quote:

ORIGINAL: LadyEllen

I think the Y axis would be better described in terms of whether one believes society can cooperate in improving conditions or whether one believes that society is a competitive theatre whereby progress is achieved through market forces/ "survival of the fittest".

This makes things difficult for me however, in that although I'd like to think we might cooperate, the world around me suggests that the alternative is more often the case and this regardless of the prevailing political model. And rather than cancelling one another out, these two positions rather leave me with a foot on both sides of the Y axis where its bisected by the X.

Similarly, though I distrust the intentions of government and would wish for it to be as small as possible, the dog eat dog nature of the world around indicates to me that frequent government intervention to regulate things is necessary to limit and control what are the effects of nature all in all, in the excesses of the strong over the weak. Again this doesnt leave me in the centre, but puts me on both sides of the line at once, depending on the specifics of any situation.

I think what such a graph might prove useful for - in the context of my own situation specific positions - would be to identify those whose positions are more driven by a fixed ideology than a flexible, practical approach?

E

quote:

ORIGINAL: MzMia

Wow what an interesting and fun thread, IB!
 
Using that chart, I find myself 3,3.
I am on that line that is going straight down the middle, horizontally and vertically.
Right where the blue statism line intersects with the rationalism line.
 
If you could put a small circle smack in the middle of that chart, that is where I would be.
 
 

quote:

ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

quote:

ORIGINAL: MzMia

Wow what an interesting and fun thread, IB!
 
Using that chart, I find myself 3,3.
I am on that line that is going straight down the middle, horizontally and vertically.
Right where the blue statism line intersects with the rationalism line.
 
If you could put a small circle smack in the middle of that chart, that is where I would be.
 
 

That might be where you perceive yourself, Mia, but aren't you suggesting on another thread that providing housing to a newly relocated worker is a legitmate function of our government?  You are up a bit into that top right corner, on this chart, just as I'm stuck squarely to the left side.

quote:

ORIGINAL: HisSweetElysium

I voted for Kucinich the last time I had the option.  I think that puts me off the chart.

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ORIGINAL: willbeurdaddy

I score consistently in the "various conservatives" area on all of these assessments.

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ORIGINAL: MzMia

IB? Where do you find yourself on the political spectrum?

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ORIGINAL: kittinSol

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ORIGINAL: willbeurdaddy

I score consistently in the "various conservatives" area on all of these assessments.

How... unexpected .

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ORIGINAL: AnimusRex

Here is a link to an article by Timothy Ferris, who creates a diagram much like your original link, where instead of a single line going from one extreme to another, it is a two axis graph, with progressive at one end, conservative at the other, then a vertical line going from liberal to totalitarian.

In this graph, "liberal" is defined as John Locke and the Founders defined it, as being free to behave as we wished, within reasonable limits. So both progressives and conservatives can be either liberal or totalitarian.

Which dovetails nicely with my own observation. Within every political group, there lurks a totalitarian, the one who wants not only to behave a certain way, but damn well wants the government to make sure everybody else does too.

quote:

ORIGINAL: popeye1250

As usual with these type of tests I'm a moderate, right in the middle.