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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
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Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:57 pm Post subject: The Political Spectrum: A Proposal |
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The number of people using �Left�, �Right�, �Liberal� and �Conservative� differently is so large that the terms are becoming meaningless for purposes of communication. For example, a poster said Stalin and Mao are �conservatives�. I have NO idea WHATSOEVER what he could mean by that statement. That being the case, I suspect if were to say that Mao were a left wing radical, many people would not understand what I was trying to express.
So I have a proposal to make:
1. Everyone check out Wikipedia�s article on the Political Spectrum and figure out which one he/she likes, whether that be the traditional one or one of the alternatives. (I counted 8 alternatives. There may well be more.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_spectrum
2. Whenever a poster wants to use one of the terms (left/right; liberal/conservative), he/she attach an identifying word or phrase. For example: �Mao is a (traditional) leftist.� Or �Mao is a (Pournellian) rightist�.
Any thoughts, clarifications, modifications�? |
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cbclark4

Joined: 20 Aug 2006 Location: Masan
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Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 2:34 pm Post subject: |
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I think too often the social aspect is intertwined with the economic. Socio-economics is just way too ambiguous.
Its easier, most distinct, to view the economic lefts and rights in terms of capitalism. How capital is moved through an economy and distributed in terms of buying power.
Social justice I realize is difficult to separate from economics but most of the liberties; rights and responsibilities we presume for individuals can be oppressed or suppressed through legislation without any bearing on economic policy.
A police state or martial law can exist in a nation that has a nationalized controlled economy as well a one with a laissez-faire economy or a corporation controlled economy.
I think these forces push and pull interdependantly from time to time.
That's why you sometimes hear people say fiscal conservative social liberal. Many self proclaimed libertarians see themselves this way.
Attempting to get agreement on the spectrum may be too ambitious.
cbc |
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mnhnhyouh

Joined: 21 Nov 2006 Location: The Middle Kingdom
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Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 3:22 pm Post subject: |
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I always thought that Left / Right was about how much of the machinery of production the state owned, and there was another axis that had to do with libertarian / authoritarian that described how much the state controlled your personal choices.
I think this political compass test is a good one
http://www.politicalcompass.org/questionnaire
I come out at
Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -5.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.85
I am best described as left libertarian.
h |
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cbclark4

Joined: 20 Aug 2006 Location: Masan
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Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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Crap I'm a moderate libertarian.
Economic Left/Right: -0.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.13
I thought I'd score better on the libertarian side.
I don't think the survey was a comprehensive as it could have been.
Allso I thought the compass should have had the grey tags in the corners
Anarchy in the lower left, Fascism in the upper right, communism upperleft, I think neo-liberalism wasn't a goood term, not sure what other term fits though.
That's a pretty good model.
Then there was spherical model I saw once.
cbc |
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Gopher

Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 5:10 pm Post subject: |
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Interesting test, Mnhnhyouh. My results: markedly to the right of you two, but still on the left of the compass: economically just left of center; socially, just below the centerline, but closer to libertarian than authoritarian.
Confirms my understanding that I could only appear conservative on this board and university campuses...
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Economic Left/Right: -2.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.44 |
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Woland
Joined: 10 May 2006 Location: Seoul
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Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 5:26 pm Post subject: |
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Me and the Dalai Lama would hit it off, apparently:
Left Libertarian
Economic Left/Right: -3.13
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.46
There are problems with some of the questions being double-barreled, but my understanding is they've done some work to validate this. I do like the fact that the scale of the survey forces one to take a side. |
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mithridates

Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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Quote: |
Economic Left/Right: -2.13
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.36 |
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Gopher

Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 5:33 pm Post subject: |
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Interesting results, Mitridates. I am to the left of you economically, but far more socially conservative.
If enough regular posters take this test, I will collate the results in a subsequent post/report. Can you, in the meantime, find a way to post this test's graph onto the thread...? g |
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mithridates

Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 5:40 pm Post subject: |
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i'm to the right of the scale.
Economic Left/Right: 1.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.92 |
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Gopher

Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 7:23 pm Post subject: |
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Quote: |
I. Economic Spectrum
Left: Communism/Collectivism (-)
Mhnhyouh -5.00
Woland -3.13
Gopher -2.88
Mithridates -2.13
CBClark -0.25
BucheonBum +1.00
Right: NeoLiberalism/Libertarianism (+) |
Quote: |
II. Social Spectrum
Left: Anarchism/Libertarianism (-)
Woland -6.46
Mhnhyouh -5.85
Mithridates -4.36
CBClark -3.13
Bucheon Bum -2.92
Gopher -1.44
Right: Authoritianism/Fascism (+) |
Last edited by Gopher on Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:41 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
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Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 11:47 pm Post subject: |
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I come in at:
Econ: -4.75
Social: -1.03 |
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Pligganease

Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Location: The deep south...
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Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 1:04 am Post subject: |
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Economic Left/Right: -2.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.41
Oh, wait! I thought I was supposed to be soooooo conservative!?!
My Graph... |
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gang ah jee

Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Location: city of paper
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Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 1:47 am Post subject: |
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Economic Left/Right: -6.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.46
I used rikisoft easysnap for the screencap. |
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Delirium's Brother

Joined: 08 May 2006 Location: Out in that field with Rumi, waiting for you to join us!
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Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 2:01 am Post subject: |
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There was another thread that had posters taking this test, but I can't find it. It was started by Troll_Bait. It would add more data to your mapping of Dave's posters. Here are my results from the first time.
earlier Delirium's Brother wrote: |
Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -6.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.72
Apparently, I'm a anarcho-syndicalist; slightly more hardcore than Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama. That sounds about right! |
I am your postmodern hippie nightmare come true! Mwuhahahahah!! I bet you think I'm joking. |
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