Political leaning

[Krisken]

I was curious as to what our boards general political leaning is since there is this general notion that the board collectively tends to lean further left than right. As such, how do you view your own leaning? This poll will not show names to keep the votes more honest (hopefully).

 

[phil]

Anyone who votes ____ and ____ is a moron and should just stop trying.


Then 2 pages of "no u" then northranger locks it.

 

[Krisken]

It's ok to generalize your political leanings but think independently and be informed. Voting in the poll doesn't require people to be mindless automatons.

 

[Espy]

The reality seems to be that most people, regardless of which spectrum they are on tend to still vote for the party they are most comfortable with, no matter how well that party embodies the things they stand for. So really they tend to just vote against the other party. At least, from talking to people here and in RL, that seems to me to be what it generally sounds like, ie, "I don't think party "x" is doing a great job but I'll be damned if I vote for party "y"."
Personally I don't think I'm voting in this next election, because I won't be voting for anyone who represents me, I will be voting for a lying hypocrite who merely wants power and wont' do anything to fix our problems no matter who I vote for, and right now, at this point (meaning maybe this will change) I can't stomach it. I just can't.

 

[Krisken]

I'm voting for my Senator because he is the only one who voted against the Patriot Act. He's trailing and needs all the help he can get.

 

[Espy]

I'm just making a generalization here, I'm not saying that there aren't people who truly want to vote for their representative, but it seems like most people I know, lib or conserv, are merely voting against someone rather than for a candidate they truly admire or think should represent them.

 

[makare]

I would like to say I am social liberal economic conservative but is that really possible?

 

[SpecialKO]

I would like to vote against my local rep because of his stance on the Patriot Act, but the guy who always runs against him won't take a public stand on a single issue beyond the "are you tired of things being the same? Then vote me for because I'm mysteriously different!" play, which isn't exactly a winning argument anywhere, let alone in New Jersey, where assuming a politician is corrupt is the default position.

---------- Post added at 04:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:04 PM ----------

I would like to say I am social liberal economic conservative but is that really possible?

I think it's quite possible. Just because you're in favor of social progression doesn't mean you're automatically in favor of spending public money to get there.

 

[AshburnerX]

Isn't Social Liberal/Economic Conservative the default position for most of the Libertarian community?

 

[Tress]

Isn't Social Liberal/Economic Conservative the default position for most of the Libertarian community?

Are we talking about real Libertarians, or social conservatives who are trying to hide?

 

[makare]

pfft libertarians... don't even get me started.

 

[SpecialKO]

Isn't Social Liberal/Economic Conservative the default position for most of the Libertarian community?

Are we talking about real Libertarians, or social conservatives who are trying to hide?[/QUOTE]

I think that's a key point, insofar as "Libertarians" aren't exactly a cohesive political block themselves. There are libertarians who are very socially liberal, but are generally skeptical of government economic intervention, not because it's a bad idea per se, but because the government can't be trusted to manage public money efficiently. There are libertarians who are very socially liberal, but take it as a matter of faith that government, as an intellectual construct cannot be trusted. There are "free-market" libertarians who are against communal social change entirely, viewing it as an infringement of their rights, and believe that the free market will right all wrongs.

There's a lot of self-described libertarians, and they don't necessarily all agree.

 

[AshburnerX]

Isn't Social Liberal/Economic Conservative the default position for most of the Libertarian community?

Are we talking about real Libertarians, or social conservatives who are trying to hide?[/QUOTE]

I think that's a key point, insofar as "Libertarians" aren't exactly a cohesive political block themselves. There are libertarians who are very socially liberal, but are generally skeptical of government economic intervention, not because it's a bad idea per se, but because the government can't be trusted to manage public money efficiently. There are libertarians who are very socially liberal, but take it as a matter of faith that government, as an intellectual construct cannot be trusted. There are "free-market" libertarians who are against communal social change entirely, viewing it as an infringement of their rights, and believe that the free market will right all wrongs.

There's a lot of self-described libertarians, and they don't necessarily all agree.[/QUOTE]

This is a fair point.

 

[Iaculus]

Wait a second - way I've always had it in my economics classes was that 'economically liberal' meant that one was in favour of free trade, minimal economic intervention, and the like, whereas 'economically conservative' meant that one... wasn't.

 

[tegid]

I voted economically conservative with that in mind, without realizing the meanings are switched when discussing with Americans.

 

[Adam]

Wait a second - way I've always had it in my economics classes was that 'economically liberal' meant that one was in favour of free trade, minimal economic intervention, and the like, whereas 'economically conservative' meant that one... wasn't.

Depends on the country and the era - and there's a lot of conflation between economic 'conservatism' and fiscal conservatism in this thread. Fiscal conservatism is classic liberal economics at this point in history. Economic liberalism is commonly misunderstood to be socialism. Classic liberal economics is laissez-faire which is the opposite of socialism.

Which underscores why political labels shouldn't be attached to economics.

 

[North_Ranger]

Abstained from the poll since those terms are quite dependant on the political culture. At one point I considered myself a moderate leftie, but after misguidedly vocalizing some political ideas I've come to realize that for a lot of Americans I'm a socialist bastard bordering on communism. The political spectra are simply too different when comparing the American two-party, winner-takes-all system and the Finnish multi-party, let's-find-concensus system. So yeah...

Admittedly, I voted in the last parliamentary elections because I had gotten tired of listening to news about a right-wing nutjob polemicist and his "True Finns" gaining in the polls. In the end they got some seats in the Parliament but thankfully no ministerial positions. My candidate didn't get through, though...

 

[Chazwozel]

I am of the economic standing of: I make a good chunk of change and I don't spend it on stupid shit.

 

[@Li3n]

Neutral... too many idiots on all sides. Plus, that lets me argue against both JCM and Gas...

But i have to say that i was not surprised by this:

• Social Conservative, Economic Liberal 0 0%