What is your political alignment?

[ELD]

Economic Left/Right: 4.13
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.69

I'm all alone over there. 

[forests failed you]

liberal lefty

[dandan]

ELD makes me look communist in comparison!!

[Limbo]

Time for a little thread resurrection. When cleaning up my bookmarks, I came across this test. I did it again, and comparing it with my previous results found in this topic (-5.38 left, -3.23 liberal) I have moved to the right the last year (click). I am wondering how other TMD-ers changed the last year...

[Bram]

I'm still in the left lower quadrant, but more 'deeply' now at:

Economic Left/Right: -4.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.46

I used to be like -2, -2 or something. That means that I became more libertarian as well as more left-wing this year. That rings true.

[forests failed you]

Your political compass

Economic Left/Right: -8.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -9.59

Apparently I am waaaaaaaaaaaaay out there in left field.  Wow.

[Bardo]

Yep, still a nut.

Economic Left/Right: -9.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -8.00

Anarcho-syndicalism, ftw.

Last time:

Economic Left/Right: -9.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -9.13

So, I'm very slowly becoming more conservative with age.   But it's freaky that my economic score is the same from last time.

[nataz]

My old score,

Economic Left/Right: -1.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.72

My new score,

Economic Left/Right: 1.63
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.92

I swung right, and down a little.

Bram, you should make another graphic

[Moxlotus]

Economics right/left: 4.00
Social libertarian/authoritarian: 4.97

That doesn't surprise me.

[The Atog Lord]

Economic Left/Right: 0.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.82

[Klep]

OLD:
Economic Left/Right: -5.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.36


NEW:
Economic Left/Right: -5.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.62

Basically no change.

[Komatteru]

Economic Left/Right: -1.63
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.62

I'm a little surprised, but I found myself saying "Well, I guess this one" for a bunch of the questions, with my answer being more of a "I don't know/don't care" than Agree or Disagree.

[Anusien]

Old:
Economic Left/Right: -0.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.92

New:
Economic Left/Right: -0.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.36

That's odd, I'd have though the past few years would have pushed me down, rather than up.  I blame it on the terrible, awful questions.

[Godder]

Old:
Economic Left/Right: -9.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -10.00

New:
Economic Left/Right: -9.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -10.00

Apparently I'm still a Socialist .

[Nazdakka]

Then:
Economic Left/Right: -1.13
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.64

Now:
Economic Left/Right: -1.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.85

[Jacob Orlove]

Then: the questions were terrible
Now: the questions are still terrible, but also outdated!

[nataz]

Now: the questions are still terrible, but also outdated!

This test is really old. I remember taking it back in High School. For reference, I've graduated from 5 years of college since then.

[dandan]

Economic Left/Right: 2.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.26

I wonder how on earth anyone can be more economically right than me without being a complete asshole. One of Thatcher's teens, now living in a country that was brought to its knees by communism (meaning that it fared better than many other commie countries), I'm not very left wing at all. The Liberal/Authoritarian one I can see but 2.25 is left of Blair!!! 

I disagree that TMD should see lots of liberal-lefts, you Yanks should be basically right-wing.

OMG I'm turning left and liberal

Economic Left/Ring 1.13
Social Lib/Auth -1.44

I guess Bush is having an effect on all of us. 

[Hi-Val]

Fascism is still the sexiest and best-dressed political philosophy.

[Magi]

Old: -3.00, -3.23
New: -3.50, -1.74

[Matt]

Old: no idea?
New: Economic Left/Right: -3.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.41

closest to: dalai lama

[ELD]

Old
Economic Left/Right: 4.13
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.69

New
Economic Left/Right: 1.13
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.62

I'd say that shift is accurate. 

[Demonic Attorney]

Yeah, the problem with these political alignment indicators is the inescapable subjectivity and imprecision inherent in the questions.  They never measure exactly what someone's position is on the political spectrum, but rather where someone's political beliefs fall according to the test author's conceptions of left-wing and right-wing thought.  Those who know me personally can vouch for the fact that "liberal" does not describe my political beliefs at all.

[bomholmm]

Your political compass

Economic Left/Right: -5.13
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.21


looks like I align pretty well with most of the TMDers

[Liam-K]

The phrasing here seems EXTREMELY biased to me.  For example:

Those with the ability to pay should have the right to higher standards of medical care.

That's horrible!  Just because you're rich doesn't mean you have the "right" to better doctors!  Wicked knee-jerk-reaction-provoking terminology.  Now, on the other hand, if it said something like...

Private hospitols are a bad idea.

...you'd probably get a significantly different response.  The above phrasing (in Canada anyway) still associates with extreme negative media hype, but at least it addresses the issue directly and without referencing just one highly debatable contention of one side of the arguement.  Perhaps a better example would be:

In a civilised society, one must always have people above to be obeyed and people below to be commanded.

That's right, here are your orders, peon.  Really it should say something more like:

Society requires some form of authority.

(which, by the way, makes it an objectively awful question.  What, everyone not a complete anarchist is an authoritarian?  I doubt the questions are weighted at all, let alone enough to get away with something like that.)


The economic questions also seemed to really emphasise edgy issues regarding multinational corporations, tempting the testee to shy away from selecting a right-wing answer based on discomfort with implying they support abuse of third world countries.  I'm not saying this isn't a real issue, but I'm definitely saying that it comes up WAY too much in this test to not have a disproportionate impact on your results.

[brianpk80]

Economic Left/Right: -4.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.28

Pretty run of the mill for here it seems.  I would have thought I'd be more socially liberal than economically, but so be it.

-BPK

[Methuselahn]

then:
Economic Left/Right: -0.63
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.21

now:
Economic Left/Right: -0.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.38

I don't understand how questions like "is non-representational art really art?" help define political alignment. 

[kirdape3]

Economic Left/Right: 4.50
Social Libertartian/Authoritarian: -2.87

With ya all the way, Eric.

[Godder]

Not that it justifies the question as relevant, but people who have a liberal view of what is or isn't art probably have a liberal outlook in general.

[Grand Inquisitor]

Economic Left/Right: 1.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.28

Hmmm, that's quite different from when I took the last one (I was with Matt at the center of the board).

I agree that more nuance is required of the questions.  Not that it would be pleasant, but I think an increased number of similar questions would bear better results.