Poll - Your Political Alignment

[Julia]

About a decade ago I was moderate/non-political and had shouting in my ears from both sides leading up to the election. At the time it reinforced my non-political position because there was such a flood of fear-based parroting-style information being reiterated from news media.

In the context of the current U.S. I am a liberal, but my political views are contextual. There are certain principles that are important to me like breaking down class barriers and have the primary power structures in some kind of balance or stasis so that one cannot emerge with ultra-control. My concern is that the balance of the corporation and government is favoring corporations to a point that they have extreme power and that it is by nature destructive. Most of the policies that work to limit their control align with liberalism, and so that is the best box to place my views in at the time. If in another context it is the government whose power is not in check, then my views might be categorized differently in a desire to ensure they are also answerable to another source of power.

The only power the masses have against power structures is becoming a united force. There is an ongoing dynamic of power structures gaining power, monopolizing power, and then exploiting and oppressing humanity. I believe in putting a stop to that process which sometimes gives reason to align oneself with government and sometimes gives reason to fight against it by uniting the masses. Much of the media propaganda deliberately tries to divide the populace so that they are less likely to unite in principle and make government and corporate power answerable for exploitation and lies. In this way being a die-hard liberal or conservative can often play into the hands of corporate power which seeks to distract the public from the real issues and make them accountable for their exploitation and destruction of the planet.

 

[CiMoon]

sorry for digging out this "corpse thread"
i just wanted to add my dung

after reading a bit theory about libertarianism i still don't know its difference to liberalism, but i don't mind

in swiss politics i'd be a liberal, the following diagram shows this (orange figure)



it seems that i'm quite right-wing regarding my ambitions in social work

 

[problemz]

I'm a right-wing authoritarian. But I have small children. At any rate, that's what they call me. On most political tests however I'm also a right-wing authoritarian. But not very much. I'm pretty close to the center. But, I'm still a right-wing authoritarian. I like the death penalty and wish it was used more often, especially for perps who go after kids. The Garrido fellow in California for instance should be put to death. As should Catholic priests who've used their authority to sucker kids into sick relationships. I want a better climate for business. But I also want environmental regulation. Polluters should get the death penalty if they deliberately cause gigantic problems. I think wind power is a good idea. But I'm also for total freedom of expression. I'm not very sure that this kind of thing can be weighed. I believe in the individual. I often wonder if Obama is a Marxist as the far-right claims that he is, and that he doesn't show himself because he's into Saul Alinsky. But my favorite of the Republicans is Thaddeus McCotter. He's a crazy Catholic from Detroit with a lot of hip smart sass. He has less than 1% of the Republican electorate. He got 37 of 17,000 votes in the Iowa straw poll. I think Huntsman or Romney wouldn't be too scary if they won. Not sure about Perry. Until I was fifty I usually voted for the Green Party. I don't think anybody fits the stereotypes we make of them. People are all violently original even if they attempt to hide it.

 

[magister343]

sorry for digging out this "corpse thread"
i just wanted to add my dung

after reading a bit theory about libertarianism i still don't know its difference to liberalism, but i don't mind

in swiss politics i'd be a liberal, the following diagram shows this (orange figure)

View attachment 8429

it seems that i'm quite right-wing regarding my ambitions in social work

In The United States America, the term liberal generally refers only to proponents of Social Liberalism. What Americans call Liberals would be considered moderate Social Democrats in Europe.

While the term Libertarian originally referred to left anarchists (and in Europe is still often reserved for anarchists), in modern American parlance Libertarian is treated as essentially a synonym for Classical Liberal.

 

[GracieRuth]

I'm a Kennedy Democrat: social net, strong defense, laws are needed to protect the environment, and big beaurocratic governments are dysfuntional. Unfortunately, the democratic party no longer represents that conglomerate of interests--it has become the party of every small little subgroup with majority rights ignored. This will be the first time I've EVER voted in a Republican primary.

 

[GracieRuth]

after reading a bit theory about libertarianism i still don't know its difference to liberalism

Liberals: Big Government good!
Libertarians: Big Government bad!

 

[aerosol]

so what do we mean here by 'liberal'?
does socialism go under this?

 

[This]

Thank god libertarian was on this poll, I was afraid it would be a 2 choice option :/

 

[GracieRuth]

Yes, socialist ideas are embraced by liberals, the left, or progressives as they prefer to be called. But the Left is not limited to economic socialism. It also assumes an ideological stance that the elite should enlighten the masses through government imposition of laws and programs. For example, the Left would be in favor of presenting gay marriage as acceptable through the use of teaching curriculem in the public schools. This is in stark contrast to the Right, which prefers to have value oriented teaching done by the family and religious institutions, not the government. Remember that these are broad statements, and there are plenty of exceptions. An obvious exception would be laws against abortion, which is technically Big Government idea, but ironically it is endorced by the Right rather than the Left.

It is also important to remember that what is considered Progressive today is not the same as various other historical movements called Progressivism.

Personally, I find it hard to identify with either the Left or the Right, as I have strong opinions represented by each. One cannot place Libertarianism on the Left/Right spectrum either.

I rather enjoyed taking the Are You a Liberal test, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1390257/posts , although I think I have a broader view of "liberal" than Prager. For example, this questionaire doesn't touch on whether you beieve that the government should protect the environment or whether you believe in a social safety net, both of which are liberal ideas. But its a cute questionaire. Enjoy!

 

[Ben David]

Why isn't the non-INFJ libertarian bar the same colour as the INFJ libertarian bar? Seems the folks who've posted in this thread are quite civil to each other. An INFJ trait? or just the trait of INFJs who know they are INFJs? Every INFJ that knows they are an INFJ probably has a higher level of intellectual curiosity [esp psychology wise] than the INFJ population at large*.

* = re "at large", not that I'm saying we should all be locked up.

 

[Ben David]

this post needs to vanish; I mean this one; not the one above also by me. Is self-reflexivity an INFJ trait? [maybe this post doesn't need to vanish because the self-reflexivity would vanish with it]

 

[Kryptonite]

I selected INFJ - Other

In regards to the economy, I consider myself an economic nationalist, opposing both communism and capitalism. I respect what the private sector does for the economy, but unlike the party line republicans I also see that government can also be an effective tool for economic growth. After all it was a government project that brought us nuclear energy (for better or worse) among many other things. I am anti-wall street, anti-bailout, anti-private federal reserve, the converse of which, in my view has led to the hijacking of this government by big banks and financial institutions on any economic policy that actually matters.
So I sympathize with both the occupy wall street and the tea party movements insofar as they stick to the anti-corruption, anti-bailout, anti-bank, etc messages.

On social issues I am generally conservative... and there are social issues that go beyond abortion and gay marriage. (in case you havent heard!)

On foreign policy I align very closely with the libertarians, we need to end this global empire we have built, close our foreign bases and bring our troops home. We need to restore the power of making war exclusively to the congress and not let any president start any military action against a sovereign nation that he wants as Bush did in Iraq and Obama did in Libya and may end up doing in Syria.

I'm also opposed to international entanglements such as our involvement in the United Nations, I think we should pull out of the United Nations which has consistently made a push for more and more power around the globe, eroding the sovereignty of independent countries. And I want to end the marriage the United States has with Israel's foreign policy, the Israel lobby is the most powerful in this country and we cannot do a single thing in our foreign policy in the middle east unless it is also in Israel's interest.

I think that's the gist of it.

 

[palomica26.2]

INFJ Conservative though Libertarian could work as well. I think the Permanent Party has lost sight of the people in their lust for more money and power.

 

[Lerxst]

In an ideal world, Republican/Moderate. Considering the f***ed up state of our system for the past 70 or so years, Green. Not delusional enough to think there are any more Thomas Jeffersons or Abe Lincolns around. We also lean wayyyyyyy too far to the Right for me to vote as a Moderate and make a dent in the system.

 

[Brodskizzle]

INFJ liberal. I think, as a type, our collective warmness and concern for others, especially when they don't want it, lends itself very well to liberalism, which would explain the large number of liberals.

 

[knight in battle]

I haven't figured it all out, but I'm leaning toward libertarian or conservative.

I can't see myself supporting gun control or greater centralized bureaucracy. Too much money in government means more power and coercion by the few, leading to greater bureaucracy, leading to less accountability.