Political philosophy options

[Arkansota]

I am not liberal. I am not conservative. I am libertarian. Instead of a drop down menu for political views, why not have a text input box?

[dfiant1]

The same should go for Religion and sexuality...there are so many ways people define those as well and I am all for individual expression, boxes are for packing furniture.

[VileKyle]

Libertarianism = moderate. Done.

You're thinking too much in terms of American Democrats and Republicans. Just because you don't fall into either party (I don't either) doesn't mean you don't fall into the sliding scale of liberal to conservative. That's all that really means.

[Miles]

Lolcategories

[Pix]

I don't see why that's a problem. You can just click on you keep up with the issues and vote (or don't vote, whichever is more accurate). They also have Left/Right and Far Left/Far Right, should you prefer that. Labels aren't very descriptive anyway.

For example, some libertarians worship big business and believe a "rising tide lifts all ships" and have a very Ayn Rand view of the world. Other libertarians want to abolish the fed and distrust big business & banks as much as big government as they see they're in bed with each other (and taking turns screwing the rest of us). Some libertarians are very conservative and believe giving gays equality would "destroy society" and define our equality under law as forcing ourselves on them (though I think they're thankfully rare) while others are practically hippies.

And different libertarians tend to have different pet issues so some will never shut up about guns (and support a politician like Bob Barr for being such a champion of the 2A while ignoring how he countered the free market "selling marriages in Hawaii" by writing up the Defense of Marriage Act, and how can you be less libertarian than to counter the free market with legislation like that?). One libertarian (Steve Kubby) is fairly moderate on most things but believes psychedelic shrooms are holy that can let us know about God (believes manna from Heaven was shrooms) and even claimed it cured his cancer...I'm pretty sure the libertarians that worship Ayn Rand (and wealth) can't stand the hippie.

Same for liberals and conservatives, btw. Some liberals are really into national defense (even support its use to spread liberal values into conservative societies), fully support the 2A (not NRA level support, but overall they do), oppose the legalization (or even decriminalizing) any drugs, and may want to come down on illegal immigration harder (as they think illegals should fix the problems in their own countries than coming here to undermine our unions). Some conservatives are atheists, can oppose the 2A, can support decriminalization of drugs and gay equality (not necessarily because they endorse these things personally but because they believe the government has no business regulating them), support wind & solar over gas (to be less dependent on foreign powers), and favor environmental protections (for many reasons, from good hunting and conservation to protection of property, that is if you trash it then you should be made to pay for it just like any vandal).

That's also true of other labels as well. Some feminists wage a crusade on porn while others use and defend porn, some feminists want to ban guns as phallic and tools of male violence while others embrace guns as a means to counter male violence against women (including the liberal feminist college at Mount Holyoke that opened the first student chapter of the Second Amendment Sisters).

And so on. When someone identifies themselves as anything political I'm wondering, "What flavor?" Because just a simple label like "liberal" or "libertarian" really doesn't tell me a lot...there are ways to bet of course, but it's not anywhere close to universally true, and strangely even the oddest exceptions often think they're aligned with everyone else who claims the same label.

[Arkansota]

The binary scale doesn't accurately describe political philosophy. A 4 quadrant graph works better.

On the political binary, libertarians are an X. We are not left or right or center.

[megumidesu]

cool
a 3 dimensional Kinsey scale graph thingy

if you replace the word "homosexual" with "naked" then that graph still makes sense

[cardiganwearer]

There's a test here that will tell you roughly where you stand. Don't embark if you don't have at least 20 minutes to spare, there are lots of questions.

[MisterTinkles]

I never have to worry about it.

I always vote for Miss Piggy.
She's the only viable candidate for any government.


Seriously.

[Genersis]

There are so many political labels, it seems either a rudimentary overall left to right, or a slightly more expansive economic left to right, and social left to right terms would be most practical for drop-down menus.
Either that or have it as a field to fill in.