8/16/07

How Does Your Candidate Measure Up?

Many of us are familiar with the Political Compass. Some at MLN even had their compass score in their signatures for a while, and even took the time to chart some of their own personal scores in March. But do you know where the 2008 Presidential Candidates sit on this political chart?

You should:

My kingdom for a real progressive candidate!

Perhaps you've heard of the Political Compass website, where you can take a test that places you on a grid based on the degree to which you are "left" or "right" on the economic scale as well as how socially libertarian or authoritarian you are.

I'm damn near as moonbatty as it gets: -6.50, -6.67, which puts me in, for lack of a better term, the "deep Southwest" of the grid.

Anyway, thanks to a recent article on London's TimesOnline, we can see how the 2008 U.S. presidential candidates fit on the grid.



This should worry those on the left, and I know that many at MLN scored even further left than I did (I am a Liberal, but I am a moderate Liberal), as they watch the next candidate chosen for the Democratic party who is nothing less than a conservative. That is, if they chose anyone other than Kucinich or Gravel. And right now they aren't even counted in the top 3 contenders.

This is where the Democratic party is failing miserably. They are not really providing any different ideology than the GOP, just a moderate version of it, if they choose any of those conservative candidates on that chart.

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden... They are all conservatives, as moderate as some of them may be, they are conservatives nonetheless.

4 comments:

Nelson said...

That's why I flirted with Gravel and now am marrying Kucinich.

Connecticut Man1 said...

I just want people to think about who they throw their support at. After the elections they ought not to be complaining that the Dems are still too far right wing if they support any of those more conservative candidates.

sptmck said...

It's amazing how much the political center in this country has moved and continues to move rightward. I wonder where Feingold, had he entered the race, would end up on this plot.

Connecticut Man1 said...

"It's amazing how much the political center in this country has moved and continues to move rightward."

It isn't the political center in the country that is moving rightward. It is really only the political center of the politicians sent to Washington. The corporations do their best to ensure that our only choice is to chose between conservatives and right wing whackos.

I am taking a guess but Feingold would probably end up very close to Edwards, maybe slightly closer to the center.