Another fun internet tool: The Political Compass

Are you a liberal or conservative?

Wait, that doesn't make a lot of sense.  Why?  Because there is more to life than wearing a 'D' or an 'R' next to your name.

I would like to use this website and their scale as a perfect example of why a 4-party system would be ideal for this country instead of our traditional "Left or Right" scale we use now.

Folks, take a gander at the Political Compass.  It is a neat little internet tool that not only shows you a 'left or right' scale you can measure yourself with, but an 'up or down' scale as well.

Wait wait... up or down?  Yes!  We're in stunning 2-D now!!! (oooooo....)

On a social scale, there are both Libertarian and Authoritarian ideals.  Authoritarians like to see state-imposed collectivism (i.e. - Government control and regulations) whereas Libertarians prefer a voluntary, regional collectivism (i.e. - States/Counties/Communities making the majority of the decisions).  You have heard of 'liberal vs conservative'... You can think of these as 'big vs small government.'

And yes, there is a Libertarian party, but are they right or left-leaning libertarians?  Hard to tell...

If you want to take the test for yourself, I will provide a link at the bottom of the page.  Please feel free to share your results by leaving a comment, and joining in on the discussion.  But first, where do I rank up??

I have a lot of centric values, so I am close to the middle of the graph.  Officially I belong to the Libertarian Left.  I believe in regional governances (like California passing the 'marijuana is ok' law, and the U.S. letting them do their own thing) and like to see society help their fellow man.  I believe in Medicare, Social Security, and other aid programs, but I would like to see more conservative rules put in place.  To be eligible for welfare and food stamps, you have to pass a drug test.  To be eligible for medicare supplemental insurance, you must show proof that you can't afford to take care of your own medical needs.  And so on.

I also have conservative views on gun rights (right to bear arms, but not AK-47's) and illegal immigration (if you break the law, you need to be held accountable, but work on better-assimilating those already here into citizenship.  No free admissions though...).

I personally have some views in all 4 quadrants, but don't see myself as fitting into any definite category.  Maybe I'm just not as passionate in my politics as someone who would rank higher into the x or y axis?

Where do I rank on the scale?  Well let's compare current political leaders...

As well as famous leaders in history...

G.W. Bush = Margaret Thatcher??  But which one looks better in a dress???

(Note:  If your results put you next to Hitler, try not to read into it too much.  Unless you really really hate the Jews, then meh...)

Now the fun part... where do my peers rank?  I asked bloggers and readers to participate, and received a handful of results.  Here is where YOU rank:

(if your name doesn't appear on the graph, I'm sorry.  There was probably a cluster in your area and I wanted people to see the names)

Melanie:  -6.5, -5.23
Autumnforest:  -4.38, -2.62
D4:  -1.5, 3.85
Mama Still Wears Gucci:  7.12, -0.82
Kev D:  -6.62, -6.97
Simple Dude:  -2.98, -2.79
Squatlo:  -8.21, -6.17
Byakuya:  0, 0 (yes, this dude broke the scale)
Jillsmo:  -7.5, -6.56
Minx:  -3.25, -4.15
Q (closest to mine, my brotha...):  -2.88, -2.67
Anon1 (a Facebook Reader):  -3.75, 2.92

Analyze as you will.  Are my readers more left-leaning than the average blog, or are they the majority that decided to participate?  Most taking this poll landed in the Libertarian half as well.  Is this because of the unhappiness of current government activity over the last 10-20 years, or do I just attract that kind of reader?  Hard to tell.

As you could imagine, those on the ultra-left are going to clash with those on the ultra-right.  Same with authoritarian vs libertarian.  A left-lib is going to approach an issue in a completely different manner than a left-auth.  I mean, look at Ghandi and Stalin.  Two different people, but both on the left...

Because of this, I would like to recommend a structured 4-party system.  Right now it's D vs R, with a little squeak of resistance from those bold enough to call themselves "Independent" or "Green", etc.  Let's turn this into four parties, four primaries, and four major candidates on equal footing.

Maybe then we don't see a 50/50 vote like we did in 2000, or a 53/46/1 vote like we saw in 2008.  In both instances, it left our country divided, and very much polarized.  If we had a four-party system and the result came back as 43/20/12/25, we would have a clear winner.  Yes, 57 percent of the country didn't vote for that person... would that cause MORE turmoil or less?  Maybe have #1 as president and #2 as vice-president?  Imagine GW Bush and Al Gore working TOGETHER....

Please feel free to weigh in on the discussion, as well as take the test yourself on the Political Compass website.  I would love to know where you find yourself on the scale, and what you think would help improve the state of overall government stability (if there can ever be such a thing...).

Thank you, as always, for participating in the discussion.

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