Poll: Which Party Will Win the Next Presidential Election?

I had never heard of using them to refer to the size of government until about a year and a half ago when Comrade Bitter Thorn referred to the Democrats as "far left" which led to my coming out of the closet as a hardcore old-school Marxist-Leninist on these boards and the evolution of the Comrade Anklebiter avatar.

Yeah, see this is the kind of thing that exposure and experience affect. This was the only way I'd understood them, and been taught them growing up, until I crashed into people on the internet.

I also divide anarchism into two distinct groups, one which I consider right-wing (by my definitions) and the other looping back around to the left, but that's another discussion.

Since then I've gone from hardcore rightwinger to apathetic minarchist and it's done wonders for my well-being. Actually caring about politics made me miserable. These days I can read all these threads and never get near as annoyed or angry as I used to, and actually just laugh most of it off.

Orthos wrote:

Grand Magus wrote:

For those of us who are not Americans, can you explain what the difference is between a Democrat and a Republican? Thanks.

The problem is there are a ton of different answers to this.

Another problem! Right- and left-wing mean very different things to different people. It all depends on your sense of scale.

For me, when I use the terms, it's exclusively referring to the size of government the person favors. Left-wing prefers a larger, more centralized government, and thus the farthest-left wing is an oligarchy, monarchy, communist state, or dictatorship - total and complete control in the hands of the federal state. Right-wing, in response, is smaller government with more focus on local institutions, and thus the farthest-right wing is anarchy, rather than fascism, which on this scale would be far left. Hence why I always have to take a step back from the mind-boggling that goes on when people say the country is tracking to the right - from my perspective, it's gone way left.

I am aware, however, that this is not how everyone perceives the division, and that there are many different ways the two terms are discerned. Which leads to yet more confusion.

This is the chart pretty much everyone is using. Any confusion comes from people not using this chart.

Chart.

This is the chart pretty much everyone is using. Any confusion comes from people not using this chart.

Chart.

Never seen that before, thanks.

Any place there's a test to see where you fall? Not seeing a link on this page.

EDIT: Nevermind, found it.

Actually caring about politics made me miserable. These days I can read all these threads and never get near as annoyed or angry as I used to, and actually just laugh most of it off.

Well, I like to think that it is possible to care passionately about politics and still be able to laugh it off.

But, then again, I'm usually stoned.

Yeah, I'm pretty straight-edged so that's not an option for me.

cranewings wrote:

This is the chart pretty much everyone is using. Any confusion comes from people not using this chart.

Chart.

Never seen that before, thanks.

Any place there's a test to see where you fall? Not seeing a link on this page.

Do you remember the spark? This is the very useful dating site they were associated with. ok cupid politics test

I just took the test and came up as a 76% Social Liberal or 33% Economic Liberal. Social Liberal is a pretty good description.

Orthos wrote:

cranewings wrote:

This is the chart pretty much everyone is using. Any confusion comes from people not using this chart.

Chart.

Never seen that before, thanks.

Any place there's a test to see where you fall? Not seeing a link on this page.

Do you remember the spark? This is the very useful dating site they were associated with. ok cupid politics test

No I don't, I don't date much less use dating sites =P

I found the one on that page though. Results:
Economic Left/Right: 5.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.26
Though a lot of those questions were in desperate need of a fifth, more neutral response.

I don't think neutral responses matter. You answered quite a few questions. If you pick the one that is more correct, even by a hair, and you repeatedly favor one side over the other, it does say something about you.

Except I didn't. When I got to a question that I wanted a neutral response on, I picked one of the middle answers at random.

Probably makes the results bunk.

Well, if you really are a man without labels, that can be a problem for you. (;

Nah, I'm 0k with it.

Economic Left/Right: -5.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.51

I am more of a social libertarian than Gandhi.

Fun test.

Edit: No wonder the presidential candidates don't resonate with me.

Everybody is overlooking the obvious choice for Presidential Office.... I'll give you a hint, he's a sexy damn Drow who already holds a Lordly and a Presidential title.

Everybody is overlooking the obvious choice for Presidential Office.... I'll give you a hint, he's a sexy damn Drow who already holds a Lordly and a Presidential title.

As long as I get my appropriate bureaucratic office...

For funsies

Something like 20% of the questions I had to fib to get my answer into the acceptable choices.

Turns out I'm a Virgo.

For funsies

Hmm. Does this mean I am a stone's throw away from revolutionary socialism?

Edit: No wonder the presidential candidates don't resonate with me.

Wow. So, Obama is, like, one point to the left of Romney and half a point below?

Scientific proof that they're all the same!

Hmm. Does this mean I am a stone's throw away from revolutionary socialism?

Welcome to the Party, comrade.

Vive le Galt!

Thankfully, I'm slightly economically to the right of the goblin...
But more anti-authoritarian! No surprises there, except that the Dalai Lama apparently plots very close to where I do.

Yeah, I'm down somewhere in that quadrant as well. Maybe not quite as extreme as the Goblin. It's been awhile since I've taken the test and I'm not going to bother with it again.

The Dalai Lama and Gandhi make good company.

Well, if I could have answered my druthers, I would have been much further to the left.

I mean, how am I supposed to answer a question like: If globalization is a given, it should be used to help people, not corporations? Any question about what the government should do is also difficult to answer for someone who starts with the idea that the first thing we need to do is overthrow the government.

Also, there's some kind of glitch where my favoriting of Comrade Expert's post is not showing up.

Also, also, I'd consider voting for you, Lord President Moorluck, but I'm already committed to John Carpenter and Kurt Russell in 2012.

More stupid fun with charts

Ironically, I have more favorite songs in the Right-Wing Authoritarian camp than any of the others.

Sometimes it's hard to be a woman...

I think I'll retake the test again, now that I'm home and can sit and think about it.

I admit, I'm a very strange case. I have a lot of strict, unyielding personal beliefs of right and wrong. However, I don't think most of these should be made into laws, because of my Thoreauan stance of "That which governs best, governs least"; just because I think something's wrong doesn't mean it should be illegal, especially if it does no harm to someone other than the user. (Most drugs, for example - should they be illegal to use and drive? Yes, much like alcohol. Should they be illegal to use by consenting adults [presumably] aware of their effects? Hell no.)

Do I answer the questions my what I believe by my own morals and ethics? Or do I answer by what I think the laws should be? The questions are worded like the former, but I have a feeling they're graded by the latter. This time I'll try answering them that way.

EDIT: RE Doodlebug: The only ones I know on that entire chart are "God Bless the USA" and "Taxman", the rest I'm unfamiliar with.

This must be why I get along with Kirth.

Thankfully, I'm slightly economically to the right of the goblin...

But more anti-authoritarian!

By less than a point!

How'd you answer the spanking question?

EDIT: RE Doodlebug: The only ones I know on that entire chart are "God Bless the USA" and "Taxman", the rest I'm unfamiliar with.

If you are unfamiliar with the joys of Tammy Wynette, click above. But only if you're prepared to ball your eyes out.

Unless you're a country hater.

How'd you answer the spanking question?

"(E) Not applicable -- children are parasites that can be prevented by proper sanitation."

Economic Left/Right: -5.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.36

Much further left economically than I would have thought. However, many of the questions are stated as absolutes, and I found myself wanting to answer "Usually, BUT..."

This must be why I get along with Kirth.

A mere -4.05? Fascist imperialist pig!

TriOmegaZero wrote:

This must be why I get along with Kirth.

A mere -4.05? Fascist imperialist pig! ** spoiler omitted **

I'm sorry, I can't be a fundamentalist hippie like you. :P

Alright, I think this is more accurate.

Comrade Anklebiter wrote:

How'd you answer the spanking question?

"(E) Not applicable -- children are parasites that can be prevented by proper sanitation."

I approve of this response.

--Good parents sometimes have to spank their children.--

I mildly agreed, but I read into the question "depends on the kid" and "sometimes" = "might".

Also, I agreed with --Our race has many superior qualities, compared with other races.-- but only because I imagined that it was referring to the human race vs. animals, but that's probably debateable, and, also, probably not what they meant.

Also, I agreed with --Our race has many superior qualities, compared with other races.-- but only because I imagined that it was referring to the human race vs. animals, but that's probably debateable, and, also, probably not what they meant.

I assumed he meant humans vs. satyrs, so I immediately indicated that he was dead wrong.

I mildly agreed, but I read into the question "depends on the kid" and "sometimes" = "might".

Ah, we read into the questions differently. Since very few of them were tenable as absolute stances, I mentally prefaced everything with "in general."

Economic Left/Right: -5.75

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.36

Much further left economically than I would have thought. However, many of the questions are stated as absolutes, and I found myself wanting to answer "Usually, BUT..."

Yes. IIRC, there were a lot of questions like that. "Is it ever..."? The answer to that is almost always yes, even if it would be wrong 99.999% of the time.

Or ones where you have to debate answering the question they actually asked or the one they obviously meant.

Maybe I'll go back and take it and not treat the questions quite so literally.

Edit: Or for example this one:

A significant advantage of a one-party state is that it avoids all the arguments that delay progress in a democratic political system.

I think that is almost tautologically true as a statement by itself. It ignores all the drawbacks to such a system, like the lack of checks that keep you from running off in the wrong direction, but when it's headed in the right direction it's certainly going to be less delayed.

Or what does this mean?:

Some people are naturally unlucky.

Is a no answer taken to mean that everyone actually earns their position, no one gets there due to luck, good or bad? Does a yes answer imply belief in some supernatural type of luck?

Comrade Anklebiter wrote:

I mildly agreed, but I read into the question "depends on the kid" and "sometimes" = "might".

Ah, we read into the questions differently. Since very few of them were tenable as absolute stances, I mentally prefaced everything with "in general."

Yeah, I would have answered differently if I had read it as "A prerequisite for good parenting is sometimes spanking your child."

Also, I mean, whatever. There's only like, maybe, a dozen people in the world more left-wing than I, and I could probably go toe to toe with the most absolutist Libertarian in the world on social issues.

Except during the revolution, when I'll throw all of you into Fun-Timey Reeducation Through Labor Supercenters.

Vive le Galt!

I went through again and answered assuming that most of the absolutes weren't really meant that way.

I think I win:
My compass

Methinks this "test" needs some better (or more honest) design. It's especially telling to me that no one in the enire thread ends up anywhere near 99% of the real-world examples (except Orthos chasing Ron Paul) -- instead, almost everyone ends up the same as Gandhi. While I'd love to believe that most people really are just like Gandhi, the seeming coincidence jars against my cynicism.

Is it really surprising that people who wind up in charge tend to want more control?

Nor have any of the more right wing or libertarian people here chimed in, except Orthos.

Methinks this "test" needs some better (or more honest) design. It's especially telling to me that no one in the enire thread ends up anywhere near 99% of the real-world examples (except Orthos chasing Ron Paul) -- instead, almost everyone ends up the same as Gandhi. While I'd love to believe that most people really are just like Gandhi, the seeming coincidence jars against my cynicism.

Hell Kirth, even Gandhi wasn't like Gandhi. O.o

Nor have any of the more right wing or libertarian people here chimed in, except Orthos.

Maybe that's it. If BT shows up and scores in the far lower far righthand quadrant, and Aretas ends up somewhere in the NE quadrant, I'll believe it more.

Hell Kirth, even Gandhi wasn't like Gandhi. O.o

"I never said most of the things I said." --Yogi Berra

Kirth Gersen wrote:

Methinks this "test" needs some better (or more honest) design. It's especially telling to me that no one in the enire thread ends up anywhere near 99% of the real-world examples (except Orthos chasing Ron Paul) -- instead, almost everyone ends up the same as Gandhi. While I'd love to believe that most people really are just like Gandhi, the seeming coincidence jars against my cynicism.

Hell Kirth, even Gandhi wasn't like Gandhi. O.o

Well, we are talking theory here. Most people are better in theory than in real life. If they actually put me in charge, I'm sure I'd abuse the power. For expediency and the greater good of course.

Lord President Moorluck wrote:

Kirth Gersen wrote:

Methinks this "test" needs some better (or more honest) design. It's especially telling to me that no one in the enire thread ends up anywhere near 99% of the real-world examples (except Orthos chasing Ron Paul) -- instead, almost everyone ends up the same as Gandhi. While I'd love to believe that most people really are just like Gandhi, the seeming coincidence jars against my cynicism.

Hell Kirth, even Gandhi wasn't like Gandhi. O.o

Well, we are talking theory here. Most people are better in theory than in real life. If they actually put me in charge, I'm sure I'd abuse the power. For expediency and the greater good of course.

I can promise you I would. I mean what's the point of having power if you're not going to abuse it?

But at least I'd have the chops to be honest about it.... do get your vote?

Your true political self:

You are a

Social Liberal
(61% permissive)

and an...

Economic Conservative
(71% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Libertarian

You exhibit a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and believe in economic fairness.

I was right between Trump and the top of Adam Sandler's head.

thejeff wrote:

Lord President Moorluck wrote:

Kirth Gersen wrote:

Methinks this "test" needs some better (or more honest) design. It's especially telling to me that no one in the enire thread ends up anywhere near 99% of the real-world examples (except Orthos chasing Ron Paul) -- instead, almost everyone ends up the same as Gandhi. While I'd love to believe that most people really are just like Gandhi, the seeming coincidence jars against my cynicism.

Hell Kirth, even Gandhi wasn't like Gandhi. O.o

Well, we are talking theory here. Most people are better in theory than in real life. If they actually put me in charge, I'm sure I'd abuse the power. For expediency and the greater good of course.

I can promise you I would. I mean what's the point of having power if you're not going to abuse it?

But at least I'd have the chops to be honest about it.... do get your vote?

"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job." ~ Douglas Adams