Yes, it's that time again, Vince! ACS Political Compass / 2005 edition!

[C0ckney]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.64

oh my God. i think ur has just managed to prove, in that short post, that this test really is rubbish :/

[Dauphin]

No, just that he can toe the party line and claim things that aren't true.

[Kuciwalker]

I want to see UR's answer to the one-party question

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by C0ckney
oh my God. i think ur has just managed to prove, in that short post, that this test really is rubbish :/

Shows how much you know.

[Urban Ranger]

1. If economic globalisation is inevitable, it should primarily serve humanity rather than the interests of trans-national corporations.

Strongly agree. Globalization is being sold as something that will improve the lives of people around the world, so they better be right.

2. I'd always support my country, whether it was right or wrong.

Disagree. I think Cultural Revolution was a mistake, and so was the Great Leap Forward.

3. No one chooses his or her country of birth, so it's foolish to be proud of it.

Agree. I am proud not because of my birth, but what has been done to improve the livelihood of the common folk and the status of overseas Chinese.

4. Our race has many superior qualities, compared with other races.

Disagree. What is a race?

5. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Strongly disagree. The enemy of my enemy can also be my enemy.

6.Military action that defies international law is sometimes justified.

Strongly disagree. I can't think of any examples for it.

7. There is now a worrying fusion of information and entertainment.

Agree. If the common folk can't tell the difference between facts and fiction, it's going to be bad.

8. People are ultimately divided more by class than by nationality.

Strongly agree.

9. Controlling inflation is more important than controlling unemployment.

Disagree. Unemployment tends to be high when inflation is low, i.e. during economic downturns. I hold that it is more important to get the economy back on track than to cut spending.

10. Because corporations cannot be trusted to voluntarily protect the environment, they require regulation.

Strongly agree. There's very little empircal evidence that corporations will put the environment before the bottom line.

11. From each according to his ability, to each according to his need is a fundamentally good idea.

Strongly agree.

12. It's a sad reflection on our society that something as basic as drinking water is now a bottled, branded consumer product.

Agree. Consumerism is out of control.

13. Land shouldn't be a commodity to be bought and sold.

Strongly agree. Why should people have any rights to own land?

14. It is regrettable that many personal fortunes are made by people who simply manipulate money and contribute nothing to their society.

Strongly agree. This is one of the fatal flaws of Capitalism.

15. Protectionism is sometimes necessary in trade.

Agree. Sometimes it is necessarily for a developing country to protect a key industry from being wiped out by foreign competition.

16. The only social responsibility of a company should be to deliver a profit to its shareholders.

Strongly disagree. It is only by social agreement that a company can come into existence, thus, the company owes its very existence to the society.

17.The rich are too highly taxed.

Disagree. If they are too highly taxed, how would they remain rich?

18. Those with the ability to pay should have the right to higher standards of medical care.

Disagree. That means the intrinsic value of the lives of the rich is somehow higher than those who are not.

19. Governments should penalise businesses that mislead the public.

Strongly agree. What do you think, let them get away with murder?

20. A genuine free market requires restrictions on the ability of predator multinationals to create monopolies.

Strongly agree. A free market does not mean the market is free from government regulations, it means companies can freely enter the market to compete. This is impossible without government regulations.

21. The freer the market, the freer the people.

If "free" is defined as per [20] above, then I agree.

22. Abortion, when the woman's life is not threatened, should always be illegal.

Strongly agree. A pile of cells that is not sentient has no more rights than tapeworms.

23. All authority should be questioned.

Disagree. Isn't this a paradox?

At any rate, there are all sorts of authorities, from scientific fields to politics. Are you going to question Stephen Hawking on basic physics?

24. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

Strongly disagree. Revenge and violence is only to make matters worse.

25. Taxpayers should not be expected to prop up any theatres or museums that cannot survive on a commercial basis.

Disagree. There are intrinsic values to art that cannot be evaluated in $$$.

26. Schools should not make classroom attendance compulsory.

Agree. Schools should not punish kids who don't attend - just reward those who do.

27. All people have their rights, but it is better for all of us that different sorts of people should keep to their own kind.

Strongly disagree. Integration and all that jazz.

28. Good parents sometimes have to spank their children.

Strongly disagree. Coporeal punishments have never been shown to have a positive influence on child development/

29. It's natural for children to keep some secrets from their parents.

Disagree. If children are not the closest with their parents, something is wrong.

30. Marijuana should be legalised.

Strongly agree. All drugs should be decriminalised.

31. The prime function of schooling should be to equip the future generation to find jobs.

Strongly disagree. Schools should help kids to develop their potentials to the fullest, not make them into cogs for the machine.

32. People with serious inheritable disabilities should not be allowed to reproduce.

Agree, weakly. I prefer discouraging them. If the offspring gets these disabilities and is going to be unhappy all his or her life, isn't this one of the worst forms of torture?

33. The most important thing for children to learn is to accept discipline.

Disagee. Discipline should only be accepted if it is within reason.

34. There are no savage and civilised peoples; there are only different cultures.

Disagree, but being civilised doesn't mean only high technology and massive productivity.

35. Those who are able to work, and refuse the opportunity, should not expect society's support.

Disagree. What does "opportunity" entail?

36. When you are troubled, it's better not to think about it, but to keep busy with more cheerful things.

Agree. It's easier to face a tough situation when you're upbeat than when you're down.

37. First-generation immigrants can never be fully integrated within their new country.

Disagree. First-generation immigrants do not have to be old.

38. What's good for the most successful corporations is always, ultimately, good for all of us.

Strongly disagree.

39. No broadcasting institution, however independent its content, should receive public funding.

Strongly disagree. Some programmes are worth having even if they don't have a wide audience or commercially viable. I am sure a number of BBC's ecological programmes such as the Blue Planet made losses.

40. Our civil liberties are being excessively curbed in the name of counter-terrorism.

Agree. Not us as in Hong Kong citizens of course, but for citizens of many Western countries this is the case.

41. A significant advantage of a one-party state is that it avoids all the arguments that delay progress in a democratic political system.

Strongly agree. No other forms of government gets things done faster, with Singapore being a prime example of how this can be successfully done.

42. Although the electronic age makes official surveillance easier, only wrongdoers need to be worried.

Disagree.

43. The death penalty should be an option for the most serious crimes.

Strongly disagree. Offing the criminal isn't going to reverse the situation. The only purpose of capital punishment is vengeance.

44. In a civilised society, one must always have people above to be obeyed and people below to be commanded.

Strongly disagree. Who are these people above they spoke of?

45. Abstract art that doesn't represent anything shouldn't be considered art at all.

Agree. I don't see making a black square any sort of art.

46. In criminal justice, punishment should be more important than rehabilitation.

Disagree. Punishing people doesn't make them better.

47. It is a waste of time to try to rehabilitate some criminals.

Agree. For example, it is shown that psychopaths cannot be rehabilitated.

48. The businessman and the manufacturer are more important than the writer and the artist.

Disagree. Prosperity is important, but so does uplifting the minds of the people.

49. Mothers may have careers, but their first duty is to be homemakers.

Strongly disagree. Why can't men be homemakers?

50. Multinational companies are unethically exploiting the plant genetic resources of developing countries.

Strongly agree. How can you debate with facts?

51. Making peace with the establishment is an important aspect of maturity.

Disagree. Revolutions haven't, and probably won't, be started by kids.

52. Astrology accurately explains many things.

Strongly disagree. What are these things astrology so accurately explains?

53. You cannot be moral without being religious.

Strongly disagree. Nonreligious people aren't less ethical than religious ones.

54. Charity is better than social security as a means of helping the genuinely disadvantaged.

Strongly disagree. Helping the genuinely disadvantaged is a lot more than just giving them money and food.

55. Some people are naturally unlucky.

Agree. Actually I am more inclined to hold that some people are more lucky than the rest of us, for example, Mr George W. Bush.

56. I would not wish to send my child to a school that did not instill religious values.

Strongly disagree. What do religious values have anything to do with education?

57. Sex outside marriage is usually immoral.

Strongly disagree, unless you are talking about non-consensual sex.

58. A same sex couple in a stable, loving relationship, should not be excluded from the possibility of child adoption.

Strongly agree. Having a father and mother doesn't necessarily guarantee the kids will be brought up well.

59. Pornography, depicting consenting adults, should be legal for the adult population.

Agree. Besides, when there's a demand, there will always be ways to satisfy this demand.

60. What goes on in a private bedroom between consenting adults is no business of the state.

Agree.

61. No one can feel naturally homosexual.

Disagree. What if sexual orientation is determined by genetic composition? Isn't that as natural as it can be?

62. It's fine for society to be open about sex, but these days it's going too far.

Our society is not open enough, it's still a taboo for many people.


Note: I did this from memory, so the modifier (strong) may be off in a few places.

[Ben Kenobi]

So you buy the test as if it were gold? It focuses on some topics far too much and not enough on others. Therefore the score is skewed. In reality, I'm far more socially libertarian then you are.

Not at all. That's why I want to see which questions caused the test to list you as more authoritarian than I am.

[Giancarlo]

I have to go through all those questions again? Ugh.. I"m sorry.. I'm just too lazy.

[C0ckney]

see to be a 'liberal' i thought you had to believe in things like democracy and basic human rights - shows what i know eh :/

[Urban Ranger]

There is no such thing as natural human rights. Th only rights we have are by social contract.

[St Leo]

Originally posted by Oerdin
That definition is different from every political science book I've ever read.

Fair enough. Back when political compass referred to it as the "Libertarian/Authoritarian" axis without the "Social" clarifier, I used to replace "Libertarian" with "Egalitarian" myself.

[St Leo]

I vote for Whaleboy, Kassiopeia, MRT144, and Ari Rahikkala in the Apolyton elections.

[C0ckney]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
There is no such thing as natural human rights. Th only rights we have are by social contract.

way to miss the point there

how can a person be a 'liberal' if they don't believe in democracy and basic human rights?

[Kidlicious]

Even though I don't really like the questions, I do like my overall score.

edit: I managed to be left wing economics more than everyone else, except tied with it looks like Agathon.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
you aren't proud of your country? I dont know about Canada but i dont see how americans could not be proud of their country... we live in such a relatively affluent, strong, and free nation. America, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and a few other nations are down-right glorious compared to the horrible mess that most countries are. How can you not be proud of the American people or the Canadian people for making and keeping these lands bright beacons of freedom, tolerance, and equality?

What a load of crap.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Giancarlo


Wrong. Economic freedom benefits everybody, and brings great advancement. If you want to work for a better society you would abandon your communist beliefs, and work for a better, more free economy. The freer the economy, the freer the people.

That's just a bald face lie. People know better by examining reality.