I woudn't. Here is my image of how it'll go.

jjs: You freaking AUSTRALIAN!

uninvolved observers: Really... wow... cool man. So you're from Australia, thats really great!

Yeah, I agree with others: the left-right scale simply is incapable of expressing my political views - answering either left or right would be fundamentally inaccurate. If I had to be pigeon-holed, I'd say I was a Libertarian, being economically and socially liberal, but even that is inaccurate, since I support government funded education and universal healthcare on the one hand and flat taxes and a deregulated workplace on the other.

I'm a Scottish Socialist so that's pretty far left.

I am a social liberal, and fiscal conservative.

Quote from: Serious PaulI am a social liberal, and fiscal conservative.

Me too, I have no idea where that fits on a right/left measure though.  A belief that free markets are more effective than the alternatives does not imply an opposition to abortion for example, which is why the left/right thing doesn't really work so well.

Right moderate - not so bad that I want concentrations camps for wrong thinking subversives, but I'd like to see less interference from the state, and the reintroduction of the death penalty.

And the trial for warcrimes and corruption against Princess tony and his 'new labour' cronies.

Anarchist.

The poll results are pretty balanced.  Interesting.

Personally I don't mind people of any political persuasion as long as they are informed.  These "get out the vote" drives we have here in America always seem to target the "gullible moron" segment of the population who won't take the time to get informed and vote based on who has the catchier slogan.

On the issue of Coulter/Sharpton/Michael Moore, unfortunately it seems these days that "mainstream" is defined as anyone who can generate enough flames to get ratings for the news networks regardless of what side they are on.

I probably don't even have to say it...

Quote from: Black FlagI probably don't even have to say it...

Judean People's Front?

Quote from: BalbinusMe too, I have no idea where that fits on a right/left measure though.  A belief that free markets are more effective than the alternatives does not imply an opposition to abortion for example, which is why the left/right thing doesn't really work so well.

That's why, as I said, at a minimum you need two things to describe someone's political ideas, "social liberal/conservative left/right" and "economic liberal/conservative left/right."

If you squeeze it all into one thing, like this poll, you'll almost always end up with it very balanced, like this poll.

I have a friend who in addition to believing that the Illumaniti control everything, is very political. Whenever the discussion drifts into political divisions, he invaribly says:

"It's not about left or right, it's about up and down"

...

What every happened to just being able to say "I believe that 'A' is the way to go"? Maybe it's because people feel more comfortable declaring themselves to be part of a specific group as opposed to simply stating they believe a certain thing, though why they feel it necessary to describe their political views in terms of driving directions I'll never know.

For the record though, I'm far East with moderate North leanings, which I'm told is rather rare for someone in my elevation.

By American standards, I'm far left.  By Canuckistani standards I'm left-moderate.  I'm comfortable with using "left" as a descriptor - it's as accurate as any other term, I suppose.  (In other words, not very.)  But it all depends on perspective - I mean, it's clear that to some folks "liberal" or "leftist" inherently means "likes high taxes/wasteful spending", which I've never been able to grok.

Of course, here in Saskatchewan we elected the first overtly socialist government in North America, and they ran a very fiscally prudent administration - as then-Premier Douglas said, going into debt just means the banks get more of a say over what you do.  Hell, it wasn't until the conservatives took over in 1982 that we went from a budget surplus to a billion dollar debt by 1991.  (Those Tories are amibitious - that's a big debt for a province of around a million souls!)

Quote from: Erstwhile"likes high taxes/wasteful spending", which I've never been able to grok.

Nice straw, man.

It's "likes high taxes/government-as-solution-provider." At least it tends to be in the US.

I don't know anyone on either end of the spectrum that gets into wasteful spending as a political goal.

Now you might have the old "one man's wasteful spending is another man's department of education...." but that's a different issue.

Quote from: James J SkachI don't know anyone on either end of the spectrum that gets into wasteful spending as a political goal.

Oh man, I totally would.

As long as I'm going to be tagged a 'tax-and-spend liberal', I might as well. Taxes will go up, especially for people richer then I am, and it'll all be allocated to the 'Booze & Candy Initiative of 2012'.

Everyone gets booze. Everyone gets candy. Everyone's money gets wasted.