What's your political orientation?

[MrPopo]

As for the apathetic folks, though, you should know that apathy comes at a price. For one, it allows the current political climate to persist. The belief that either A) politics don't matter or B) nothing can change is, frankly, ignorant of human history. If the system bums you out or turns you off, you would be better served to turn that apathy into active political dissent.

Active political dissent isn't worth it for me. Personally, I think the country is overall doing pretty well, from a governmental standpoint. Hell, even through the Bush years I didn't really experience anything that was different from Clinton aside from gas prices. I also have spent my entire life in Democratic strongholds (Chicagoland area and now Seattle), so my personal vote does indeed not matter (aside from the local stuff). So I forsee a little corruption, a lot of bureaucracy, and not much change in my day to day life. And that's fine with me, sinec my day to day life is pretty good.

[Jrecee]

According to most the republicans these days, I'm a socialist. As is like 60% of the country.

[marurun]

Heh heh... I'm more libertarian now than I was many years ago, and I'm a little more moderate (less left, so to speak). That's a good political quiz. It allowed me to hold seemingly contradictory views on some issues, like criminal policies. I thought it was important to keep the focus on rehabilitation rather than merely punishment, but at the same time I think there are criminals who cannot be rehabilitated. I wasn't able to get at punishment still being an important part of incarceration, however. Still, that quiz seems more nuanced than some, although the questions did seem a little liberal-friendly to me.

[Jrecee]

I didn't know what some of the questions were talking about;

[jfrost]

This is me in the Political Compass:



Each time I take this quiz, however, I always get a slightly different result. I think that a lot of questions in it are irrelevant or assume too much. Some examples:

If economic globalisation is inevitable, it should primarily serve humanity rather than the interests of trans-national corporations.

Well, here's a problem for me. It makes me less a free marketeer if I agree with this. I do believe that if we're having globalization, it better serve people rather than a few corporations. But this stems from my belief that corporations are generally privileged parties in today's global economy. I believe that much of the so called globalization is just subsidizing corporate business. So, I don't have any "right" answer for me in this question.

Controlling inflation is more important than controlling unemployment.

Poses a false dichotomy.

It is regrettable that many personal fortunes are made by people who simply manipulate money and contribute nothing to their society.

This assumes that there are people who simply manipulate money and contribute nothing to society, and asks you to say if this is good or bad. I don't agree with any of the assumptions.

And this is not to mention the several irrelevant questions that supposedly tell if you are more or less authoritarian:

Abstract art that doesn't represent anything shouldn't be considered art at all.

The businessperson and the manufacturer are more important than the writer and the artist.

Astrology accurately explains many things.

I know it's difficult to represent all possible views, but it would help if they didn't assume so much, or at least didn't mix up one's personal views on art and religion with matters of government. While conservatives tend to talk grandiosely about a "liberal mentality", there's really no relation between what I think of abstract art and whether or not you should be required to take off your shoes at the airport.

[Erik_Twice]

^Yes, those questions are pretty weird, they explain them in their FAQ- I think it increases the reliability of the result for less-politizied people while sacrificing a bit the result for more-politizied people. Given that more-politizied people produce more reliable results anyway I don't think it's a big deal.

[Ack]

I have to agree with jfrost on some of these questions. I would have preferred an "unsure/don't care" or some kind of middle road option on some of these questions. Like this one:

The businessperson and the manufacturer are more important than the writer and the artist.

What if I consider them equal, as I consider everyone equal? By disagreeing with this statement, I could be implying equality, or I could be implying a belief that the writer and artist is superior.

[marurun]

I have to agree with jfrost on some of these questions. I would have preferred an "unsure/don't care" or some kind of middle road option on some of these questions. Like this one:

That would be unecessary if the questions were a hair clearer. I do like that it doesn't give you the option of middle ground. I think uncomfortable or unclear decisions are often necessary, but people like to find an easy way out.

[BoringSupreez]

[Octopod]

Our race has many superior qualities, compared with other races.

Im not sure what they are talking about. Do they mean the human race or are they asking if Im racist? If they mean white people(or whatever color the person being asked the question is) they arent very clear about it. In the end I figured, "what the heck else could they mean?".