Your political beliefs

I hope we can return to that.

Specifically, in Drivers Report, Real World Fusion Hybrid mpg CleanBlog was trolling that everyone here was left-wing and for Obama (post 12)

...lamebums had same drivel while he was around here - including his attempt to post Glen Beck's YouTube of the Obama anthem.

Occasionally, we also get firebombs from the left.

 

Hmmm.... you seem unaware that "libertarians" are not generally anarchists. Perhaps you've spent too much time listening to the dominant voices on televised political shouting matches. (N.B. Neither major party is fond of those who choose their political views "a la carte" and they choose to foster this misconception)

 

That's pretty insulting and not even close to being accurate.

 

Can we avoid the attacks please?

 

Sorry, my mistake. I'll delete the not so favorable reference.
Charlie

 

Thank you

 

I'm the same way. Heck, one of my room mates is a far left libertarian.

 

I need examples and definitions of each to decide. I have never fell into a perfect category and if I liked/disliked something I eventually changed my mind over the years. Few things stay the same, I evolve or devolve as time ticks away. - Dale

 

A political poll is not going to be exact, but if you feel like post here.

We have had a few hotheads that screamed everybody at CleanMPG is a socialist or Marxist and this poll as expected, portrays them as a 6yr brat on the school playground - all banter - no intellect....see #41 for more.

 

In the interest of getting the thread back on track....


Politically, the population here clearly isn't left-wing, at least not in terms of economic views. There's definitely a healthy mix there. There are people who are in favor of more government intervention in the economy, but there are plenty who are skeptical of or opposed to that as well. I was surprised that 'libertarian' is getting a plurality of the votes, but in retrospect, I shouldn't have been. There are quite a few people here, I think, who have a sort of rugged individualist take on life - husband your money and resources, do the work yourself when you can, plan for the long term, etc.

(I will grant that there may be a tendency of more frequent posters to hold leftist economic views.)

There is definitely a population that is motivated exclusively by environmental issues here, but I daresay those are a minority. I think a majority of people are motivated in part (but not exclusively) by a green impulse, and perhaps that sets off the far right, who (in my view, wrongly,) view all greens as, pardon the term, 'watermelons'--green on the outside, but red on the inside, and using green issues as cover to implement a socialist agenda.

 

Sort of the related to the occasional dittohead that spews the nonsense: "everyone that disagrees with me is a socialist" is what I call a disorder I can't find a good name for. Best I can come up with is the Holodeck Room in Star Trek: The Next Generation when someone defines the situation:

• Frustrated dittohead to holodeck: "Everybody at CleanMPG is a Marxist!" All members now have uniforms with red stars and the works of Marx, Engel, Lenin, Mao.
• Former boss from 15 yrs ago when a project just passed initial testing: "It's DONE! Put it in Production"....ignores my pleas it needs serious testing Magically, 29 bugs disapear upon my supervisor's declaration. (P.S. He got early retirement - guess why? )
• From a greenwashing forum from members getting maybe 15 mpg: "I DON'T CARE IF IT'S $10 A GALLON!!!!" Said member continue to tools around in his Suburban getting a 15% raise for the year in a community with virtually no unemployment in denial about the recession - because he says so...
• Dust to Dust is FACT because it's repeated more and screamed louder.
• "Hypermilers are the most dangerous drivers on the road!"

Just looking for a more precise term than BS (which it is) of this magical ability to "name your reality".

 

I have a big tendency to start a response to a thread and then think better of it.

I'm not as good about it in person, but here I get a little more time to shut my mouth before I speak.

 

Poll results are looking pretty balanced at this point. Certainly far from the overwhelmingly leftist portrayal that is sometimes bandied about. If I remember right, the last major member poll here produced similar results.

For the record, I'm pretty close to hard left on social issues -- Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do is one of my favorite books of all time. My social libertarianism is informed by my core beliefs: I believe that you should be able to live your life the way you see fit as long as you aren't harming others, that the Bill of Rights are inviolable, and that America's greatest story is the ongoing expansion (still underway) of these rights to those who have previously been denied them. I oppose mandatory seatbelt use because you're only endangering yourself, but I support banning cellphone use while driving (including handsfree) because you're endangering others. I oppose banning gas guzzlers because that's a personal choice, but I support a reduced national speed limit because, again, too many people refuse to take responsibility for the danger that they cause to others.

I am now moderately to middle-liberal on fiscal issues. When I turned 18 many years ago, I immediately registered Republican, but at heart I was truly a Libertarian, and would have selected that poll answer ... ah, the idealism of youth, awed by purity of principle untainted by experience. The more I see how politics and economics really work, the more liberal I get fiscally. My cynicism continues to deepen regarding the ability of so-called "free" markets (which rarely are in practice, anyway) to bring us the best of all possible worlds. And as a half-economist I'm proud to voice my belief in much-maligned social engineering as an optimal way to encourage wanted behavior and discourage unwanted behavior while preserving individual choice (see social libertarianism, above). Needless to say, I strongly support increased gas taxes. I also support equally strong additional disincentives against using excessively heavy vehicles that endanger others as passenger cars.

 

According to this quiz I'm a Centrist: http://www.theadvocates.org/index.html
But I'm still not sure. - Dale

 

Could someone find that quiz that had a graph of active members and it looked like the Klingon insignia?

 

Chuck, I believe you are referring to this thread.

The image you mentioned is below:



The actual quiz is here:

http://www.politicalcompass.org/test

 

That one put me a little farther to the left than I really am, but it did manage to put me as a right-leaning libertarian.

 

I think most of us didn't care that much for that quiz. It put me at center/right-wing.