left-right politics
hey all. so me and one of my co-workers where talking about people being related on a left and right political spectrum. he believed that the majority of the people would make a bell curve form on the graph. i really dont know rather it would be a bell curve, a stright line or anyhing else. so i want anyone who is reading this to take this small question test so i can see this for myself.
there are 15 questions. answer each question with the numbers 1-5. 1 representing the farthest to the left, 3 being in the middle, and 5 being the farthest to the right. so a 2 is left/middle and a 4 is right/middle. so for example...
1. 3
2. 5
3. 1
4. 2
5. 4
6. 1
7. 5
8. 2
9. 1
10. 3
11. 2
12. 4
13. 4
14. 3
15. 5
get it? good. now you can write down your own opinion to a question if you want.
questions...
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1. Support for the economic interests of the less privileged classes as part of the left, or of the more privileged as part of the right.
2. Fair outcomes as part of the left, versus fair processes as part of the right. All classic liberalism is process-based, the free market and affermative action is one example.
3. Specifically, acceptance of the inequalities in wealth and income which result from the free market (right), or redistribution of wealth and income, normally through government intervention funded through taxation (left). Generally, the political debate is about the extent to which the government should (left) or should not (right) intervene in the economy in order to benefit the relatively poor.
4. In general, whether the government's policy on the economy should be interventionist (left) or laissez-faire (right).
5. Preference for a larger and more interventionist government (left) versus a smaller government (right). However, this formulation would be disputed by many who, noting the existence of the authoritarian right, would place the general dichotomy between government passivity and government authority along an entirely separate political axis perpendicular to the left-right one. Other possible reasons for the second axis for this dichotomy include the libertarian socialists, anarchists, or the old right. Large and small here refer to policies and attitudes, although the number of government employees is often used as an indicator.
6.Whether the state should prioritise equality (left) or liberty (right). Note, however, that both the left and the right tend to speak in favour of both equality and liberty - but they have different interpretations of each of the two terms. There have been many governments opposed to both liberty and equality, but which are nevertheless characterized as "left-wing" or "right-wing".
7. Whether human nature and society is malleable (left) or fixed (right), or whether human behavior is determined by nurture or nature. This was proposed by Thomas Sowell.
8. Whether human beings are naturally good and happy, and evil and suffering are the product of an "unfair" society (left), or human beings are naturally bad and unhappy, so evil and suffering are inescapable elements of the human condition (right).
9.Whether the government should promote secularism (left) or religion (right).
10. Collectivism (left) versus individualism (right). However, emphasis on personal freedom was one of the hallmarks of the 1960’s counterculture, which is often seen as ‘left’. In religious-secular conflicts, it is usually the secularists who emphasise individual liberty as against collective religious values ("our Christian heritage").
11. A preference for innovation and change (left) or a preference for conservatism and an insistence that innovations must be justified (right). Although in some countries 'right' and 'conservative' are used as synonyms, this aspect gets surprisingly little attention in discussion of the left-right axis. The American left writer Eric Hoffer was one of those who emphasised it.
12. Different ways of responding to conflict: conversation (left), negotiation (centre), and force (right). This formulation was proposed by the political philosopher Charles Blattberg. (Blattberg 2001, p.20 et.seq.)
13. Whether law creates and subordinates culture (left), or culture creates and subordinates law (right).
14. Support for national independence, autonomy and sovereignty, especially for smaller groups (left), as opposed to support for legitimate states and governments (right). The expression "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" illustrates the usual conflict of attitudes. However movements of the right usually support the sovereignty of their own state, and oppose its erosion. In Europe, support for the European Union came traditionally from the left, and defence of national sovereignty from the right. Euroscepticism is now so common, that it can no longer be identified with left or right.
15. Support for internationalism and cosmopolitan attitudes (left), as against "narrow" national interest (right). However, economic nationalism is found on left and right.
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i have had 3 people do this test so far. i will not give you their names but i will show you what people where placed in a graph in a week or two, depending on the number of results i get. just remember to answer TRUTHFULLY. who knows, maybe you will understand more about the sides after this test. if you want the results to not be seen by other people then you can email it to me at ren_dira@yahoo.com
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