Because fiscal conservatism is best for the economy, and social liberalism is best for society.
Social liberalism destroys traditional sexual morality and leads to single motherhood, which creates the need for welfare and other social programs, which is the opposite of fiscal conservatism.
Is UHC fiscal liberalism because the government shouldn’t spend money on healthcare, or is it fiscal conservatism because it’s cheaper than free market systems and leads to a better business environment and people aren’t bankrupting themselves?
Which is it when people call for massive infrastructure spending in order to improve the economy? Or spending money on education? Or…
Here is a quiz you can take in the privacy of your own mind. Answer honestly; nobody’s going to know where you stand unless you post here about it. Anybody with a modicum of political expertise could guess which answer leads to where on the chart and could steer the final dot where they like, but that would be like cheating at solitaire, an exercise in pointlessness.
Fiscally conservative and socially liberal? That defines most mainstream political parties in Canada.
I am not advocating anything. I am pointing out that, just because you have a particular opinion about these things does not make your opinion “right” or “wrong.” To be able to decide, you’d have to have an agreed upon metric. My point is that you two have different assumptions upon which you base your metrics. And unless you can demonstrate that your assumptions have a better truth value than his do, you can’t claim the result of his assumptions is “wrong.”
Look at it this way: You have probably lived all your life believing that the sum of the interior angles of a triangle must be 180º. I will tell you that this is not a true statement. Indeed, I will assert that the sum of the interior angles of a triangle can be either less than or greater than 180º. You will likely tell me I am wrong, just as I am telling you you are wrong. But we are neither one of us “wrong”; the sum of the interior angles of a triangle depends upon what underlying assumptions we make. If we assume we are working only in a flat plane (Euclidean Geometry), you are right. If we assume we are working in some non-Euclidean Geometry (say, a closed curved surface like that of the Earth), I am going to be right (partially at least). Unless you can establish which underlying assumption is better to use, neither of us can be “right” or “wrong” in our statements.
Well, it did… But the amount of debt the federal Liberal party and Alberta NDP party are racking up makes them not just fiscally liberal, but fiscal pyromaniacs. The Ontario government is also racking up an astounding amount of debt.
Alberta’s gvernment is projecting a $10 billion deficit next year, and that’s with rosy scenarios for the price of oil. Alberta has about 2.5 million workers, so we are racking up almost $5,000 in debt per worker per year - just in provincial debt. The Canadian gov’t is racking up another $30 billion in debt on our behalf.
Ontario’s per-capita debt is TWICE that of California’s
There’s nothing fiscally conservative here any more.
I truly do not understand the distinction here.
Holy shit! It says I’m a moderate! :eek:
Smack dab in the middle of ‘‘libertarian’’ and ‘‘left-wing.’’
I didn’t understand the banking question at all.
The discrimination question seemed misleading to me. I am against quotas but I am decidedly pro using government funds to enhance opportunities for historically underprivileged populations.
I am extremely socially liberal, so I’m not sure why that didn’t shake out with this quiz.
As someone who has traditionally identified as a pretty-far-lefty, most of my conservative friends are libertarians. That’s partly because I have a really difficult time with social conservativism; frankly, I consider it oppressive. I get along just fine with libertarians but they seem, to me, more draconian fiscally than even the average fiscally conservative Republican. I’ve talked to libertarians who advocated basically eliminating all government services except the fire department and the police. It seems nonsensical to me.
My uncle (a highly intelligent man) used to be a libertarian until he married my Aunt. What got him, eventually, was the problem of my aunt’s brother, a paranoid schizoaffective who was unable to support himself, and who would spend an average of 10 stints a year in a psychiatric hospital. He was frequently evicted from apartment buildings and grocery stores and was basically only alive because of my grandparents. My aunt could not be reasonably expected to take care of him after my grandparents’ death for reasons I am not getting into here. My Aunt asked the libertarian uncle over and over where my schizophrenic uncle would fit into his ideological framework, and he was never able to answer. Apparently that’s what it took – having a family member who would die in the streets if his ideology was implemented.
My uncle did die, even in this world, so I would argue the support systems for the mentally ill are not even close to adequate, and that traditional libertarian thought as I understand it would be devastating to the most vulnerable members of our society.
Sorry you don’t like your position but the questions and responses have been carefully vetted to minimize bias. For example, gun rights aren’t included because it skewed conservatives leftward and liberals to the right. When I said to answer them the way you feel I should have added, “not the way you hope people see you.”
When I was an activist I was presenting the paper form of the quiz back during the 1988 presidential election. DesertWife and I would set up a couple easels with the Nolan chart on them, ask if they’d decided on who to vote for president, and put a sticker on where they thought their candidate would fit on the chart.[sup]1[/sup] After administering the test, we’d put the test-taker’s position on the other chart and if they were moderate to libertarian, hit 'em up with our literature. If not, we’d tell them they’d probably be happy with Dukakis or Bush, depending, or to check into Duke or Fulani if they were an outlier. Kenoyer wasn’t on the radar.
One fellow wound up pretty deep in the totalitarian zone and objected vehemently, saying the test was biased. I pointed to the scattering of dots on the takers’ chart and said that if it was biased, wouldn’t we be steering people into our corner? I then went over his test and said, “Well if you’d answered with this, instead of that, it would have moved you up.”[sup]2[/sup]
“Yeah, but–”
“And if you’d answered this instead of that, it would have been another bump up.”
“Yeah, but–”
After a third “Yeah, but–” I finally told him, “Look, you’ve been conditioned to think of yourself as a freedom loving American but in reality you don’t trust people to govern themselves. You’d rather depend on big government than the individual to keep folks in line and aren’t really open to our message. The only reason I’m talking to you now is 'cause you’re the only one here and I’m bored.”
He stalked off, fuming.
Oh, for what it’s worth, from my activist days, I’ve drifted downward and to the left, although still in the libertarian zone.
[sup]1[/sup]Oddly enough, Bush supporters put his dots in the moderate to conservative zone. Dukakis supporters scattered theirs all over the place.
[sup]2[/sup]The questions were not the same as the online test. They were more in line with concerns 30 years ago and I don’t really remember them now.
Congratulations, you just described the Alt-right.
Fascinating.
I was just surprised because I know my politics have become more centrist, I just wasn’t aware the extent to which they had. But it still identified Obama as the closest candidate to my views, so I guess not too shocking.
I wondered why there were no questions on gun rights. And yes, that would have skewed me further right.
Is this chart a US-based concept or Western politics in general?
I would guess US. From what I’ve heard, every single person in Europe is to the left of every single person in the US, with the possible exception of Bernie Sanders.
The whois registrant lives in Walnut Creek, California.
The default position on the chart is right smack in the middle. If you click on End without answering any questions* that’s where you wind up. Since the banking question made no sense to you, try skipping that one and see where you wind up.
*I think of it as the “average voter” response [/snark]