{"id":23513,"date":"2011-11-06T21:51:37","date_gmt":"2011-11-07T04:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=23513"},"modified":"2011-11-06T21:51:37","modified_gmt":"2011-11-07T04:51:37","slug":"navigating-by-the-political-compass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/11\/06\/navigating-by-the-political-compass.html","title":{"rendered":"Navigating by the Political Compass"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve taken the Political Compass test<\/a> several times over the last decade. This is a test to gauge your political stand along two axes: economically left\/right (think of it as collectivist \/ communist \u00a0vs free market \/ neo-liberal \/\u00a0laissez faire<\/em>) and politically (authoritarian \/ fascist \u00a0vs libertarian \/ anarchist).<\/p>\n

The idea behind the test is that the normal binary axis (left\/right, liberal\/conservative) is not sufficient to encompass both social\/market ends and governmental means. \u00a0As the site notes, both Stalin and Ghandi were leftists, but both were quite dissimilar in other significant ways. (More on the axes here<\/a>;\u00a0(the site recommends not studying this material \u00a0before taking the test.)<\/p>\n

To me, as interesting as the test, is the question of how I’ve changed (or not) over the decade I’ve been doing it (as recorded on this blog). And, in fact, it’s been a few years. \u00a0So … without further ado …<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The scores are typically given as (economic, social)<\/p>\n

12\/2001<\/a>:\u00a0 -1.13, -3.13
\n5\/2003<\/a>: -2.13, -3.54
\n8\/2004<\/a>: -0.75, -3.13
\n7\/2007<\/a>: -3.00, -4.00
\n11\/2011<\/span>: -6.12, -4.82<\/p>\n

The \u00a0red dot is my current score, based on taking the test tonight. \u00a0I’ve inserted my scores from the previous tests onto the chart.<\/p>\n

It’s interesting to me, though not surprising, that while I’ve edged south a little bit toward a more civil libertarian view (as issues of homeland security and governmental control have loomed on one hand, and imposition of religious and\/or corporate authoritarianism have loomed on the other), my biggest change in the last four years has been on the economic front.<\/p>\n

For that I “blame” a combination of the current OWS unrest in the news, the business-inflicted economic crisis of the past few years, and the growing political power of the \u00fcber-wealthy and the corporations. \u00a0Even just reading those words I wrote feels odd, because I remain in favor of business competition and innovation as great rules of thumb for a successful economy. \u00a0My concern \/ shift stems more from where I see corporate power stifling not just competition and innovation, but strangling our very political system, our environment, and our society.<\/p>\n

A free market is not an end to itself. \u00a0It’s a powerfully useful means to that end, but when free markets turn into Darwinian oligarchies, something’s broken in the system.<\/p>\n

And, no, for the record, I don’t plan on starting to wear a Che shirt, or handing out copies of Mao’s Little Red Book, or other stuff of that sort. \u00a0Nor do I plan to move to a commune, or quit my job and join the OWS protests. Nor do I hate America, nor do I hate Jesus, nor do I think a centrally controlled economy is a great idea. I do think that restrictions on the sizes and influence of corporations, and attention to how they help or hurt not just their shareholders but the society in which they operate and profit, are all worthwhile elements to a healthy nation. \u00a0And while I encourage personal responsibility, I feel we also need to understand that sometimes shit happens, and we have a communal responsibility, both moral and pragmatic, to see that those who are hungry are fed, those who are sick are treated, etc.<\/p>\n

Here’s one of those cases where I’d love to sit down with the me of a decade ago and discuss our differences.<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve taken the Political Compass test several times over the last decade. This is a test to gauge your political stand along two axes: economically left\/right (think of it as collectivist \/ communist \u00a0vs free market \/ neo-liberal \/\u00a0laissez faire) and politically (authoritarian \/ fascist \u00a0vs libertarian \/ anarchist). The idea behind the test is … Continue reading “Navigating by the Political Compass”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[77,31,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-personality-tests","category-politics-law"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/political-compass_20111106_annotated.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10730,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/07\/09\/the_political_compass.html","url_meta":{"origin":23513,"position":0},"title":"The Political Compass","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 9-Jul-07 1:57pm","format":false,"excerpt":"BD pointed to the Political Compass test again, so I thought I'd re-take it and see how I was doing.\u00a0 The Political Compass graphs out socio-political philosophies along two axes,...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":217,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/05\/27\/axis_to_grind.html","url_meta":{"origin":23513,"position":1},"title":"Axis to grind","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 27-May-03 12:32pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Scott reminds me of this test to chart out your \"political compass\" -- where you lie on the economic left\/right and the authoritarian\/libertarian scale. It's an interesting test, but for...","rel":"","context":"In "Personality Tests"","block_context":{"text":"Personality Tests","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/personality-tests"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6462,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/08\/30\/calibration.html","url_meta":{"origin":23513,"position":2},"title":"Calibration","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 30-Aug-04 9:25pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Scott (once again) reminds me to take the Political Compass test, as much to see if I've changed since the last time. DateEconomicLeft\/RightLibertarian\/Authoritarian 12\/2001-1.13-3.13 5\/2003-2.13-3.54 8\/2004-0.75-3.13 Which all puts me...","rel":"","context":"In "Personality Tests"","block_context":{"text":"Personality Tests","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/personality-tests"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1581,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/12\/07\/okay_heres_a_re.html","url_meta":{"origin":23513,"position":3},"title":"Okay, here’s a “real” quiz","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 7-Dec-01 3:08pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The folks at the Political Compass have put together, well, the Political Compass. This quiz lets you find yourself both on the economic left-right access, but also on authoritarian-libertarian axis....","rel":"","context":"In "Personality Tests"","block_context":{"text":"Personality Tests","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/personality-tests"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26654,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/24\/santorum-and-the-fairness-doctrine-for-higher-education.html","url_meta":{"origin":23513,"position":4},"title":"Santorum and the "Fairness Doctrine" for higher education","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 24-Feb-12 7:25am","format":false,"excerpt":"Between breaths talking about the evils of higher education yesterday (where faithful boys and girls go to be indoctrinated into atheism, don'tchaknow?), Santorum also unleashed this little bombshell idea.\"Just like we have certifying organizations that accredit a college, we'll have certifying organizations that will accredit conservative professors. If you are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27112,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/15\/scotus-and-political-decisions.html","url_meta":{"origin":23513,"position":5},"title":"SCOTUS and "Political" Decisions","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 15-Mar-12 2:32pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It's probably unreasonable to expect any Supreme Court Justice to rule with Vulcan-like precision merely on the legal merits of a given case -- if for no other reason than that they are (a) human, and (b) cases that get to (and are accepted by) SCOTUS are rarely so clear\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}