Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Hello all,

Just curious how people identify/affiliate politically here. I hope this is a somewhat inclusive list (admittedly, it is US centric in terms of parties), I just popped it off the top of my head. If I missed your affiliation/identity, you identify with multiple options, or you feel a more nuanced term is required, please elaborate in the comments  :)

I don't think that American political divisions are even remotely what they are - or mean - in the rest of the world.  Liberal here means 'center-right' just about everywhere else, and Left means, kinda Liberal, and everything else is skewed in that way.

You're right there Tekla.
Get two Aussies to form a political party and before you know it there will be a three-way split!

In Australia the main moderate Right of Centre party is the Liberal Party.  ???
The National Party are a rural party that are more to the right on most issues, unless it involves the Gov't helping the farmers.   ??? ???
The Labor Party are the main Left party, but are really a coalition of factions ranging from the centre to the extreme left.  The current Prime Minister Julia Gillard is a member of the Right, but not to be confused with the New South Wales Right faction. ??? ??? ???
Personally I normally vote Liberal, but voted for the Sex Party in the last State election as I like their libertarian policies on a lot of issues. I also happen to know the local  who stood,( personally and Biblically. ::)   How many people can say that about a candidate!)
Karen.

I also happen to know the local  who stood,( personally and Biblically.    How many people can say that about a candidate!)

Hey we had John Fitzgerald Kennedy and William Jefferson Clinton as Presidents, so between the two of them the answer is: a lot!

Forgot about them.  Gives the nickname "Slick Willy" a whole new meaning!!

Has anyone registered the name "Liberal Party" in the US?  It would be fun to see what happened with the commentators and others, if someone took the lead from here, for a Conservative party!

But old Bill (two terms) Clinton is a good example, over here people talk about him (and Hilary, before these people started hating on Barrack, they sharpened their teeth on Hilary) you'd think they were just about the TWO MOST LIBERAL PEOPLE EVER!  And they are not.  They are centrists, left leaning (perhaps, and even not leaning but more like 'nearly verging'...) but Centrists first, last and always.  No other nation in the world would have them as 'raging leftists' as Rush or Beck paints them, or as the Tea Party would have them "Marxists" (they are really that nuts).

From what I read a while ago they made money in some dubious land deals at one stage.
Doesn't sound like the sort of thing a Commo would do.

More like a certain former National Party Minister for Roads in Queensland though! Our Deep North is a bit like your Deep South, must be the similar climate.

The very fabric of American Society, Culture and Economics is but a tapestry woven of the threads of dubious land deals.  Yeesh.  It's our national pastime.  Of course, the irony of it (irony being the fabric of American Politics) is that the people who hated on the Clinton's for that land deal are now promoting and supporting the Exalted Viceroy, Grand Poobah and Lord High Executioner of Dubious Land Deals, The Donald Trump.

I had to check OTHER since you could only select one option.  I am somewhat liberal when it comes to social issues (more moderate than liberal) but very conservative when it comes to government economic policies. 

I like my civil judges to be moderate but I like my criminal judges conservative at the trial level but more moderate-conservative at the appellate levels.  I get to make SOME choices there since in this State, they still insist on judges being elected in partisan elections instead of removing party affiliations. 

Since we do not have to register with a particular party, I am apt to vote for either of the two major parties during the primary elections...much depends on local races and who is on the ballot.  Local elections are more apt to impact my day to day life, so I want to ensure qualified candidates appear on the final ballot.  I have also been known to vote against people for the same reasons...

All in all...I am a politician's worst nightmare- a voter who actually looks at issues and how the particular candidate stands on them (and whether they are willing to take a stand against planks on a Party platform that are contrary to their constituency). 

I got my start in politics when I campaigned for John Anderson back in 1980...he did FAR better in the precinct where I stood outside of than he did in many other precincts in and around the Houston area (not to mention Texas as a collective whole). 

I've taken an online quiz a few years ago -- the Political Compass:
http://www.politicalcompass.org/ (http://www.politicalcompass.org/)


My result put me in the left libertarian quadrant, around the vicinity of Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama.
http://www.politicalcompass.org/facebook/pcgraphpng.php?ec=-5.12&soc=-3.13 (http://www.politicalcompass.org/facebook/pcgraphpng.php?ec=-5.12&soc=-3.13)

Economic: -5.12
Social: -3.13

Quote from: Arctic Kat on May 03, 2011, 05:43:09 PM
I've taken an online quiz a few years ago -- the Political Compass:
http://www.politicalcompass.org/ (http://www.politicalcompass.org/)


My result put me in the left libertarian quadrant, around the vicinity of Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama.
http://www.politicalcompass.org/facebook/pcgraphpng.php?ec=-5.12&soc=-3.13 (http://www.politicalcompass.org/facebook/pcgraphpng.php?ec=-5.12&soc=-3.13)

my results
     economic: 7.62
     social: -8.36

http://www.politicalcompass.org/printablegraph?ec=7.62&soc=-8.26 (http://www.politicalcompass.org/printablegraph?ec=7.62&soc=-8.26)

If people put their scores up, I'll make it a group chart

My results surprised me a little.  Econonomic -0.62
                                                    Social          -4.2

I guess my Conservatism is more in the Menzies mould than that of Bush.  The fact that historically  the Government sometimes has had to do the heavy lifting due to the overall social and economic environment may have something to do with it. Both sides of politics are more comfortable with Government intervention then somewhere like the US.

Karen.

Divide and conquer, it seems to be working pretty good (for them).

It's complicated as I don't consider myself any one thing beyond "not Conservative." The ultimate goal for me is anarchism, however, I see it as a completely unrealistic goal for my lifetime or perhaps even the next. As such, I see socialism and communism in a similar way as Marx viewed socialism (a stepping stone toward communism). There is equally as much work in achieving either of those, though socialism not as much. As far as my affiliations with political parties, I'm primarily a supporter of the Liberal Party of Canada since I view them as the best balance between social and economic. They keep Canada out of debt and well off while largely working for better public health care, equal rights, education and so on. All of these things are necessary if society is to be rid of or at least minimize the social issues (crime, poverty etc.) that allow the Conservatives to keep coming back with idiotic policies that in fact only make the problem worse. In other words, I think the Liberal party is the only party at this point (though in cooperation with the rest of the centre/left) that can create a socially progressive enough Canada to take the necessary steps forward to something better.

I view the NDP as classic opportunists without the spine to put any of their social policies into place, or to keep the current Conservatives in check as was made evident when the NDP supported blocking the release of the G-8 summit report, or when Layton made his little Bank of Canada blunder.

I like the Green party, but at present there's little chance of them gaining power. Wouldn't mind a Liberal minority with a Green opposition.

I'm a socially-libertarian social democrat.

I'm not sure which pigeon hole I should be put, but I'm pretty liberal by any standard.

My score on that test was economic: -8.00 and social: -8.15

I said moderate, but that might be the Englishness kicking in.

Quote from: Sarah7 on May 05, 2011, 01:46:55 PM
Isn't the socially-libertarian implied? I've never met a socially-conservative social democrat. That would be the upper left red corner on the compass - space mostly inhabited by communists and nationalists. Isn't there another name for a moderate leftist authoritarian? I'd rather not feel I have to double the length of my political label.

I use the qualifier to describe where I fall within the space of social democrats. Most are relatively moderate, especially on issues of criminal justice, children's rights, prisoners' rights, and the like; I'm not.

Socialism is the closest I've found to describing my political views. On the test I scored:
Economic Left/Right: -7.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.36

The most significant dilemma I have politically is the balance of individual freedoms and government regulation. For example, I understand the issue people have with particularly invasive government surveillance, and normally I'd say it should be kept to a minimum... but CCTV is an important tool, and I (reluctantly) support its use. It puts me in an interesting position in many things regarding Libertarian/Authoritarian views...

I didn't see my option listed.

I believe in Monarchy.

No corupt elections or politicians. Just one corupt family in charge of everything. From my casual study of history it seems heriditary monarchys produce more enlightened rullers than more democratic forms of government.

I selected liberal, but I tend to stay out of political discussions.  They always ended up being arguments. >:-)

I am a far left, either socialist or communist really. I was a member of the CPUSA (communist) but, I haven't paid dues in a long time, mainly due to how ineffective they are, though most of their platform is still nice it is mostly a democratic socialist platform with a few references to communist thinkers to justify it. I don't see this as a horrible thing per se, especially since their logic is that society has to transition to socialism before your can get to a totally classless (communist) society.

Basically I became interested after the 28th national convention (2005 IIRC) affirmed their stance on LGBT rights, and became a bit apathetic when I realized no matter how good the platform is, in the US at the very least, even mentioning the word communist provokes a knee-jerk reaction that makes no sense to me, as lots of these same people who freak out at the word agree with the points on the platform.

Nowadays I basically just vote for the lesser evil. Whoever is more into LGBT and labor rights, which basically means 99.9% of the time a Democrat who I don't like too much either.

I think Monarchist was misspelled  'mInarchist',  Cynthialee.   You'd be happy with our system.

In Australia we have a Constitutional monarchy, similar to Canada, so the Prime Minister can be grilled in Parliament to keep the Govt under control, while the Queen, who is overseas, stays above politics.  It works for us, and you get the Royal visits to liven things up every so often too. Keeps the magazines in stories too!

Karen.

Actually I was thinking more of a complete and tottal dictatorship like the Czars and pre magna carta England.
Granted when you get an evil leader things go to pot at the drop of a hat but at least there is a chance that the next leader will be decent.
Now it doesn't matter. Democracy breeds the worst form of partisan politics. No one can get a damn thing acomplished in anything that can be considered a reasonable amount of time.

Graft and coruption are bad in a democracy, every little regional boss thinks he is a king. Now granted monarchy also has it's graft and corruption also. But it tends to stay at a lower level. One dare not attempt to amass too much power and wealth in such a system. Then you start becoming compitition which no king or emperor can stand to ignore.

Socialist

Quote from: tekla on May 03, 2011, 09:01:41 AM
The very fabric of American Society, Culture and Economics is but a tapestry woven of the threads of dubious land deals.  Yeesh.  It's our national pastime.  Of course, the irony of it (irony being the fabric of American Politics) is that the people who hated on the Clinton's for that land deal are now promoting and supporting the Exalted Viceroy, Grand Poobah and Lord High Executioner of Dubious Land Deals, The Donald Trump.

Until 1945 most of the modern war fought by USA by the "War Department" where wars that could be disguised of or that were truly wars of defense -most notably WWII.
The we change the "War Department" for the "Deparment of Defense" and spend the next 66 years on offensive wars. We should call DOD the "Department of Offense" LOL

Until 1945 most of the modern war fought by USA by the "War Department" where wars that could be disguised of or that were truly wars of defense -most notably WWII.

More like from 1812 to 1941 the US did not fight a single war that was about 'defense', and we haven't since then either.

liberal and my attitude to republicans is that I can't think anything else than 4 letter words

Libertarian in theory. When I break away from libertarian candidates, it is usually to support a democrat because the republican thinks that their religion should be law.  Other than social issues, both parties are pretty close to the same, they work for corporations, not us. I will probably vote democrat in the next presidential election due to the Supreme Court implications.

If I was old enough at the time, I would have voted for Ike to be President.

After the republican national convention in 1992, where Phil Graham said that about America, a Christian society must follow Christ as a lamb. However, He wants America to be the lion. I guess nothing wrong about betraying ones's religion. No Republican ever protested this.
Plus I don't like them for a lot of other reasons.
One can change ones religion

By the way I'm a Deist who believes in the creator.
Also a Liberal Democrat.

I lean so far to the left, it is as if my left leg has been blown off.