# How would you categorize yourself on the U.S. political spectrum? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 23, 2018, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977 "2018-11-23T17:39:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Stuntman\_Mike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stuntman_mike/32/334_2.png) [@Stuntman\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuntman_Mike)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2018, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/21 "2018-11-23T20:53:28Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > If you have a political position and can defend it with logic and numbers, then you’ll fit in here regardless of what position it is. > > If you can’t, then it’s not an issue that we don’t like your politics, it’s a matter that you’re talking poppycock. Leftist poppycock or rightist poppycock, if that’s what you’re giving us then someone will whoop your ass for it. Poppycock… that’s a good one, almost as good as one of my other favorites “horse pockey”. Think I’ll steal it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2018, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/22 "2018-11-23T21:45:09Z")
Where do you buy wacky juice? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2018, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/23 "2018-11-23T21:54:55Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I score in the middle of the Political Compass and my Facebook posts asking people to chillax and compromise tend to annoy the Progressives and the Tea Partiers, and pass by unnoticed to everyone else. There used to be a consensus between the parties on the basics, and mostly we were just arguing over matters of degree. Nowadays, the two parties have vastly different world views. How do you compromise between “everyone should have decent health care” and a view that the ACA is giving poor people ‘free stuff’? Also, there’s the increasing prevalance on the part of one party to buy into (or simply create) evidence-free conspiracy theories. Remember that story about the caravan from several weeks back? How do you compromise with people who say either Soros or the Dems, or both, were financing the caravan, which was filled with criminals and Middle Eastern terrorists? Especially when, just two and a half weeks after the election, they’ve practically forgotten all about it, even though they were scaring themselves shitless with their stories just a few weeks ago? Trying to think of what a middle ground would even look like, and coming up empty. It’s been just shy of a decade since John Cole of Balloon Juice [put it this way](https://www.balloon-juice.com/2009/02/05/youll-never-get-this-21-minutes-of-your-life-back/): > [@](#): > > I really don’t understand how bipartisanship is ever going to work when one of the parties is insane. Imagine trying to negotiate an agreement on dinner plans with your date, and you suggest Italian and she states her preference would be a meal of tire rims and anthrax. If you can figure out a way to split the difference there and find a meal you will both enjoy, you can probably figure out how bipartisanship is going to work the next few years. It may or may not have been true then. There isn’t any argument anymore. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2018, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/24 "2018-11-23T22:11:44Z")
I selected middle left. I don’t vote 100% Democrat/liberal, tho. You should stay around here, but remember: people are entitled to their own opinion, but they’re not entitled to their own facts. ---
**Author:** ![Stuntman\_Mike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stuntman_mike/32/334_2.png) [@Stuntman\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuntman_Mike)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2018, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/25 "2018-11-23T22:14:11Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > You should stay around here, but remember: people are entitled to their own opinion, but they’re not entitled to their own facts. I couldn’t agree more. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2018, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/26 "2018-11-23T22:18:38Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > There used to be a consensus between the parties on the basics, and mostly we were just arguing over matters of degree. > > Nowadays, the two parties have vastly different world views. How do you compromise between “everyone should have decent health care” and a view that the ACA is giving poor people ‘free stuff’? > > Also, there’s the increasing prevalance on the part of one party to buy into (or simply create) evidence-free conspiracy theories. Remember that story about the caravan from several weeks back? How do you compromise with people who say either Soros or the Dems, or both, were financing the caravan, which was filled with criminals and Middle Eastern terrorists? Especially when, just two and a half weeks after the election, they’ve practically forgotten all about it, even though they were scaring themselves shitless with their stories just a few weeks ago? > > Trying to think of what a middle ground would even look like, and coming up empty. > > It’s been just shy of a decade since John Cole of Balloon Juice [put it this way](https://www.balloon-juice.com/2009/02/05/youll-never-get-this-21-minutes-of-your-life-back/): > It may or may not have been true then. There isn’t any argument anymore. Labeling one’s opponents “insane” and arguing that only “one party” buys into conspiracy theories doesn’t seem like it leaves much room for bipartisanship or even honest discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/27 "2018-11-24T01:12:38Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Labeling one’s opponents “insane” and arguing that only “one party” buys into conspiracy theories doesn’t seem like it leaves much room for bipartisanship or even honest discussion. Sounds honest to me ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/28 "2018-11-24T01:22:55Z")
Far left by American standards which means moderate left or centrist by everybody else’s. > [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Labeling one’s opponents “insane” and arguing that only “one party” buys into conspiracy theories doesn’t seem like it leaves much room for bipartisanship or even honest discussion. There isn’t any. The Republicans are morally and factually wrong about essentially everything; as such neither bipartisanship nor honest discussion is possible with them. Attempting bipartisanship with them is both futile and immoral. ---
**Author:** ![Tempe\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tempe_jeff/32/7328_2.png) [@Tempe\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tempe_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/29 "2018-11-24T01:27:58Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Sounds honest to me Works both ways too. How Bi-Partisan we are ! ---
**Author:** ![Tempe\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tempe_jeff/32/7328_2.png) [@Tempe\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tempe_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/30 "2018-11-24T01:31:32Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Far left by American standards which means moderate left or centrist by everybody else’s. > > There isn’t any. The Republicans are morally and factually wrong about essentially everything; as such neither bipartisanship nor honest discussion is possible with them. Attempting bipartisanship with them is both futile and immoral. That’s the Spirit! Dehumanizing half the country will surely make you feel superior as you mock ‘Those Deplorable People’. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/31 "2018-11-24T01:53:09Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > If you have a political position and can defend it with logic and numbers, then you’ll fit in here regardless of what position it is. > > If you can’t, then it’s not an issue that we don’t like your politics, it’s a matter that you’re talking poppycock. Leftist poppycock or rightist poppycock, if that’s what you’re giving us then someone will whoop your ass for it. If only this were true. I can’t begin to count the times left-leaning Dopers have declared right-leaning Dopers to be downright immoral just for having a differing opinion. Still, that’s no reason to run away just because you may wind up in the minority. An enraged liberal is an amusing liberal! ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/32 "2018-11-24T01:56:02Z")
> [@Tempe\_Jeff](#): > > That’s the Spirit! Dehumanizing half the country will surely make you feel superior as you mock ‘Those Deplorable People’. Well, look what they have done. Look at what they will defend or excuse. Look at what they say. I don’t feel superior, I feel depressed. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/33 "2018-11-24T02:32:25Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Far left, Pelosi loving Soros supporting pinko lib. Do you think supporting Pelosi is far left though? Pelosi is criticized from the left and ha faced primary challenges from the left. I wish Soros actually were the person the right says he is. This highly efficient political operative with bottomless pockets for liberal causes. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/34 "2018-11-24T02:39:02Z")
I’m not seeing a choice that truly fits me. I’m a Democrat for sure and I often refer to myself as a centrist but centrist is where I average out. I have some issues where I am way left and some I am way right. Maybe “Lean Left” is it. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/35 "2018-11-24T03:16:41Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > If only this were true. I can’t begin to count the times left-leaning Dopers have declared right-leaning Dopers to be downright immoral just for having a differing opinion. Still, that’s no reason to run away just because you may wind up in the minority. An enraged liberal is an amusing liberal! Because nothing is as funny as somebody afraid of losing their civil rights or their life. :rolleyes: Of course that’s why you use a phrase as vague as “differing opinion”. It sounds better than “consider most of the world subhuman”. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/36 "2018-11-24T05:00:53Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > I’m not seeing a choice that truly fits me. I’m a Democrat for sure and I often refer to myself as a centrist but centrist is where I average out. I have some issues where I am way left and some I am way right. > Maybe “Lean Left” is it. I suspect that the center needle has shifted in the last few years since the Tea Party came to prominence; what used to be center-right is now the center (or even slightly left), and the old centrists are now center-left. For example, I used to vote Republican, but that was before they lost their damn minds and became hostile to everything that doesn’t involve guns, religion or trying to prevent the government from spending money on anything but defense and policing. I mean, who the fuck in their right mind [starves the funding for disabled children’s medical care for partisan reasons?](https://www.houstonpress.com/news/fewer-disabled-kids-being-served-after-texas-cuts-funding-9994974) It’s one thing to have philosophical disagreements about how best to help the poor, it’s another to deliberately screw them because “small government is good government”. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/37 "2018-11-24T05:58:55Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Far left by American standards which means moderate left or centrist by everybody else’s. So what? This is America, not someplace else. > [@](#): > > The Republicans are morally and factually wrong about essentially everything; as such neither bipartisanship nor honest discussion is possible with them. Attempting bipartisanship with them is both futile and immoral. Res ipsa loquitur. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Because nothing is as funny as somebody afraid of losing their civil rights or their life. :rolleyes: Oh, yes, there is. Someone with a extreme fear of those things based on the flimsiest evidence. 😛 (Admittedly, that happens on both ends of the political spectrum.) > [@](#): > > Of course that’s why you use a phrase as vague as “differing opinion”. It sounds better than “consider most of the world subhuman”. :rolleyes: 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/38 "2018-11-24T07:00:07Z")
> [@Tempe\_Jeff](#): > > That’s the Spirit! Dehumanizing half the country will surely make you feel superior as you mock ‘Those Deplorable People’. So… do you have any point to make, or are you just going to continue to whine about fairness and bipartisanship? Because if all you Republicans have is whining, well, whining ain’t winning, is it? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/39 "2018-11-24T07:35:26Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > So… do you have any point to make, or are you just going to continue to whine about fairness and bipartisanship? > > Because if all you Republicans have is whining, well, whining ain’t winning, is it? No, whining isn’t winning. But owning the Presidency has got to count for something, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977/40 "2018-11-24T12:33:01Z")
In Canada I’m middle right, which places me leaning left in US politics. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-categorize-yourself-on-the-u-s-political-spectrum/824977.md?page=3)