Reply #12: I recognize that [View All]

[Warren DeMontague]

There needs to be compromise to make progress, but this is reflective of electoral reality and the political landscape of the US. I've had countless arguments with various Nader-supporting friends of mine (there are fewer, this time, than there were 4 years ago, but I've still got a few) saying, essentially, that "even if I did agree with Ralph Nader on 100% of the issues, which I don't, I still wouldn't vote for him- because in a nation where someone corporate and business-friendly like Al Gore (the 2000, not the 2004 model) is considered a raving communist by the FOX News, Freeper contingent, Ralph Nader can't win." I mean, you have millions of republicans who, given their druthers, would much rather have someone like Pat Robertson or Fred Phelps in the White House. Unfortunately for them, Bush isn't going to start burning gays and fornicators and unbelievers at the stake, at least not until next year. But they compromise and recognize that they must coalesce around their man- even though it's not that hard, since his "compassionate conservatism" has proven to be somewhere between Mussolini and Attila the Hun...

Anyway, this poll does kind of suck. I consider myself a left-libertarian. I also don't think that being pro-choice is anything resembling a "hard left" position.. the majority of Americans, including about half the republican party, by some estimates, support a woman's right to choose. It's pretty friggin' moderate.
I support a single payer health care system, and Bush's corporate shennanigans, along with Enron's, have pushed me much farther to the left on socio-economic issues than I ever was during the Clinton Years. I lean hard libertarian on personal (not corporate) freedom issues, at least ones that don't involve communal responsibilty. For instance, I think the drug war is a tragedy and a sham, and I am continually disappointed (although I do understand why it happens) by the Democratic Party's constantly being sucked into "tough on crime" mandatory minimum, prison-industrial financing one-upmanship.

A far better measure of one's political placement on the grid, for my money, can be found here:

The Political Compass

For the record, these were my results:

Economic Left/Right: -4.38 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.97

edit:basic punctuation