Wednesday, February 15, 2006

A little background

I think that politicalcompass.org is a good website for illustrating where you sit on the political spectrum. My personal numbers are -8.88 on economic left/right and -6.00 on social libertarian/authoritarian (those numbers being toward left and libertarian, respectively). But it seems that every time I take that questionnaire, I move further to the left. I've just decided to allow myself to admit that socialism is a fantastic idea, and when I say socialism, I do not mean the garbage that passed for socialism in the Soviet Union.

At any rate, my assertion is that Democratic and Republican politicians (note: not necessarily the average member of each party!) really aren't all that different, and that website seems to vindicate that statement. According to that graph, the only people in the 2004 United States presidential race who were in my quadrant – the libertarian left – were the Green Party's David Cobb, the independent (or Reform Party, depending on your state) Ralph Nader, and the Socialist Party USA's Walt Brown. Of the major party candidates, nobody's voting record was even close to what I would consider ideal. This leaves me with a distinct feeling of being completely disenfranchised, but it also leaves me with a perfect launching point for a blog. (This is where you cheer.)

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