Ten questions to decide if you are left, right or center

[Tempo Gain]

Indeed it can, and will.
Personally, I think this whole left/right habberdahery is all semantics.
Whatever happened to being of not a few stripes, that being a flagrant rampart jingoist on some issues, and a heathen heartless commie on others?

"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes."
~~~~Walt Whitman

Well said! Walt Whitman and Chris Rock

NSFW of course

[Dragonbones]

I don't think you'll get far with that. Political views aren't a one-dimensional continuum. I have absolutely no idea what a "conservative" or a "liberal" is, and those terms probably only have any meaning at all in the context of American politics.

A better approach might be to just formulate a list of politics-related questions and then use factor analysis to tease out some underlying features. You'll probably find there are three or four critical dimensions on which you can measure someone's politics, and you'll be able to see which of your original questions measure the salient characteristics.

I think this is a good answer. It's been done before, of course. But the old one-dimensional stuff really isn't very useful and should be laid to rest.

[zender]

Would you have been happy to marry your daughter off to any Beatle other than Paul?

Do you like change? (This one's not about money)

Is there any time in the past (over 40 years ago) that you think of as the good ol' days? *
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*Note: That is a neutral smilie which is not to be confused with a poker face.

[BigJohn]

You might find some good questions off of this recent quiz by the Manning Centre

http://manningcentre.ca/?page_id=27

Cool, thanks Gilgamesh. I did that and it was quite interesting. I got a 74%, 14% more than average, however they calculate average. The rating was a "General Conservative".

For now, let's compare scores on that, as they have a nifty interactive feature.

[Tempo Gain]

You might find some good questions off of this recent quiz by the Manning Centre

http://manningcentre.ca/?page_id=27

Cool, thanks Gilgamesh. I did that and it was quite interesting. I got a 74%, 14% more than average, however they calculate average. The rating was a "General Conservative".

For now, let's compare scores on that, as they have a nifty interactive feature.

Me too, I got 74%. I am somewhat more Traditionalist, Free Marketeer and Libertarian than the average Canadian conservative I'm from Ontario

[Charlie Phillips]

I'm a liberal conservative with anarchist tendencies. Stick that in your fucking survey pipe and smoke it.

[Jaboney]

You might find some good questions off of this recent quiz by the Manning Centre

http://manningcentre.ca/?page_id=27

Cool, thanks Gilgamesh. I did that and it was quite interesting. I got a 74%, 14% more than average, however they calculate average. The rating was a "General Conservative".

For now, let's compare scores on that, as they have a nifty interactive feature.

Me too, I got 74%. I am somewhat more Traditionalist, Free Marketeer and Libertarian than the average Canadian conservative I'm from Ontario

Ha! It's a crock. The Manning Center ("I love that word: ReeeForm!") is cooking the books to encourage people to self-identify as conservative.

[BigJohn]

Ha! It's a crock. The Manning Center ("I love that word: ReeeForm!") is cooking the books to encourage people to self-identify as conservative.

Maybe they are trying to make conservatism seem more normal, yes. But if you dial my score back from more conservative than average, I'd think you'd get somewhere nearer the center than the center of left or center of right.

[Dog's_Breakfast]

Gosh, you guys make it sound so complicated. In the USA, it's all so easy:

Obama was born in:

A) Kenya
B) Hawaii

If you answered A, then you're conservative. If you answered B, then you're a liberal. As for where conservatives and liberals stand on all the complex issues, Fox News will decide for you, no need to bother about the details. In America it's not possible for anyone to side with conservatives on some issues and with liberals on other issues - that simply isn't allowed. It's all or nothing, black or white. It's a matter of tribal loyalty. This is so much easier than thinking.

There is no issue so complex that it can't be fit on a bumper sticker.

[BigJohn]

OK, here is a tentative stab at 10 questions. They are a mixture of foreign policy, environmental, fiscal, regulatory and political philosophy. After whatever feedback there may be, I will finalize the list and create a point system to rank people on a rough lefty /righty scale.


1. Did you support the second Iraq war that deposed Saddam Hussein?
2. Do you believe that affirmative action is overall a good thing?
3. Do you believe that Keynesian economics has some value in kick-starting a stalled or flagging economy?
4. Do you believe that government spending in most modern Western democracies is too high, and that painful cuts to social programs - such as happened in the UK in recent years - would be in the best interests of most Western nations?
5. Do you believe that the financial sector in many modern democracies is under-regulated, and that therefore generally tighter regulations and more objective supervision are in order?
6. Do you support a carbon tax to reduced GHG emissions?
7. Do you believe we need tighter environmental regulations in the West?
8. Do you believe that communism is evil and must be defeated?
9. Do you believe that there should be higher taxes on the rich, at least until debt and deficits are under control?
10. Do you believe that socialism has some positive value in terms of balancing out capitalism?