Tuesday, October 03, 2006

See? I *AM* A Centrist!

Of course you lefties don't want to believe it, but I took this official internet quiz and the results are clear.

Neo-Conservative

You scored 36% Personal Liberty and 52% Economic Liberty! A neo-conservative believes in moderate to high government intervention on personal matters and moderate government intervention on economic matters. Unlike most other conservatives, they may tend to support a social safety net, though to a lesser extent then most leftists. Others are more capitalistically inclined. They tend to support war, police powers, foreign intervention and laws restricting personal liberty. Neo-conservatives tend to emphasize foreign policy. Neo-conservatism is the result of "fusion" between "old left" and "new right" tendencies.



I admit that both scores are lower than I thought they'd be, but I'm not surprised that I fall in the "centrist" category. My detractors refuse to accept it, but it's true. Here in California they think I'm a right-wing zealot, and in Utah they think I'm a flaming lib. As I've said before, I should just move to Nevada =)

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's the link to the quiz?

Anonymous said...

Where's the test site?

Darren said...

It's one of the zillions of tests at www.okcupid.com.

Darren said...

I can't even find the exact one, but here's one that's similar:
http://www.okcupid.com/politics

Anonymous said...

Nevada backwards is adaveN.

Anonymous said...

I think this is it.
http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html

Darren said...

Similar, but much shorter than the one I took at okcupid.com.

Anonymous said...

So you're a Neo-Conservative?

All that means is that you're willing to start an immoral war with all your PNAC budies over non existing WMD's to grab Arab oil.

That's what I've thought of you all along.

Anonymous said...

That's why the title of this blog is centrist on the left coast.

Darren said...

I'm not sure which amuses me more: having objective evidence that I represent the center of American political thought, or knowing that it bothers anonymous so much.

=)

Anonymous said...

When you lie, it's on you, not me.

Anonymous said...

I'd post my results, but your page seems to dislike HTML. I had 3 1/2 boxes in liberal and 1/2 in Centrist, and I was half way between Libertarian and Statist. Not too unexpected. I don't even want to think what my sister's results would be.

Anonymous said...

You use leftie like it's a bad word. It's really immature and quite annoying. Even if you do disagree, at least have the common courtesy not to mock the name of the political group to which someone may belong. Imagine seeing "rightie" everywhere? See how stupid it is?

Darren said...

Anonymous--challenging my views is acceptable. Challenging my integrity, especially when you provide no supporting evidence, is despicable. You owe me an apology.

Most recent anonymous: leftie thought and beliefs *are* bad, at least they are on this blog. They don't promote the betterment of mankind in general or in particular. I expose how wrong they are so that others won't be seduced by their siren song. If you don't like that, if your views can't stand up to my simple scrutiny, perhaps you should have the integrity to question your views and values a bit instead of merely trying to get me to stop pointing out how wrong they are.

Anonymous said...

Here's a website that offers a less confusing spectrum and shows where different historical figures have placed on it. It made more sense to me at least. I'm at (-2,-3). (It's easier to tell where you are also.) I bet you'd be in quadrant 1.

Anonymous said...

I'm actually a conservative.

Darren said...

Abe, where is this web site of which you speak?

Darren said...

Abe, I once took a linear political test, one that ranked you on a scale of 0 to 40. Zero was a Jesse Jackson liberal, and 40 was a Ronald Reagan conservative. I believe 20, a centrist, was Jack Kemp. There were pictures, every 5 points, of politicians that represented that level of liberalism/conservatism.

I scored 25. I think the picture there was George Bush #41, but I could be mistaken. Maybe he was a score of 20, and Kemp was a 25. It was many moons ago. I just remember I got 25.

Just right of center :-)

Anonymous said...

I'm an idiot.
http://www.politicalcompass.org/
Too much on my mind.

Darren said...

Abe, on that one one was in the lower right quadrant:

The Political Compass
Economic Left/Right: 4.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.82

These appear to be 10-point scales each way; I'm 4.38 units right, and .82 units towards libertarian.

I'm in the same quadrant as Milton Friedman, so I have good company. Again, this is about where I expect to be--distance-wise, not too far from the center.

Anonymous said...

Darren, you leftie you. Let's just say we fall in two different places.

Ahem.

Darren said...

I've been called many things, but *usually* leftie isn't among them!

On Abe's quiz, I score near economist Milton Friedman. I'm very pleased with that result.

Anonymous said...

My score on Abe's quiz: (-5.25, -4,26)

I'm about half way between Nelson Mandela and The Dalai Lama. Hmm.

Eric W. said...

http://www.politicalcompass.org/printablegraph?ec=0.13&soc=-3.54

And you thought I was a flaming lib.

Darren said...

Depends on which Eric you are. But if I thought you were a flaming lib, then *that's what you are* =)

Eric W. said...

Eric Warburg.

I blame my sister.

Darren said...

I was right. You *are* a flaming lib. Believe *me*, not some internet quiz :-)

Eric W. said...

I'm a flaming libertarian, if anything.

Eric W. said...

I took the same test again, to track my progress.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/printablegraph?ec=4.38&soc=-2.21

We're economically the same, but I'l more libertarian than you.

Notice my giant swing to the right? Thanks.

Darren said...

I may tear up :-)

Eric W. said...

Funny what happens when you actually look at the issues and come to your own conclusions, instead of defaulting to what you've heard around the house most of your life.

From the exposure you've had to my family, you'd probably think we're all crazy leftists. That's just my dad and sister. My mom is right about with me, but she just doesn't say anything. Same with my brother.

Darren said...

I'm glad you had a mind open enough to challenge some of your long-held beliefs, and the courage to change even a few of them. I, too, have changed some of my beliefs over the years--in some areas, like the 2nd Amendment, I've grown more conservative, and in others, like the whole gay rights thing, I've moved more left. Some people think I'm rigid and/or dogmatic, but I'm quite sure I question and challenge my own beliefs far more than most do.

Eric W. said...

Of course - We all think we're the most enlightened people, because it all makes sense to us. It's everyone else that's crazy. : )