On the Internet at politicalcompass.org there is a test you can take to find out how left or right you are, as well as how authoritarian or libertarian. I found out about the test on Siditty’s blog.
Here are my scores:
- Economic Left/Right: -3.00
- Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.87
That puts me on the Libertarian Left.
To compare:
- Authoritarian Left: Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao
- Authoritarian Right: Hitler, Thatcher, Pinochet, Bush
- Libertarian Left: Gandhi
- Libertarian Right: Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand
Authoritarians believe in the power and right of the state over that of its citizens, like in Orwell’s “1984″ and “Animal Farm”, to take extreme examples. Libertarians are the opposite: citizens matter more than government, like in Jefferson’s “Declaration of Independence”.
The right, like Adam Smith, believes that everyone will be richer and better off if business is left to do as it please. The left, like Lenin, thinks that business does need to be controlled by government, at least to some degree, for the good of all.
The test asks you dozens of questions to see where you fall on these two scales.
I am on the Libertarian Left because I trust neither government nor business to do what is best – they both need to be kept in check.
But that puts me on the far left in America because most Americans pretty much trust both business and government. Both the Democrats and Republicans are on the Authoritarian Right. So were nearly all of those who ran for president in the 2008 election, even Obama:
- Authoritarian Left: none
- Authoritarian Right: from left to right: Edwards, Biden, Obama, Chris Dodd, Hillary Clinton, Richardson, McCain, Giuliani, Alan Keyes, Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, Romney, Fred Thompson, Gingrich, Tancredo, Ron Paul
- Libertarian Left: Nader, Kucinich
- Libertarian Right: Gravel
So America no longer has a left and right party, but a right and a far right party! You can thank Ronald Reagan for that – he shifted the centre of the country to the right back in the 1980s.
Here are some world figures:
- Authoritarian Left: Mugabe, Mahmoud Abbas, Pope Benedict XVI
- Authoritarian Right: from left to right: Romano Prodi, Jose Zapatero, Kevin Rudd, Angela Merkel, Stephen Harper, Ehud Olmert, Gordon Brown, Jose Maria Aznar, Nicolas Sarkozy, Silvio Berlusconi, George W. Bush
- Libertarian Left: Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama
- Libertarian Right: none
Notice that Obama is hardly a Nelson Mandela or Dalai Lama sort of figure.
Curiously, the website even rates famous classical musicians:
- Authoritarian Left: Schumann
- Authoritarian Right: Brahms, Haydn, Elgar, Stravinsky, Puccini, Wagner
- Libertarian Left: from left to right: Prokofiev, Bartok, Britten, Schonberg, Mahler, Shostakovitch, Beethoven, Smetana, Dvorak
- Libertarian Right: Chopin, Tchaikovsky
If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you are probably on the Libertarian Left. People tend to read blogs that share their view of the world in some way. Otherwise you are probably on the Authoritarian Right since most people with Internet service are. But take the test and see!
See also:
It’s quite depressing to see how far right the world is
I know. I was shocked to see the Democrats on the right, but it makes sense once you think about it.
That rightward shift isn’t due solely to Reagan. It has been moving that way steadily since WWII. Some would argue that it was the New Deal that started the process in motion.
Currently, its continued momentum is almost guaranteed due in large part to the workings of our electoral college. Both parties at some point realized that the electoral college pretty much ensures that no viable third party can find traction and voice on the national stage.
Both major parties have gradually moved closer and closer together on the issue of the scope of centralized government control. They are virtually indistinguishable on this point today.
It is in the interest of the continued hegemony of both parties that they share this fundamental view of the increasing role of government. Government has become its own professional class that now regulates and legislates in its own self-interest, for the purpose of maintaining their stranglehold on the American people.
I’m reminded of a Will Rogers quip, something like this: “The trouble with elections is that, no matter who you vote for, the government always wins.”
The way to reverse this, pretty much the only way as I see it, is a wholesale revision to the way our electoral college process works. This will have to occur at a grassroots level because neither major party has any vested interest in relinquishing its role. In fact, so far, both parties have become very adroit at co-opting any such momentum, with Libertarians tending to agglomerate into the Republican party and populists tenting to agglomerate to the Dems.
I do not think the electoral system makes third parties impossible. The Republicans were once a third party. But in practice when a third party starts to gain ground, like the Populists in the 1890s, one of the two bigger parties will start pushing the same ideas. The same is true when one of the two parties gets too much of an upper hand. After Reagan, for example, you saw Clinton pushing a very Republican sort of welfare reform. The Democratic party we know is nothing like it was in the 1930s. And the same is true for the Republicans. Both parties are constantly changing trying to take and hold the middle ground.
Yes, both parties morph as they battle for the middle. In the meantime, though, both parties consistently grow government. So far, I’ve seen no meanignful traction for Libertarian ideals of smaller government in either major party, nor do I see fertile ground for this idea in any major party. Both parties pay lip service to the idea, but their actions belie their true intent.
Certainly the electoral college does not have rules or laws that prohibit third parties. As a practical matter, though, there is really no way a third party like the Libertarian party can attain the office of POTUS under our electoral college system as it currently operates.
Holy Crud – according to this _ I am more left than Obama!!!
My Score:
Economic Left/Right: 1.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.15
I consider myself a conservative fiscally responsible independant – but vote republican because I didnt like the far left of the democratic party who appear to control it.
I never really like any of the choices I am given but figure I gotta deal with whats given to me. This test has shocked me…
How accurate do you think it is?
Not sure how accurate it is. I wound up more to the left than I thought I would too. It shocked me too, but it makes more sense the more I think about it.
I think because I dont really trust government or big companies…I am more of a libetarian – I have always said that. I think I am more enamoured with what republican used to me – or the myth of what it ment (small government, fiscally responsible, less taxes etc)…though I dont think any politician is REALLY for small government… that would be like a person on an assembly line being in favor of automation with robots.
I’m almost right on top of Ralph Nadar.