Left? Right? Where do I fit?
I’ve been labeled a lot of things in my life, tree-hugger, know-it-all, imposing, but the one thing I’ve never been called is “Right wing”. In fact, I’ve often been VERY critical of so called “right-wing” thinking. However, I’ve only really been referred to as “left-wing” by one person, in a response to my previous post on Poppy Irony, (actually he called me an anti-intellectual leftard, to be more precise.) It got me to thinking… where do I actually fit on the traditional Left/Right political spectrum.
For this experiment I decided to list my thoughts on various issues and see whether they were Left or Right.
- Pro Social Safety Net: Left
- Think Social Safety Net should be the last option: Right
- Pro Gun Control: Left
- Think gun crimes should carry very stiff criminal sentences: Right
- Big Business can’t be trusted to do the right thing for Society as a whole: Left
- Government can’t be trusted to do the right thing for Society as a whole: Right (but at least I get a say in who the government is!)
- Believe in the Canadian Mosaic schema of multiculturalism: Left
- Think that schools still have the right to have Christmas Assemblies that actually mention Christ: Right
- The environment matters and should be a key factor in all public policy decisions: Left (apparently)
- The economy matters and should be a key factor in all public policy decisions: Right
- That Stephane Dion may not be well suited to be PM: Right
- That Stephen Harper is definitely NOT well suited to be PM: Left
- That Jack Layton should never be PM: Normal
Basically I find myself pretty much in the centre of the political spectrum, although I suspect that my “progressive” feelings on social issues would take me over to the Left in the eyes of today’s Republican/Conservatives. (Gay marriage, fine; Legalise marijuana, good idea; Promote bilingualism, bien sûr)
I think that this blending of perspectives within myself is what led me to the Green Party in the first place. A party that looks at all ideas objectively and promotes the ones that fit with its fundamental ideologies. Good ideas are good ideas, no matter who first proposed them. Quite a break from the political system we currently have I think.
For fun I took the Political Compass quiz to see where I fit on it’s spectrum. Apparently I am a bit to the left, but comfortably near Gandhi. I can live with that.
Indeed, a choice between Ghandi, Hitler and Stalin, doesn’t seem to be that hard a choice. I love that Thatcher is more right wing than Hitler.
Just let me know when the salt march is…
December 5th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Actually, re-reading the Poppy comment, he didn’t call you a leftard, he called you an anti-intellectual commie. He called your reasoning skills leftard, which is actually a pretty creative word.
December 5th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Ah, yes. Another first for me, being called a commie!. I assume that leftard is an amalgam of “left” and “retard”, creative maybe, but the product of a very small mind.
December 5th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
This left/right test thing is quite whaco, my views are so all over the place I get called loonie or radical from all political spectrums and yet I scored nearly dead centre, just marginaly libertarian left, not really where I figured I’d fit.
That is very depressing, no one famous is ever a centerist. You gotta be wild and radical to be remembered
December 7th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
thru your own considerations, I agree with the fact that individuals have to all take extra care and attention of ourself.
March 24th, 2010 at 2:35 am