Kiran over at Quotidian Glosses alerted me to a political spectrum survey one can take. I must say, it seems very slanted toward American concerns, and the questions seem rather biassed! Furthermore, as an Australian, I naturally take a much more benign view of, say, universally available healthcare (why do Americans have a phobia of this?), and this and other perfectly sensible views I hold had me turn out as left-wing! - whereas in Australian terms I'm sure I'm more to the right: a social conservative, certainly, but not ridiculously, madly laissez-faire economically either. I would certainly use the term conservative of myself to describe my political views. FWIW, here are the curious results the quiz I took accorded me:
My Political Views
I am a left social authoritarian
Left: 3.53, Authoritarian: 6.55
My Foreign Policy Views
Score: 2.2
Stance
Score: 4.57
My own idea of how government should operate rather oddly reflect these lines in the old Anglican Prayer for the Church Militant:
... We beseech thee also to save and defend all Christian Kings, Princes, and Governors; and specially thy Servant ELIZABETH our Queen; that under her we may be godly and quietly governed: And grant unto her whole Council, and to all that are put in authority under her, that they may truly and indifferently minister justice, to the punishment of wickedness and vice, and to the maintenance of thy true religion, and virtue.
Take the quiz yourself and see what curious results it turns up...
4 comments:
There are better quizzes out there. How many questions did this one have? The 50-100 ones are best.
I remember doing one, and finding myself in between two excellent figures on my POLITICAL views. In between John Howard and Pope John Paul II on the Political diamond.
I came out as a 'moderate centre-right social libertarian'!
All up, I think that's prietty accurate for myself.
Rob
Just as a follow-up, I think a good case can be made that the label 'conservative', despite the protests of many leftists, is in fact a fairly broad political label that can denote many different positions. In general though, I think conservatives usually adhere to two broad principles: 1) a respect for human freedom and dignity, and 2) a respect for the past and what is good in it, its traditions, etc. Conservatives are usually also more pragmatic, i.e., they recognize that humans often err and thus to seek salvation through political means (that is, the search for a utopia) is a futile task.
Rob
Yes, Rob, that sums up my views entirely: respect for the human person (both on the natural and supernatural levels) and a respect for the past and what is good in it. How stupid, to imagine we are better than our forefathers! Incremental and careful advancement of all good causes, and suppression of evil and vice, yes; headlong heedless flight into some fabled "utopia" that usually will come to resemble hell, no!
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