Political Compass poll

[matapule]

Where does the HT ohana stand on the Political Compass? Take this test to see where you stand. Post the results in the attached poll. You will vote twice, once for your Economic score and once for your Social score. The polling is anonymous and no one will see your specific results. !Monuia!

[scrivener]

It should surprise nobody that I came out slightly left of center on the economic axis and far south of center on the social. In actuality, I should be slightly right of center economically, but the survey questions skewed heavily in the general category of social services (something I lean left on) and not very heavily at all on stripping down government in other areas (something I learn hard, hard right on).

Additionally, some questions (just as far too many people) blur the line between what I think is personal choice and public responsibility. For example, "It is important that my child's school instills religious values."

This is HUGELY important to me, as I have made clear in our many discussions about private vs. public schooling. But the fact that I think it's important for my kid doesn't mean I think it's important for all kids, and I am ever vigilant about keeping religion out of public schools. I answered "strongly agree" on this one, and I think it (and a few others) make this unreliable. I do think it's not a bad way to give a general idea about where we stand, though.

[scrivener]

Okay. I think this is pretty funny. I don't remember ever responding to that old 2003 post at Hawaii Stories, but I clicked over there and check it out.

This is what I just wrote (above):

Additionally, some questions (just as far too many people) blur the line between what I think is personal choice and public responsibility. For example, "It is important that my child's school instills religious values."

This is HUGELY important to me, as I have made clear in our many discussions about private vs. public schooling. But the fact that I think it's important for my kid doesn't mean I think it's important for all kids, and I am ever vigilant about keeping religion out of public schools.

And this is what I wrote in 2003:

Economic Left/Right: 0.25
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -4.41

This doesn't surprise me at all, not because my views are in the economic middle, but because I am way left on some economic issues and way right on others.

I'm a little surprised my governmental rating didn't swing closer to zero than it did, although I'm glad I'm on the libertarian end. This is because while my views of government are STRONGLY libertarian, my PERSONAL views of morality are quite strongly authoritarian. The truth is, as someone else mentioned, there's a huge difference between what we think about how a person should live his or her life and what we think the government should do about it. I have firm, definite ideas about right and wrong, many of which are not politically (or libertarianally) correct, but that doesn't mean I think it's the government's job to regulate it.

When I wrote for the UH-Hilo newspaper, I wrote a pretty good piece (yes, I'm saying so myself) about the inadequacy of the left-right orientation. I titled my horizontal axis "political" and my vertical axis "social." I consider this a better way to spread out people's views than "economical," because while the two ideas sorta encompass several of the same themes, the implication that everything not political sorta has to do with money grates on me.

By the way, when I wrote that column for the UH-Hilo paper, I created that thing entirely from scratch without knowing about the existence of other similar models. I thought I was rather clever for having done it. Now I think there must clearly have been a better answer out there and I chose the obvious one.

[Menehune Man]

Quoted from Scrivener... "Additionally, some questions (just as far too many people) blur the line between what I think is personal choice and public responsibility." I agree with that statement.

Completed the test and poll.

[turtlegirl]

Wow, I ended up being on the edges for both. Neg 6.62 and neg 6.10. Now I just gotta figure out what that means

[timkona]

Bullseye....right on the crosshairs.

[GregLee]

I think tests like this are fun, and I tried to take it. But I couldn't make any sense of the questions on this one, so I had to give up.

[craigwatanabe]

Bullseye....right on the crosshairs.

Wow TK, mine was almost a bullseye too with a bias towards the right.

[bjd392]

Traditionally I'm around the center with a tick mark or so to economic right.

This time, I'm probably a hair more right, but overall, no significant change.

+2.62/+0.41

[acousticlady]

I really expected to end up in the center. But apparently I am just off from Ghandi. Interesting......... who would have thunk

-3.38 economic score
-4.51 social score

I guess that makes me a left leaning libertarian????

[matapule]

I think tests like this are fun, and I tried to take it. But I couldn't make any sense of the questions on this one, so I had to give up.

In general, Greg, I agree with you, but the test does give a preference to ones philosphy. Some of the questions were nebulous but in those cases where there might be more than one answer for me, I picked the "best" answer. I'm glad I completed the test, I learned some things about myself.

[acousticlady]

Been thinking about some of the questions that were asked. Upon reflection, I find some a little misleading. For example - one of the questions asked if I thought that rich people should get better health care than poor. Of course I strongly disagreed. However, that doesn't mean I am for health care as it exists now. My views on health care are so outside the box that it doesn't even fit within any traditional view. I believe all people should get the same health care - just not the drug fueled medical establishment kind that is costing our country bazillions of dollars.

That question particularly sticks out in my mind, but there were a few others where I wished there was the option of "it depends on circumstances".

So maybe I'm not as Ghandi like as it indicated .

[Ron Whitfield]

Just call me Ghandi.

[matapule]

My views on health care are so outside the box that it doesn't even fit within any traditional view.

I'd like to hear about those views in a new thread.

Just call me Ghandi.

Can your friends just call you Mahatma? Call me Mother Teresa, but just plain ol' Mom will do.

[bjd392]

I think it's interesting that as of right now, there are no votes that show > +3.00 in either direction. A lot of the so-called HT conservatives appear to be more middle than we expect so far. But as I mentioned regarding this poll, I'm probably a centrist because I'm +10 on one issue, and -10 on another. I'm thinking where our political differences lie is which ones of these +10 issues are conflicting with you negative types.

[anapuni808]

I didn't write down the numbers - sorry, I don't want to take the test again. I did score in the middle/left of the bottom left square, the green one. All I can say is the results did not surprise me.

[salmoned]

A poll of a poll? Why get further away from the data? Doesn't matter, nothing worthwhile in these results for me. Strongly agree/disagree means exactly the same as agree/disagree to me. Perhaps 'tendency to agree/disagree' would have been a better option for those 'less than fully committed' responses, though a 'no opinion/who cares/not important' option would have been even better - creating a third, non-negative scale called Apathy [or Ignorance].

Results: -0.88, -3.23

[Palolo lolo]

proudly to the left of Gandhi

[anapuni808]

My hero!

[Frankie's Market]

A poll of a poll? Why get further away from the data? Doesn't matter, nothing worthwhile in these results for me. Strongly agree/disagree means exactly the same as agree/disagree to me. Perhaps 'tendency to agree/disagree' would have been a better option for those 'less than fully committed' responses, though a 'no opinion/who cares/not important' option would have been even better - creating a third, non-negative scale called Apathy [or Ignorance].

X2.

Plus the fact that I think that labels like liberal, conservative, center-right, etc. are all essentially useless, as applied to other people and to myself.

I don't need to waste my time on any damn poll to know that I'm a minority of Frankie's Market.

[matapule]

I don't need to waste my time on any damn poll to know that I'm a minority of Frankie's Market.

Uuuuuuhhhhh. Welcome back.

[tutusue]

Finally got around to taking this thread's test and the World's Smallest Political Quiz. Not surprisingly, I'm a centrist; a little to the left and a little below the crosshairs! I guess Independent Republicrat really does fit me!

[Leo Lakio]

Current results:
Economic Left/Right: -5.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.72

Previous results:
Economic Left/Right: -4.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.72

Gee, what a surprise. I've slipped farther to the left.

[salmoned]

On Tutusue's poll, I'm 60/60, centrist, one notch above (Libertarian) dead center.