I've become increasingly interested in politics recently, probably because of the upcoming US presidential elections. In trying to place myself politically, I came to suspect that I'm a long way from any major party's positions. I went to The Political Compass and took the test there to compare my position to the main parties (and some famous people):



Hory carp! I mean, I knew I was a liberal lefty, but wow...

You know, I don't know that much about economics, so I could be moved further to the right on the economic scale -- the rightish skew on that scale doesn't disturb me much. But the authoritarian nature of ALL the major political parties sure does. What on earth happened to the idea of liberty (the ultimate version of which would be on the bottom right)?

I have a simple rule about liberty: if I wouldn't be willing to turn up at your door, pitchfork in hand, to stop you doing something, I don't think it's right that we use a government proxy to stop you either.

So, I'm not going to pitchfork you for smoking a bit of weed, or snorting a bit of coke, or even, hell, shooting up heroin (but I'd pitchfork you for selling it to a bunch of kids). I won't turn up with my pitchfork to stop you having gay BUTSECKS either. Or for marrying as many people as you see fit.

This is definitely a libertarian sort of view, but I don't think it's a really far-out one. Why is this view completely missing from contemporary politics? It it because power not only corrupts, but collects as well? Or am I just really weird, and most people are authoritarian right?

Seems to me that I'm stuck under the the rule of people that are about as far away from my political position as Hitler and Stalin. Disturbing.


NOTE -- there is an axis I would like to see on this, which is of great importance to me: the rationality axis. That would distance me from a lot of lefty sorts on specific issues. For example, I'm strongly pro-nuclear, whereas a lot of lefty groups are anti-nuclear, I'm anti alternative medicine, again distancing myself from hippy sorts. As an extreme rationalist, I'd probably be distanced from the religious Dali Lama, and even further from the mystical Hitler.