Have you taken the political compass quiz?

The direct link to the quiz is here:

What a stupid quiz. Here's an example of one of the questions:

[quote] If economic globalisation is inevitable, it should primarily serve humanity rather than the interests of trans-national corporations. Agree or Disagree?

They shouldn't use "libertarian" vs. "authoritarian" on a scale because while not all idiots are libertarian, all libertarians are idiots.

I’m to the left of Ghandi lol

Interesting though to see the little graph placing political figures because it does show that the left/right divide is way too simplistic.

Me too, R4.

upper west side of the green box

I'm almost dead center. .5, .82, middle of the road.

It's clear that some of the questions absurdly push people to answer a certain way. Example: "Those with the ability to pay should have access to higher standards of medical care." Unless you are rich, you wouldn't agree with that. It should be worded differently, such as "Those who have made the responsible choice to properly insure themselves against loss should be able to benefit from higher standards of medical care."

It's ridiculous that they place Thatcher as authoritarian. She was adamantly against communist and authoritarian regimes.

R7 Your question is even more leading and emotive!

I've taken a number of these types of tests over the years. Though beware, the ones you find on sites such as Facebook are suspected of harvesting data and promote sharing with your friends. In any case, I've found that most of these tests are designed to promote conversation and gaining an understanding of a person's believes or behaviors. Certainly not designed to be 100% accurate.

I've taken tests, sponsored by our HR department, that were much more detailed and contained significantly more questions. We also had someone on site that helped to interpret the results. Again, we used the results for discussion purposes.

My results were: Economic Left/Right: -6.38 and Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.97

So I'm exactly the same rating as you on the Social Libertarian/Authoritarian side but lower than you on the Economic Left/Right side. I certainly have never considered myself an economic conservative but I wouldn't say I'm far left on economics either. I lean left on economics but not to the Bernie Sanders extreme. Socially I am extremely liberal.

In their little caricature mapping onto the grid, they have Hillary Clinton to the right of Trump and almost a match to him as far as authoritarianism is concerned. Uh huh. Sure. That sounds correct. Yep.

Garbage.

Bottom left for me. If you can believe what people post here most DLers are in well paid corporate jobs and have significant investments and pension funds. I think many here will be in the middle or the top left. It is good to be reminded that it’s not as simple as L/R. Fiscal conservative/social liberals often vote Republican, if I had a dime for every asshole who has said “but how’s your 401K” and will still be saying it if Trump is caught on live TV sitting on Putin’s knee writing “ unser Kampf”. They get away with it imo because they are rich, white and have nice stuff. Most people direct all their anger at trailer trash rather than Orange County. Many rural working class voters can be quite left fiscally. On the other hand the belief that everyone who supports a woman’s right to chose or gay marriage is a communist is equally absurd. Or people who assume that those who want universal healthcare must be atheists. Lots of black and white thinking everywhere.

Btw, as someone who has European parents and has lived there I can’t help but giggle at the idea of Bernie being an extremist! I wonder if the people who are saying Bernie is extreme are the same people who thought of leaving the US for Europe 4 years ago and the ones who tend to idealize Europe in threads here all the time. Maybe not but I bet there’s some overlap. A country like Ireland has had 100 years of centre right governments and even they have economic policies that go further than Bernie would dare.

I’m English and it has been funny how quickly some of my American friends have gone from wanting to move here or Sweden to losing their minds over higher taxes. I said don’t you know what you would have been paying if you moved over here and you’d be paid about a third less too! I really, really hope I’m wrong but I think people will vote for their back pocket and if re-elected I think there will be less anger and hurt and more people saying well at least my taxes aren’t higher. There’s a really poor understanding of taxes out there too. I’ve tried explaining a few times in forums but people keep looking up our tax code and then thinking I am paying the top rate of tax on every penny I earn. Very frustrating. Also people who themselves can not afford to get on the property ladder being totally against people with tens of millions in assets having to pay more taxes. What’s that all about? I’m guessing they imagine they will be rich one day and they don’t want to pay taxes when they do. FWIW, I loved Warren, thought she made a lot of sense and had solid plans. The result is a foregone conclusion over here, he’s odds on at the bookie to get back in. Im done with England myself, I’m in the process of getting an Irish passport as both parents born there and moving somewhere on the continent.

My score

I lived in the U.K. and studied in Austria. I don’t like Bernie but I agree that in Europe, even the conservative countries, he’d be considered middle of the road. Lots of my Democrat and left leaning friends swooned when I told them about the social protections in Austria, the subsidised housing, the healthcare, the standard of eduction, the public transport. They all want that but they also don’t want to pay European tax rates, not even my friends who call themselves socialists. Taxing the ultra rich is the other option but it gets away from what society is meant to be, everyone chipping in to create a good society because it benefits us all. Some think once they have theirs it’s all okay but of course it’s not. You cannot having a safe, healthy, democratic society when you have the top 20% living well and the masses crammed together in sub standard housing with poor healthcare, poor education, no opportunities. Some of our major cities are heading right in that direction and they are looking more and more like third world countries because the middle class is gone. The only end to stark inequality is crime, disease, fundamentalism and eventually the fall of democracy.

Economic Left/Right: -6.75

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 1.13

I hate the ignorant assholes who think that we would have to pay oh so much more money in taxes to get all the services that most European countries have had for decades. They can't even figure out that if they add up all the taxes we already pay, add on childcare, education expenses, and all their healthcare costs, we're paying much, much more out of pocket annually for much, much lower level services and outcomes. And then these ignorant assholes vote from that place of ignorance. Fucking hate them all. Stupid fuckers.

Economic -5.5, Social -8.51, putting me right next to... Noam Chomsky.

Merkel, Sturgeon, Stein and Clinton are all misplaced, which is interesting since they're all women, but maybe it's a coincidence. Trump is too far toward the center; they claim Churchill, HRC, May and Hobbes are all further right than he is, which is ridiculous.

And if you click the link it also saves the originating website and you are most certainly giving someone like Brad Parscale access to your data and that you are a DataLounger.

STOP DOING STUPID ONLINE SURVEYS/QUIZZES.

Or you can look up who owns The Political Compass and decide for yourself, instead of melting down into hysterics, R20.

[quote]the copyright of "The Political Compass", which is claimed as a trademark, belongs to an organisation named Pace News Limited. Pace News Limited is a company registered in New Zealand whose director is political journalist Wayne Brittenden. According to The New York Times, the site is the work of Brittenden. According to Tom Utley, writing in The Daily Telegraph, the site is connected to One World Action, a charity founded by Glenys Kinnock. An early version of the site was published on One World Action's web server.

One World Action is not a right-wing think tank or anything, R20:

[quote]One World Action was a charity based in London whose aims were a world free from poverty and oppression, where strong democracies safeguard people's rights.

And Wayne Brittenden is a left-wing New Zealand journalist who has done work in film writing, including some work in gay cinema in New Zealand.

But let's keep shrieking, R20, it's a MUCH better way to spend your time than, I dunno, looking shit up and educating yourself.

Economic: -3.13

Social Lib/Auth: -4.97

I'm a 60-yo guy with two graduate degrees currently working a blue collar job. I was demonstrably more to the left in economic matters when I was college aged.

r21, you are the definition of willful ignorance when you go out of your way to instruct people to give away their personal information especially on a board where anonymity is prized.

You forgot hissssssssssssing, you assssssssssssssshole.

R13 you're quite astute in your comments. In many of my encounters with Latinos, my experience is that a large number of them are quite socially-conservative yet fiscally-liberal. So someone who is against gay rights but they also wholeheartedly support economic policies that include income redistribution, heavy taxation on those making above certain income level, government funding for free childcare and welfare/ child payments for families with children. Then again, I also know many fiscally-conservative and socially-liberal people who are wholeheartedly for equal rights (gender and LGBT) yet not entirely sold on the notion that government should provide anything beyond health insurance and basic safety net programs that we have in existence. They don't want social programs that give away money to families with children for no good reason, nor do they want to be taxed ridiculously high amount because they make say, a salary of $200K and live in an expensive area to begin with. I think it's problematic for Dems to assume that people who want fiscally-liberal policies also believe in ideas of social liberalism.

This test has been around forever, it's nothing new. We all took it in a political science class in university. Anyways, the worst distribution is actually not socially-conservative/ fiscally-conservative, but socially-conservative/ fiscally-liberal/ authoritarian. The latter being the template for most Latin American and socialist countries, and the result is backwards society and bankrupt government. At least with socially-conservative/ fiscally-conservative mindsets and milieus, the prospect of the marketplace and free will to control/ influence socially-liberal ideas will always be there to take hold. Socialism and authoritarianism have not in actuality led to gender equality and gay rights. It has been capitalist societies that have advanced, though not far enough, these ideas and social norms. Good luck as a gay person if you live under any of these socially-conservative/ fiscally-liberal/ authoritarian countries (Russia, many Latin American countries) because the most you'd hope for would be being accepted by your family and close social circle. You won't be able to live out in the open or as a group have a voice due to social stigma that still exist in these places.

For all the gender equality that the former Soviet Union loved to espouse, the truth was always the antithesis of the official line. There was parity in numbers of female physicians but they were paid less and overworked, not to mention as women they were expected to work then go home to take care of family and do stereotypically women's work. We can make the same analogy with gay rights. Under a tightly controlled and centralized socialist society, gays and lesbians wouldn't have made the strides that we've been able to make in the last couple of decades. Not only changing laws for the better but most importantly changing entrenched social norms and individual minds about gay rights as human rights.

Here's mine:

Economic Left/Right: -1.25

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.18

Economic Left/Right: -3.75 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.1

I am about the same as OP, a lefty.

Thanks, OP.

Your Political Compass Economic Left/Right: -3.5 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.46

Not surprisingly I'm fairly in the center and on the libertarian side. Economic Left/Right: 0.13 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.26

However, I reject the left/right divide and believe it to be more of a circle, with communism and fascism at the bottom and liberal democracy at the top. The hard left and the hard right have more in common with each other than they care to admit.

Economic Left/Right: -6.38

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.1

[quote]you are the definition of willful ignorance when you go out of your way to instruct people to give away their personal information especially on a board where anonymity is prized

Is it willful ignorance or is it determined sabotage? It can't be both.

There is no personal information given to the quiz. It can be done with a VPN so they don't even get your IP.

This is the board where people are constantly answering questions about their mother's maiden name, and telling each other that hacking doesn't even happen, it's just an "old person conspiracy theory" from "Luddites who are scared of technology." Anyone like me says anything about potential security issues and we get screamed at.

So you trying to make THIS into an issue, when there is no real risk of personal information being compromised AND when we know who is behind the quiz, is just laughable. Maybe go have a hysterical fit on the next "what was the name of your first pet" thread next time.