[POLL] Where are you politically?

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Oh aye?

I feel the same way, and that is why I try to find the good in all political philosophies.



I know exactly where you're coming from. While I love money, I don't love it more than people.

I love the ideals behind communism but in reality it couldn't happen. Human nature is just too greedy to allow a stateless, classless society. Every attempt at communism has ended in a small group of people controlling everything.

What about the Green Party? They sound like they rather fit your views.

Yeah with the mindset most people have there is no way it could work.

I am in agreement with their philosophy. I do tend to support them in the Scottish Parliament elections, where PR is in place and the smaller parties have a chance of getting a seat.

Mostly Liberal, a smidgeon of Conservative, a bit of Libertarian thrown in for good measure.

Oh, and Socialist.

Makes no sense when I write it down

Haha! no. Economically, Hitler is closer to Stalin than Obama is from either.


Yes and no. As I understand, marxism believes that in the eventual communist society, there would be no need for rewards at all, as people would just do whatever they want to do and generally be happy. It was overly optimistic, of course, but there was no gun involved, unlike what actually happened in the USSR, at least from 1928 onward. Besides, everyone but Lenin believed Russia was not ready for socialism or communism, including virtually all Menshviks, many Bolsheviks, probably every notable Socialist in Europe and Marx himself.

Besides, that theory doesn't have to be applied on a national scale. To be precise, it would be applied on an international scale, where the national divisions would bear no meaning. That is another failure of the theory, of which there are very many.

I am a liberal.

Actually, it makes perfect sense. No one is just one thing in real life.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

abacacus: Classical liberal with elements of conservatism and an understanding that a welfare state is necessary?

Essentially.

I should've clarified. For me, individualism and collectivism is about what scale decision making is executed at. Food is in universal demand but since everyone likes different types of food, there are varying levels of demand from one type of food to another so the decision making when it comes to that should lie in the individual. Yes there are different types of infrastructure, health care, utilities, and ways of maintaining the environment but since there are things like

• Too many conflicting interests (Company A has ties with Wal-Mart and wants to build a street across it, Company B has ties with Company A but also has ties with a strip mall so it doesn't want to build an intersection with Company A since it would lose profits for the strip mall in favour of Wal-Mart)
• The demand being subject to less variability
• Much more forethought required in universally demanded establishments than in decision making on an individual scale

The decision making is best left to the collective.

Liberal? Me? Come on you know me better than that lol. I'm far from being a liberal. I don't believe in social engineering as it is tyranny of the majority over the liberties of the individual. I economically lean heavily towards deregulation with the exception of things I think are better handled on a collective scale. I'm not for abolishing the welfare state but I am definitely for reforming it so that it doesn't "institutionalize" people.

Anyways, to sum up my ideology, I am a libertarian and an individualist but it is society's framework and network which determines how much autonomy is granted to us so my collectivist views are intertwined with my individualism. In this case collectivism and individualism aren't dichotomies since individualism must be established by collective mediums through which an individual can carry one's choices out. The roads are a collective medium of transportation to the store where an individual can choose to buy something from it. Likewise a public library is a collective medium of information through which an individual can be informed in order to make better choices.

So uhh... I'll call it syncretic libertarianism? f**k I still don't know what I'm supposed to put in the poll.

Last edited by AceOfSpades on 14 Mar 2012, 7:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

all i know, is that european "conservatives" are NOT opposed to the basic concept that all classes [including the working class] deserve [as citizens as well as human beings] basic [primary as opposed to tertiary] affordable health care [however it is delivered]. in american conservatives, that is demonstrably NOT the case. THIS one point is what tells me that northern europe [on the whole] is on my side about such things, compared to a large part of the american voting public.

I understand what you are saying. However, some of UK's Conservatives would be quite happy for healthcare to no longer to be so affordable. At the moment it's free except for prescriptions charges (free for the poorest & all children). But, watch this space for major changes. Thankfully, Scotland is not affected by any changes that might be made to the NHS, in the rest of the UK. We don't pay for prescription charges at all, neither does Wales.

Essentially? I'm a center-left to leftist. I guess I just find general Conservatism to be so... distasteful. Sure, go right ahead and call it the typical "young" perspective; I just can't stand how America's "Left" is Europe's "Center-Right", and yet there's still the accusations of Obama's apparent "Communism" or "Socialism" or "Islamic Background".