|
|
 #62 (permalink) Mon Jun 18, 2007 4:59 am The Political Compass |
|
|
Hank, your score makes sense, because someone who is economically on the right usually believes that people should be left alone to do what they want.
The scores that don't make sense are those of the people who are libertarian on the one hand and economic leftists on the other. |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5334
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
|
| #63 (permalink) Tue Jun 19, 2007 11:36 am The Political Compass |
|
|
| Jamie (K) wrote: |
| The scores that don't make sense are those of the people who are libertarian on the one hand and economic leftists on the other. |
Jamie, how would you explain such results? Do you think politico-economical left libertarians suffer from mental illness? |
|
Fan Of Arabian Horses
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 20 Apr 2006
Posts: 1007
Location: next to Dortmund , Europe
|
 |
| #64 (permalink) Tue Jun 19, 2007 14:38 pm The Political Compass |
|
|
Tom, here is my political compass.
Economic Left/Right: -2.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.00 |
|
NinaZara
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 04 Jan 2007
Posts: 1165
Location: Malaysia (Cat city)
|
|
| #65 (permalink) Tue Jun 19, 2007 14:49 pm The Political Compass |
|
|
| BTW, I wonder if anybody can get 0 and 0. |
|
NinaZara
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 04 Jan 2007
Posts: 1165
Location: Malaysia (Cat city)
|
|
| #66 (permalink) Tue Jun 19, 2007 14:52 pm The Political Compass |
|
|
| Fan of Arabian horses wrote: |
| Jamie (K) wrote: |
| The scores that don't make sense are those of the people who are libertarian on the one hand and economic leftists on the other. |
Jamie, how would you explain such results? Do you think politico-economical left libertarians suffer from mental illness? |
I think the results can be explained by the probability that some people want "freedom" and "economic justice" (i.e., socialism), but that they have never thought about it deeply enough to realize that socialism requires taking things from people by government force or coercion or that it limits people's choices by forcing them to use government services instead of using any services they choose. It's also possible that these people have spent their whole lives under a nanny state and can't actually imagine a place where people have freedom of choice or responsibility for their lives.
Many people can hold two contradictory opinions at the same time. The opinions are just kept in separate "pockets" of their brains and never meet each other. |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5334
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
|
| #67 (permalink) Tue Jun 19, 2007 15:17 pm The Political Compass |
|
|
yeah, you can't have economic freedom (free enterprise) AND (government-manipulated) economic equality (socialism).
(Ideal/total) Free enterprise and (ideal) socialism are mutually exclusive -- either people are free to control their money, or they're not.
In the united states, we're neither truly free enterprise nor socialist -- we're mixed. It could probably be said that compared to most of Western Europe, we lean toward free enterprise.
If (on a scale of 1 to 10) 1 is total free enterprise and 10 is total socialism, the USA is maybe a 2 or a 3 -- maybe 4, but that's pushing it..
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee. |
|
Prezbucky
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2528
Location: Nashville, TN (USA)
|
|
| #68 (permalink) Tue Jun 19, 2007 15:18 pm The Political Compass |
|
|
Diverhank
I like your score -- economic freedom and social freedom (though not so socially free that we're total flakes. hehe)
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee. |
|
Prezbucky
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2528
Location: Nashville, TN (USA)
|
|
|
Fan Of Arabian Horses
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 20 Apr 2006
Posts: 1007
Location: next to Dortmund , Europe
|
|
| #70 (permalink) Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:45 am The Political Compass |
|
|
| No, schizophrenia is a completely different thing. I dated a woman from Beijing for a couple of years, and she held simultaneously in her head both horrifying totalitarian communist Chinese beliefs AND Western beliefs in freedom and individual rights. She was definitely not schizophrenic. One day she told me that it was easy to walk around with simultaneous contradictory beliefs on an issue, and as long as nothing in the outside world tested them, she didn't have to choose. |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5334
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
|
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5334
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
|
| #72 (permalink) Wed Jun 20, 2007 14:58 pm The Political Compass |
|
|
an excerpt (this was written by John Stossel -- hope that covers me. Thanks, John):
The problem is not that the market doesn't make it profitable to save lives -- it most certainly does. The problem is that Third World countries have overbearing, corrupt governments that are obstacles to private property and freedom. That's why the children's parents have no voice or power.
Poor people in the West and in East Asia lifted themselves out of poverty by relying largely on the unplanned market process. That process -- countless individuals pursuing their own interests by trading with one another -- is, as Nobel Prize-winning economist F.A. Hayek put it, a "discovery procedure." Through the price system and free competition, it clarifies tradeoffs of scarce resources, generates the lowest-cost solutions, and provides feedback about success and failure through profit and loss.
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee. |
|
Prezbucky
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2528
Location: Nashville, TN (USA)
|
|
| #73 (permalink) Wed Jun 20, 2007 15:01 pm The Political Compass |
|
|
| Jamie (K) wrote: |
| No, schizophrenia is a completely different thing. I dated a woman from Beijing for a couple of years, and she held simultaneously in her head both horrifying totalitarian communist Chinese beliefs AND Western beliefs in freedom and individual rights. She was definitely not schizophrenic. One day she told me that it was easy to walk around with simultaneous contradictory beliefs on an issue, and as long as nothing in the outside world tested them, she didn't have to choose. |
Well...
Schizophrenics have been known to take showers with their clothes on.
The idea of socialism and freedom coexisting harmoniously is approximately as logical as that act.
Socialism is an act against economic freedom. I can't put it more simply than this:
--
Man earns money.
Government takes it away.
Government redistributes it to others.
Man has no choice in this.
--
If that's freedom, then taking a shower with your clothes on is perfectly normal. And my name is Mud.
(thought i'd reconcile schizophrenia with the socialism-as-freedom oxymoron)
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee. |
|
Prezbucky
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2528
Location: Nashville, TN (USA)
|
|
| #74 (permalink) Wed Jun 20, 2007 15:37 pm The Political Compass |
|
|
| prezbucky wrote: |
--
Man earns money.
Government takes it away.
Government redistributes it to others.
Man has no choice in this.
--
|
In general U R right. But imagine that suddenly something bad was happened with this man and he (she) can't continue to earn money. So goverment has to take care of this person and gives him (her) sort of indemnity. But if Govermnetn doesn't take money away it'll be impossible to help such kind of person. |
|
Innominata
I'm new here and I like it ;-)
Joined: 14 Jun 2007
Posts: 13
Location: Ukraine
|
|
| #75 (permalink) Wed Jun 20, 2007 15:39 pm The Political Compass |
|
|
yeah, a little bit of socialism can be beneficial... i'd just like it limited as much as possible.
or maybe we could put a checkbox on tax return forms asking people if they want their money to go to welfare-type programs.
that way people would have a choice -- some would undoubtedly vote for their money to go to such programs, while others would not.
it would be nice if liberty could be respected 100% in this matter, but as long as personal giving cannot take care of (all) welfare cases, we'll likely need public funds to supplement private donations.
I'd like to devise (and market... $$$ baby!) pills to cure both sociopathy and sloth.
hehe
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee. |
|
Prezbucky
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2528
Location: Nashville, TN (USA)
|
|
|
| A blog for higher studies | NationStates |
Diverhank
. Uncle Sam thinks I make too much money and makes me pay a lot of taxes. I don't really feel rich, however. I hate taxes!
