Given that the words as used in the modern American political sense have very little to do with their dictionary denotations or with historical uses, what exactly do the terms mean?
Is it possible to determine whether a political idea is one or the other with out referencing who believes in it? I mean an idea that hasn’t already been classified.
If, beyond suppressing coercion, it interferes with: (1) your personal freedom, it is a conservative idea; (2) your economic freedom, it is a liberal idea; (3) both, it is an authoritarian idea; (4) neither, it is a libertarian idea.
These terms are largely relative, and have different meanings outside the US, so I would prefer not to use them.
This site shows a grid that expands on Libertarian’s hypothesis, with both left-wing and right-wing ideals plotted against authoritarian/libertarian applications of those ideals.
Thanks for the cite, jjimm. It says I’m on the libertarian right.
Another factor in the US is that the two parties are financially beholden to certain interest groups. So, support for corporations, defense spending, and Christian conservative groups is right wing. Support for lawyers, teachers’ unions and civil rights organizations is left wing.
I have found the terms to be so meaningless that I, literally, do not use them anymore. You’re better off using something like “Free Market” or some other silimar term to describe a certain position that someone holds.
Hmmm. Kind of an interesting quiz…could make for its own thread.
My results:
Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: 0.25
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -2.56
The scale placed me firmly on the right… but couldn’t decide whether I’m Libertarian or Authoritarian. I ended up right on the bar.
What that proves, I have no idea.
Already has been - that’s where I found it.
Of course, the quiz itself probably contains some kind of bias, based on its originator’s opinions.
I’ve yet to meet someone who has been in the “authoritarian” camp, for example.
Well, there goes the credibility of another Internet resource! 
I don’t think this would help either. E.g. I believe in a free market, but with a minimal social ‘safety net’, that is paid for by taxation. But I don’t think there should be protectionism or tarrifs. Where does that place me?
Economic Left/Right: 1.25
Authoritarian/Libertarian: 1.54
Hear hear, I recommended the Political Compass to everyone I knew years ago, and I believe its cropped up a few times here.
FWIW, I’m between Simon Hughes and Ghandi on the Libertarian Left. (There is also an FAQ for Americans who think there can’t be a Libertarian Left).
Trying to defend your own compass direction generally involves using terms as biased as the needle itself. Such defences, I have found, appeal to compassion and fairness to varying degrees, and place different amounts of “blame” on different parties. Hence a debate concerning how “fair” it is that a given person starved to death because it is substantially “their fault” would quickly reduced to debating the meaning of the words themselves.
Wow, I’ve just done the test again and found I’ve drifted more “towards the edge” in the last couple of years.
Economic Left/Right: -5.62 (-5.00 in 2001)
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -8.05 (-6.95 in 2001)
Aren’t you supposed to become more conservative as you get older?
Actually, libertarian right fits quite nicely with December. It means that he values economic liberty for himself and others and personal liberty for himself alone.
LOL! Seriously, it was more a joke at how december presents his views online, which I hoped would get a grin out of him as well as everyone else, than a flame of any sort – after hitting “submit reply” I got to worrying if he or others would take it as a slam.
I am not sure if we have control over what liberal and conservative mean in social consciousness. One political party which self-identifies as liberal or conservative will choose one particular position on an issue, the other will pick the other position and they enter into a dog-fight aided and abetted by the media.