Political Compass

I thought I would have a go at my political compass again last night as it is some time since I tested myself. For those who don't know about this organisation:

The old one-dimensional categories of 'right' and 'left', established for the seating arrangement of the French National Assembly of 1789, are overly simplistic for today's complex political landscape.

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On the standard left-right scale, how do you distinguish leftists like Stalin and Gandhi? It's not sufficient to say that Stalin was simply more left than Gandhi. There are fundamental political differences between them that the old categories on their own can't explain. Similarly, we generally describe social reactionaries as 'right-wingers', yet that leaves left-wing reactionaries like Robert Mugabe and Pol Pot off the hook

So they have developed this template to describe the mix of left/right/authoritarian/libertarian:


I was very pleased to see my own score moving more libertarian and slightly more right wing economically:



But why the shift, its only about 2 years since I last took the test? Could be to do with mood at the time of taking the test, I was a bit mellow last night so maybe a bit more tolerant or maybe you just get more tolerant with age?

The age reasoning doesn't appear to work with political parties though as this diagram shows:


The steady march to the economic right is something to celebrate as it shows that, at last, politicians accept that free markets are the way to increasing wealth and hence those beloved social services. What is more worrying is that since 1972 all 3 main parties have become increasingly authoritarian.

I wonder what Labour supporters make of the analysis that shows NuLab of 2006 being more authoritarian (fascist) than Maggie? More worryingly they seem to be continuing the trend in 2007 by proposing to increase the time terrorist suspects can be held without charge and the implementation of ID cards.

Interestingly the Lib Dems of 2006 have moved to the economic right of the Tories of 1972 (mind you Heath and his Government were totally inept no matter what the political compass), which is about where they were at the same time and even in 1982. Indeed the wandering graph for the Lib Dems shows the internal debate they keep having.

Maybe the increased authoritarianism of our mainstream parties shows that there is a gap for a libertarian party? What is does show is that Thomas Paine was correct:

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." -- Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

And lets not forget Edmund Burke:

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

This is an excellent site and worth 30 minutes of everyone time, even if you don't take the test, and I strongly recommend the FAQ's.