Party Labels

Traditional political labels almost always range from extreme left to extreme right. If we were to use a sketch to illustrate this, we would have something like this:

When it comes to controlling people's non-political behavior, the extreme left has a tendency to live and let live while incorporating some "political correctness," into the mix, while the extreme right may seek to impose morality to counter, for example, any threat to “traditional family values.” The Center will seek control in some ways and not in others. On economic issues, we find communism on the extreme left and unbridled capitalism on the extreme right. We like to think of the centre as having the best of both extremes.

The problem with this kind of description is many people can’t find a place for themselves on the continuum. A Communist sympathizer may still be against sexual freedom of choice. A person who believes strongly in the free enterprise system may still believe in the importance of a universal prescription drug program.

Let’s not forget the dictators! Most of the communist regimes were dictatorships, including such people as Stalin and Mao. At the other end are the fascists, including Hitler, Mussolini and Pinochet. These regimes were very different in terms of economic and social point of view, but they were still dictatorships in the sense that the state interests outweighed those of the individual.

But if you're like me, you probably have points of view on the right side of the spectrum and others on the left, but can’t really find your place on the continuum. The Advocates for Self-Government have developed (for their own purposes, of course) a very interesting tool. Inspired by a similar chart invented by a certain David Nolan, this tool is like a Cartesian graph tilted backwards at a 45-degree angle. Here's an illustration:

The economic issues side would be the “y” axe, while the personal issues side would be the “x” axe, with both axes intersecting at zero and spreading out to reach 10 on both axes.

The terms liberal and conservative can represent the left and right respectively. Statist means much interference from the state. Libertarian means greater individual freedom and enterprise as possible and the least possible government interference. Centrist groups elements of the other four groups.

One axe is used to assess a person‘s opinions on economic issues, while the other would serve to gauge his or her opinions on social/personal issues. A position is then plotted at a point on the chart where the two scores would intersect. This would place the quiz-taker in one of four quadrants (liberal, conservative, "populist" (statist) or libertarian), or in the centre, and this would be the general political orientation of that person.

The tool is fine. The problem is we must choose the right questions and word them properly to make sure a person’s political bent is properly assessed. The quiz questions presented by Advocates for Self-Government would suggest that everyone is Libertarian. After all, wouldn't we all like to see fewer business subsidies, no customs duties for items purchased outside the country, no media and Internet censorship, purely voluntary military service, and no laws regarding sex between consenting adults? Only by exploring libertarianism a little further may the idea seem less appealing.

So if we could never agree on the proper questions, this would be an excellent chart.