” will probably be shocked to find themselves categorized as “neo-liberal authoritarians”.
I’m not criticizing or disagreeing with PoliticalCompass.org at all here, I see what they’re proposing and I think they’re exactly right. The point is, it allows all of us to re-evaluate ourselves more realistically.
Most world leaders that they’ve charted seem to fall close to a diagonal line from bottom left to top right, so if you look at the International Chart with your head tilted to the left, you get the traditional, simplistic left-right continuum, with Mandela, the Dalai Lama and me on the left, and George Bush, Silvio Berlusconi and Nicolas Sarkozy on the right. The only exceptions, where the economic value is significantly different from the social value, are: Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Robert Mugabe, Mahmoud Abbas, Pope Benedict XVI and Milton Friedman. This would suggest that most people expect a fairly constant amount of goverment influence, the difference is to what extent we expect our government to control societal “values” or the economy.
Which brings me back to me. I can explain my results simply: I believe in the capitalist system, except where it needs to be regulated because I just don’t trust business to do the honest or ethical thing, or where it’s a service that shouldn’t be provided on a for-profit basis. I also wish government would operate more like a business, where costs are more tightly controlled. As for social freedom, I think people should have freedom to do and say as they wish, within the law, as long as they do not harm others.
Looking at that statement, you probably see that most people would agree in principle, it’s just a matter of where you draw the lines, so here’s how I differentiate myself from some other groups. The Christian Right would like to make their “family values” the law, and those who call themselves “libertarians” are really just pure capitalists. They’re the ones who own the corporations and therefore have the means to take care of themselves, so they’re dedicated only to the free market and small government because they don’t want their money going to the more vulnerable in society (which I think for most of them means black people).
I believe that abortion and homosexual marriage should be legal and that government has a responsibility to provide not only defense, education and infrastructure, but also health care, a social safety net and regulation over free enterprise to control greed and corruption.
Both sides on the family values debate accuse the other of fascism, by trying to force their views on others. I think the difference is the “family values” people have a narrow definition that they’re trying to enforce, the other side just wants freedom of religion and sexuality. The only thing they’re trying to enforce is tolerance.
Now, before you go calling me a baby killer, I have a few questions for the anti-abortion crowd:
1) If abortion were illegal what punishment would you suggest for a woman who has an abortion anyway? The same as a murderer, up to and including life imprisonment or the death sentence? Because the fact is that women were having abortions before it was legal, it’s just that many more of them were dying because of less-than-perfect conditions. If a woman really doesn’t want the baby, she’ll terminate the pregnancy, even at risk to herself.
2) I’ve read that the US Supreme Court has been dominated by Republicans continuously since Roe v. Wade. If they were going to repeal it, haven’t they had enough chance to do so? Are you really so blind that you can’t see that it’s a carrot that’s been dangled in front of you for over 35 years?
3) Can’t you see that nobody is “pro-abortion”, we would all like to see it never happen again, but the best way to stop it is to avoid the pregnancy in the first place? The best way to help Jamie Lynn Spears and Bristol Palin not to get pregnant again is sex education so they know how to keep it from happening. “Abstinence-only” does not work. At all.
I hope more and more people see the views of the “Religious Right” as I do: hypocritical, ignorant, bigoted, xenophobic and hateful.
And O’Reilly, Hannity and Limbaugh are just like the vile propaganda guy from the movie “V For Vendetta”. Don’t believe me? Compare how Bill O’Reilly reacted to Jamie Lynn Spears’ and Bristol Palin’s pregnancy.
Hint: When someone tells you that something is going to “destroy the fabric of America” or that someone is the “most dangerous person ever”, realize that you’re being manipulated by propaganda.
(A bit off topic from PoliticalCompass.org, but it’s my blog.)
