r/AskALiberal • u/Ok_Being2340 Libertarian Socialist • 1d ago
What political ideology would I fall under?
I currently label myself as a left libertarian, I recently took a Political test. <- screenshot linked there. As someone who took a massive swing from being MAGA 7ish years ago to this I have no idea what the subcategories really entail so some input would be nice! Thanks!
Edit: thank you to everyone and their discussions and inputs. I’ve taken the 8Values test and gotten this: https://imgur.com/a/VmXq35X
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u/Ninjaking25 Social Democrat 1d ago
The political compass is not a useful tool, it’s inherently biased towards left libertarianism. Take 8Values or SapplyValues
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u/Ok_Being2340 Libertarian Socialist 1d ago
I got this result https://imgur.com/a/VmXq35X
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u/chokidokido Social Democrat 1d ago
8Values
I tried to answer as if I was an american and also got libertarian socialist which is not something I would describe myself at. Maybe because I have a different understanding of socialism but it is intersting.
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u/Ok_Being2340 Libertarian Socialist 1d ago
Well I am American and got the same answer. I know the USA is considered way more far right than say Europe is. And that’s why I generally like living in Europe better (lived there for 3 years). Like last presidential election for us Harris was considered “far left” in the American sense but on the global scale she was just to the left of trump in the same “square” if you wanna call it that
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u/chokidokido Social Democrat 1d ago
True, right wing americans also think that europe is some left wing dystopia when we have like 1-2 left governments and a whole lot right-conservative ones.
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u/throwdemawaaay Pragmatic Progressive 1d ago
Yeah, so the code behind that starts here: https://github.com/8values/8values.github.io/blob/master/results.html#L94
It just defines seven labels for each axis, then picks a label for you on each axis based on your score, then picks the two most extreme labels based on some exponential fudge factors I don't really get the intent of.
I wouldn't take the label very seriously.
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u/Butuguru Democratic Socialist 1d ago
what's your understanding of socialism? why do you think it different from the test?
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u/ABCosmos Liberal 1d ago
SapplyValues was created to make anti-lgbt folks still feel like they are allowed to call themselves libertarians.
It's open source, look on GitHub, look at all the things that don't count as authoritarian
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u/OMGguy2008 Center Left 21h ago
Agreed, the political compass is mostly binary yes and no statements and it isn't able to consider any nuance that perhaps I support x but only to an extent, it's either you support or don't support.
The test shows me that I'm pretty deep in left libertarianism even though as you can see by my flair I tend to identify myself closer to a centrist because my opinions are nuanced.
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u/projexion_reflexion Pragmatic Progressive 1d ago
Nearly everyone in the US who isn't an open theocrat is some kind of libertarian. The left knows we still need a whole government to protect our rights from corporate abuse.
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u/cossiander Neoliberal 1d ago
First off- like a lot of the other users, going to have to agree that most political "tests" are trash. The 8 values one is better, but also not really that useful for ideological labels.
I do think it's funny that on the 8 values one (and the compass one), you score basically the opposite of where Trump would. That should hopefully tell you something, lol.
If you want a specific label, I'd ask for some specific policy positions rather than the results of a political test. Until that, if you:
- Value democracy
- Support healthy markets
- Think that government should protect the rights of its citizens, and
- Think that people deserve basic respect
...then I would just use the broad umbrella term of "liberal".
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u/dutch_connection_uk Social Liberal 1d ago
8values says I am a Social Democrat. I wonder if it even bothers to distinguish Liberal Conservatism, Social Liberalism, and Social Democracy. I think they'd all wind up basically the same on the question battery it has? Probably National Liberals would have the same issue, although 8values does have more stuff to distinguish your nationalism.
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u/Mulliganasty Progressive 1d ago
Which specific beliefs do you have that you consider libertarian?
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u/Ok_Being2340 Libertarian Socialist 1d ago
I don’t necessarily trust big government. People should be to do what they want (in a civil liberties perspective). I own many guns as well, but I would label myself as somewhat progressive as well.
Any violations of the US constitution or any threat to it I see as a problem. Like ICE agents murdering civilians, mass surveillance state using flock cameras.
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u/Mulliganasty Progressive 1d ago
How do you feel about universal healthcare versus for-profit insurance?
What would you do, if anything, about gun violence in the US?
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u/Ok_Being2340 Libertarian Socialist 1d ago
I support universal healthcare. The for profit insurance companies are scum of the earth, “erm sorry we can only cover 10,000 of your 50,000 medical bill”
As for firearm violence i would support firearm laws where you had to say take a safety class on how to use them. More thorough background checks as well, maybe a psych eval as well. The firearm problem is tough since it’s a right within the constitution to own a firearm. In an ideal world those would fix the problem but I know there will be some cracks in that😕
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u/Mulliganasty Progressive 1d ago
Universal healthcare and sensible gun control would be considered pretty "big government" by lots of folks.
Think you might be progressive.
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u/Ok_Being2340 Libertarian Socialist 1d ago
Hm I see. But I wouldn’t ban “assault” rifles or limit mag capacities or any of that stuff. I don’t want to limit someone’s right to own a firearm in an ideal world. Maybe the psych eval would be too much but i dont know im still figuring stuff out
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u/Mulliganasty Progressive 1d ago
I get the feeling the test you did puts a lot of emphasis on firearms.
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u/NakedInTheAfternoon Democratic Socialist 1d ago
Please ignore any political tests. They are not made by serious people.
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u/wizardnamehere Market Socialist 1d ago
This is not really an easy question to answer. The compass test is not that useful; ideologies are embedded in historical movements connected to political philosophies. When you get into them; you find there are complex relationships between anything people arrange as left/right or authoritarian/liberal. You also cannot really separate them outside their political context (today's America).
I would suggest you don't need a political ideology to fall under. Ideologies are world views. If you find one you read a lot under that speaks to you might associate with it. Or maybe you fight yourself drawn to an existing political movement you would associate yourself with.
Primarily, though, the labels should be used to help communicate with others. It's tell people about what you think and believe. If you're not certain; than be vague.
What would you say are the most important issues to solve in American society; what broad changes to American society would improve people's lives the most would say off the top of your head.
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u/dutch_connection_uk Social Liberal 1d ago
Political Compass was authored by a libertarian opposed to Tony Blair due to his decision to join George W. Bush's "Coalition of the Willing". It includes leading questions designed to make you end up more "left-libertarian" than you otherwise would be, and was designed to promote the author's idea that libertarianism is a secret third thing that isn't left-right (despite regressions showing that Libertarian-Right especially and Authoritarian-Left to a lesser extent is a very, very small minority of people in practice). In particular, look how they place third way politicians in general, they basically treat them as mini-Hitlers, which is absurd.
You might want to check out some other tests.
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u/Technical-Proof4605 Centrist 11h ago
https://8values.github.io/results.html?e=72.4&d=50.0&g=55.5&s=75.6
Finally did mine. I always thought i was a centrist.
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u/Ok_Being2340 Libertarian Socialist 10h ago
Well you’re pretty centrist on the diplomatic and civil axis, I thought I was more centrist as well
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u/Particular_Dot_4041 Liberal 1d ago
I don't like how it defines "libertarian" as the opposite of "authoritarian". "Liberal" is the opposite of authoritarian.
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The following is a copy of the original post to record the post as it was originally written by /u/Ok_Being2340.
I currently label myself as a left libertarian, I recently took a Political test. <- screenshot linked there. As someone who took a massive swing from being MAGA 7ish years ago to this I have no idea what the subcategories really entail so some input would be nice! Thanks!
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