The Logical Conclusion Politics and progress

The Political Compass

One of the things that we have grown accustomed to in politics is discussions in dichotomy.

There are hardline conservatives vs cuddly hippy type green liberals, the right vs the left. This dichotomy was designed during the days of old politics, where the main discussions were about keeping or repealing traditions, and have somehow stuck even into today's politics.

Some people don't even understand that a right-wing libertarian can exist, especially in the UK. They just assume all right-wing types are religious people who hate the poor. Likewise, people struggle to understand that people on the left can be authoritarian, even though prior examples like Stalin and Mao have proven otherwise.

So, how should we measure the new politics?

One of my favourite methods is the 'Political Compass', which plots your position on a dual-axis graph.

• The x (horizontal) axis represents economic values. Positive values (right-wing) indicate less central interventionism and the free market. Negative values (left-wing) indicate favouring a welfare state and a planned economy.
• The y (vertical) axis represents social values. Positive values (authoritarian) indicate a statist mindset, preferring a strong legal system and a strong military, order to disorder. Negative values (libertarian) indicate a minarchist or anarchist mindset, preferring the individual to have more control over his/her life.

Personally, I measure around 95% capitalist and 95% libertarian, which puts me on the very extremes of the political compass. The best place to find out your score is probably here, though this test which my friend Azarius created, and I collaborated on may be better if you find yourself on the extremes (it's less designed to measure centrist opinions).