Political Spectrum

[ack]

Could someone map out a political spectrum for me?
I know that we're left, and that conservatives are right, but were the fuck are liek libertarians, and the greens?

[Red October]

the libertarians are pretty hard to place on a political spectrum. they could be called conservative in the traditional sense of believing in a weak federal government and low taxes, but i dont think they believe in the crazy christian conservative ideology. the green party is totally on the left.

larkin

[Sugar Hill Kevis]

if you go to http://politicalcompass.org/ there's a fairly good map of the political spectrum on there with examples of parties and historic figures

[Rage]

You know my dad. He is a Liberitarian and I made him take that and he got like anarchy towards the right.



/,,/
Rock on!

[ack]

;)

[ack]

Economic Left/Right: -5.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.26Stupid compy wont let me type in the reply box, so I had to type this in IM and copy it. That makes me a left anarchist. Socialist, same thing.:lol:

[RedStarOverChina]

Communism
Social Democracy
Reformed Liberalism
Classical Liberalism
Conservatism
Neo-Conservatism
Nazism

Left
|
|
|
|
|
\/
Right

Greens would be quite close to social democracy. Here in Canada, the Green Party is more progressive than the "social democrats".

As for libertarianists, it does not necessarily fit into the right-left spectrum.

[Leif]

Hey Redstar, is your icon Baloo pissing on Tom Cruse?

[RedStarOverChina]

^Think dirtier ;)

[Comrade Yastrebkov]

Haha man like it! :D

[I'd Rather Be Drinking]

Honestly I think the whole "Left" to "Right" political spectrum hides more than it explains. It is one of the tools that dominant political ideology uses to dismiss criticism. "Oh you don't like neoliberal capitalism? That must mean you're for the state controlling everything." "Oh you're critical of this or that leftist idea, you're in danger of supporting the right." Most people would call me a radical leftist, but I'm against gun control, don't want to be taxed more, am not excited about the unions or affirmative action, don't want to the state interfering in my life any more than it already does.

I think the left-right spectrum is a product of (capitalist) politics. And communism is a critique of it, not a position on it.

[Luís Henrique]

Could someone map out a political spectrum for me?
I know that we're left, and that conservatives are right, but were the fuck are liek libertarians, and the greens?

"Libertarians" in the sense of "Libertarian Party" are right wingers. Usually in the far right, though they can - as everybody - be more or less extreme in their views.

Greens are moderate left in the US; they may vary from left to center-right in other countries.

Do not believe the conservative-libertarian mantra that left = more state. The right wing is not about freedom, it is about unequality.

Luís Henrique

[Qwerty Dvorak]

That's inequality, Luís.

If you look at my sig you will see my "Social -4.whatever", implying that I am an anarchist. I am not, I am a socialist.

[SanPatricio'sSoul]

Economic Left/Right: -8.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.28

But as far as I knwo I'm not a communist or an anarchist, I've never actually figured out what "ism" i fit under but more or less I assume I'm a Socialist with a "s"

[Clarksist]

Most people would call me a radical leftist, but I'm against gun control, don't want to be taxed more, am not excited about the unions or affirmative action, don't want to the state interfering in my life any more than it already does.


Most Leftists are against gun control, and want (some eventually, some immediately) for there to be no government and no capital for the government to tax you on.

There is a big difference between the Left/Right terminology in the United States, and the worldwide lexicon.

The Left is a political ideology encompassing anti-capitalistic mutualist ideas, the Right is a capitalistic or market idea. That is what is so maddening about the Left/Right spectrum is that it is so two dimensional.

Even the Political Compass with the added dimension lacks an important quality: depth.

Depth could constitute the means of action as violent or nonviolent... or perhaps better yet, bourgeois and non-bourgeois parallels between movements. Not to say a non-bourgeois movement is more or less violent than one originating from the bourgeois, but more the means of accomplishing your goals. Some members of the lower classes support capitalism, but their addition is one through a voluntary market, not any more or less authoritarian, but voluntary market wise.

That's what I think anyway...

[I'd Rather Be Drinking]

I'm not arguing that everything dominant ideology says about Left and Right is correct. What I'm saying is that the whole idea that you can make a spectrum that anyone's ideas will fit on is wrong. Social Democrats are capitalists. They are on the left side of a capitalist spectrum. People who want a revolutionary workers movement to take over the state (or set up workers councils) and take of the (capitalist) economy, are the extreme left of this spectrum. What I'm arguing is that a communist position is not a point on a spectrum of how to manage capital--which is what everyone from Margaret Thatcher to most communist parties want to do. Communism is not a new politics, or a new way to manage the economy, it is a critique of politics and a critique of economy. Trying to figure out what "the left" REALLY stands for, misses this.

[Don't Change Your Name]

Honestly kids, stop this crap about the "Political Compass" and the "left - right" kind of systems. They're useless.

Politics are more complex than "(x;y)" or someone being in the "center-left".

That's all I'm gonna say

[Storming Heaven]

I'd Rather Be Drinking and El Infitlr(A)do have the right idea. Left/Right distinctions are useful only for sweeping overviews, and no good once you actually get down to examining details...the policies/beliefs of any person (and the parties that people make up).

[Comrade Corinna]

lol I dont think the Political Compass, or any test, is accurate. But I love that I got a perfect -10.00 on economic issues!

[ack]

Originally posted by El Infiltr(A)[email protected] 9 2005, 02:37 AM
Honestly kids, stop this crap about the "Political Compass" and the "left - right" kind of systems. They're useless.

Politics are more complex than "(x;y)" or someone being in the "center-left".

That's all I'm gonna say
So, how bout make a 3D one?

[Djehuti]

Originally posted by [email protected] 1 2005, 02:58 PM
Could someone map out a political spectrum for me?
I know that we're left, and that conservatives are right, but were the fuck are liek libertarians, and the greens?
Such spectrums are actually quite useless. It produces more problems than it solves.
It might work somewhat ok if we limit ourselves to social democracy and social liberalism but when more extreme ideologies enter the scene things get screwed up.
Anyway, If I should try to use this simplistic system I would place those ideologies somewhere like this.

The libertarians should be placed at the extreme right in economic issues and as extreme liberals in a authoritarian/libertarian scale.

Conservatives are in general quite far right in economic issues and quite far on the authoritarian side.

Greens are in general somewhere in the center/center left in economic issues and often quite liberal on the authoritarian/libertarian scale.



Communism does not fit on such a map at all. Communism is not really left-wing; communism transcends the game board. I prefer to use categories such as "the left wing of capital" for leninists, socialists, many anarchists et cetera.