There is a new story circulating today that a former assistant—Paul
Re: Armstrong doping question
Tue, 05 Apr 2005 19:38:20 +0100
"Just zis Guy, you know?" <u...@ftc.gov>

Up to a point, Lord Copper. I think you will find that those behind, for example, smirkingchimp.com are not in the least European. Opposition to Shrub is far from exclusive. You have the germ of a point about Europeans being liberals by the American definition, but only because the GOP has moved so far to the right that there is no place else to go other than to the left of it.

If you look at <politicalcompass.or> and compare the epicentre of the US polits <url:<f2s.com> with that of UK ones <url:<f2s.com> it looks to me as if the two are not as far apart as you make out. John Kerry is to the left of our supposedly left-wing Government. There was at least as much opposition here to our Government invading Iraq as there was to Shrub, probably more so since the consensus is that our Prime Minister is an intelligent and well-informed man who should know better.—Just

From the European view that’s probably true. It’s most certainly not from this side of the great waters.—Stephen

Maybe. As far as I can tell the current crop of economic right politicians in the US (and over here) are so close to the edge of the scale that they’ll soon be needing to add some extensions to it.

I find it interesting that the "left-wing liberal" John Kerry is actually solidly in the right-wing authoritarian quadrant of the political compass.—Just

Heh. And from Hawaii, I guess California looks eastern. ;-)

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles <habcycles.c> Home of the $695 ti frame—Mark

I think this is the link Guy is talking about. <politicalcompass.or>

Yes, at first this seems odd, but the more you listened to him the more authoritarian Kerry sounded. He wants it all does his way (and everybody who didn’t was stupid); his way was just different that Bush’s way (and, for some Bushites, everybody who didn’t was immoral). Of course, for real authoritarianism you can’t do better than Hitler, Stalin, Arafat, and the like and neither Kerry nor Bush was out there.

In terms of right versus left -- well, you have to see who’s out there on the left. You also have to bear in mind that Kerry was a rich man (and married to a rich woman). This is also true of a number of "liberal" Democrats (the Kennedys being one example). Nothing rich politicians do is really designed to impoverish themselves.

You should try the test, Mark. It’s good for a few minutes thoughtful amusement. Just for grins, I’m at about -4, -4 (which will only make sense after you take the test yourself).—Mike

Neil made me take the test as a condition of continuing to ride with me. I came out something like -4.5, -2.5 (close enough for Usenet?)...

Left-handed Moderate Willy—Bill

Heh... with me at -2.5, -1.08 I have to wonder what a REAL liberal scores?

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles <habcycles.c> Home of the $695 ti frame—Mark

I scored: Economic Left/Right: -5.38 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.56

Do I qualify?—Dane

 
 

Interesting link... FWIW, my results are:

  Economic Left/Right: -2.50  Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.08

Which makes me a left-leaning libertarian (though closer to the middle of the graph than any other example they give). FWIW, I almost always score in the middle of any social or psychological testing, usually making it impossible to cleanly lump me into any broad category.

Of course, I’m sure that there are those who’d suggest I belong in the far upper-right hand corner, but that’s just because from down there in the lower left it’s hard to judge perspective. ;-)

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles <habcycles.c> Home of the $695 ti frame—Mark

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Well, I scored a -7.00 / -6.97. But I figure people are bigger than their politics, so I’m not gonna make any presumptions about you, if you’ll do the same for me.

cheers, Tom—Tom

What, you don’t want us to talk about you really being the Dalai Lama? ;-)

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles <habcycles.c> Home of the $695 ti frame—Mark

Yikes, what a scary thought. That would entail vegetarianism and celibacy. I wouldn’t mind being the Deli Lama, if that would include free growlies.

cheers, Tom—Tom

 
 
 
 

Again, an absolute definition of "intelligence" based on political perspective.

Speaking very broadly, Conservatives trash you by saying your position is "immoral", Liberals trash you by saying your position is "ignorant".—Stephen

That’s the social authoritarian / libertarian axis more than the economic left/right axis of course. But once again, the "liberals" in US and European politics are still largely in the right/authoritarian quadrant.—Just