How would you categorize your political views?

[Zap!You'reFrozen]

I'm always fascinated with how people define themselves politically: right wing, left wing, centre, goalie etc. Political ambivalence, it has often been said, is the bane of first world countries, although since September 11, 2001 it would seem that the wealthy Western world (and in particular the United States) has gotten a whole lot more political.

An Israeli friend of mine once remarked that political apathy is a luxury that she and her countrymen were not in a position to enjoy. Life in Israel is simply too politicized for anyone to sit on the fence, and in light of the fact that virtually everyone has lost a family member to the Holocaust, to the country's numerous post-independence wars, or to acts of terrorism, everyone is essentially forced to take a side - left or right, Labour or Likud (or even further right), pro-peace or pro-resistance. And it seems that since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 it seems that the formerly apathetic West has begun to follow suit.

You Gaijin Pot regulars have likely come to know me as rather political. I wasn't always, but I've become pretty political over the past few years, and I've come to essentially define myself as left-wing. This is not because I particularly like defining myself as such; I simply agree with more of what the 'Left' supports (i.e. organized labour and social security at home, peaceful diplomacy in lieu of cowboy geopolitical sabre-rattling overseas, and 'liberal' social views) than what the 'Right' generally supports. And while I am most certainly critical of much that goes on in Leftist circles (My ex was a bona-fide Marxist; we broke up at least in part because she found me too right wing.) I find I have to put my pole somewhere - so I resign myself to being a 'leftist' because in order to fight the fight you have to pick a team, even if you don't like all the players.

I know a good number of you potters consider yourselves 'liberals' or 'leftists,' and a few of you I know are bona-fide 'rightists' and/or 'conservatives.' So how do you all define yourselves, if at all? Over to you . . . . .

[madmaxxam]

Center-Left. Some of the PC of the left-wing can really ____ me off. I also have such beliefs as "workfare" instead of "wellfare". I certainly don't agree with the current US administration on much of anything, and I'm not sure where they fall on the spectrum. I do think that complete control by either the extreme left or extreme right would be hell though. I do think that the government needs to be more fiscally conservative than it is now, and most of the "left-leaning" programs are really quite corrupt. If it were up to me I'd rip up the whole system and start again, beginning with non-partisan elections. If anyone, and I mean anyone, thinks non-partisan elections are a bad idea after reading up on them, they're a damned fool. It would allow people to vote for who they wanted and not worry about voting against who they hate.

Rights are too self centered, and lefts are too idealist.

[sincity]

All I can say is that the world caught a break when I failed to obtain the required number of signatures to run for parliament during my junior year in high school. I was a fascist. Whenever there was a peace rally in Toronto, me and a motley crew of anarchists, social rejects, Nazis and freedom fighters (we were led by a Polish hairdresser) would fashion a variety of signs ("Moscow Puppets" etc.) and counter-demonstrate (read: taunt the peaceniks). The Polish hairdresser advised me to sharpen my sign pillar, which turned out to be good advice since we were outnumbered by about 10,000 to 37 and some of those peaceniks liked to rumble. In fact, our leader got the sh*t kicked out of him but it was a small price to pay for defending our beliefs (but don't ask me what they were) and plus he got his picture in the Toronto Sun, a picture which would eventually hang in his salon.

Well, with my political aspirations thwarted, I turned my hand to plotting an invasion of the United States (I remember thinking that Montana looked extremely vulnerable). Unfortunately, it was around this time that I became afflicted with a permanent hard-on so I turned my hand to that instead.

And I've been apolitical ever since...Although I do believe strongly that fighting in hockey should not be banned and that every man owes it to himself to at least once in his life make love to a right-wing whore.

[aha yes]

Too left for most lefties, but not so far left that I come full-circle right again. Specific views depend on the issue. General views work under the assumption that democracy is a charade, not necessarily that the masses are fooled into believing they have power when such power really rests with the military, industry or other special interests, but rather that the authorities have been fooled in the last 200 yrs. or so into believing they have to be accountable to some extent to popular opinion. Shhh...don't tell anyone, but the guys with the guns could easily take complete and utter control of every facet of our everyday lives if they wanted to (and as most of human history has shown), but we've got 'em worrying about elections these days. It's a delicate farce.

If I have to pigeonhole myself, I'd have to go with anarchist. Not the Molatov cocktail variety, but more as a synthesis of Stirner, Proudhon and Polish hairdressers. I don't believe in reforming the system but in using it against itself toward eventual total dissolution. Hail Eris!

"The most improper job of any man, even saints, is bossing other men." -J.R.R. Tolkien

[Morning Star]

In high school I followed the right-wing claptrap and even ate lunch with a group of friends that sat around listening to Rush Limbaugh. The amount of pills that guy could pop with one hand tied behind his back was amazing.

But after high school I started down the path of leftism. Not because I'm an idealist, but because I wanted to smoke high quality marijuana, legally, every day for the rest of my life. But the left isn't interested in letting people like me smoke, they have to have a reason like cancer or AIDS to pass the pipe. So by the 2000 election I was voting for Larry Brown, voting my conscience, voting my convictions.

I'm an economic Rightist, a social Leftist, and a moral Independant. However, the only issue that makes or breaks my vote is the politician's stance on smoking pot. And my only consideration regarding his character is whether or not he admits to smoking pot.

[madmaxxam]

I'm an economic Rightist, a social Leftist, and a moral Independant. However, the only issue that makes or breaks my vote is the politician's stance on smoking pot. And my only consideration regarding his character is whether or not he admits to smoking pot.

What if that politician didn't inhale?

[Minderbinder]

Socialist. I vote for social and environmental responsibility first, and economically I'd choose improved services over a tax cut.

I believe in quality public health and education, not one system for the haves and another for the have nots. Therefore, you can probably guess that I voted against John Howard, and would vote against Bush if only I could (voting against Bush would be for me the best thing American citizenship has to offer).

Edit: add link of interest:
http://www.okcupid.com/politics
I fall somewhere between Hillary Clinton and Mahatma Ghandi.

[kurogane]

Radical contrarian anti anti disestablishmentarian.

A party of one?

[Zap!You'reFrozen]

All I can say is that the world caught a break when I failed to obtain the required number of signatures to run for parliament during my junior year in high school. I was a fascist. Whenever there was a peace rally in Toronto, me and a motley crew of anarchists, social rejects, Nazis and freedom fighters (we were led by a Polish hairdresser) would fashion a variety of signs ("Moscow Puppets" etc.) and counter-demonstrate (read: taunt the peaceniks). The Polish hairdresser advised me to sharpen my sign pillar, which turned out to be good advice since we were outnumbered by about 10,000 to 37 and some of those peaceniks liked to rumble. In fact, our leader got the sh*t kicked out of him but it was a small price to pay for defending our beliefs (but don't ask me what they were) and plus he got his picture in the Toronto Sun, a picture which would eventually hang in his salon.

Well, with my political aspirations thwarted, I turned my hand to plotting an invasion of the United States (I remember thinking that Montana looked extremely vulnerable). Unfortunately, it was around this time that I became afflicted with a permanent hard-on so I turned my hand to that instead.

And I've been apolitical ever since...Although I do believe strongly that fighting in hockey should not be banned and that every man owes it to himself to at least once in his life make love to a right-wing whore.

Sincity, I think you are a misunderstood genius!

BTW, I'm thinking of starting my own political party, and I'm using this thread as a recruiting ground. Aha Yes, I've had my eye on you for some time.

[Che]

Count me in Zap, I read your informed post re. the central Azian political trends, and I think you got a touch of the charizmatic leader about you son.

Got any similar planz for here in Japan?

By the way, I'm a socialist in the Orwell vein. Call a spade a spade even if it's one of the comrades.

[Eric2006]

http://images.google.co.jp/images?q=tbn:RbgfDUKOg1YJ:win530.at.infoseek.co.jp/aikoku/mirror/img3/a4.jpg

Tainippon aikoku party! Ten nou heika banzai!
Only joking its fun watching Tony Blare and his mates in the houses of parliment but almost all British parties are alike :(.

[aha yes]

BTW, I'm thinking of starting my own political party, and I'm using this thread as a recruiting ground. Aha Yes, I've had my eye on you for some time.
My guess is you see in me a redneckier, slightly dumbed down version of yourself.

But I fear your recruitment efforts will come to nought. Nature of the beast that lefties are a scattered and unwieldy bunch. Hehe. When I was in college (little mtn. hippie affair), my roommate came home one day all excited because he'd just signed a petition to create a new party for independents. Never could quite figure the logic of that one...

[limitsnot]

I'm a bit left. I voted for Nader in the previous election, but in 2004 I voted for Kerry. One of Nader's big ideas was that we should "vote our hopes, not our fears". I can't decide if that's quite practical.

[observer]

It all depends on the issue. On some issues, I am amazingly to the left, on others I am amazingly to the right. On a great deal of issues though, I fall somewhere in the middle and try to let the reality temper my idealism. I aint in university anymore and now gotta put food on the table. Call it an aging process, if you will. But there are certain issues I feel very strongly about as my life experience has validated them, and on those issues I probably wouldn't compromise my ideals much. But otherwise, I try to be pragmatic and accomodating.

Actually, these days I feel the standard political policy "packages" offered by mainstream parties no longer properly reflect my views as a whole. Why don't they offer more referendums and propositions on individual issues that people can decide on one-by-one? When I go to a supermarket, I don't have to buy everything on one shelf, so why do I have to accept everything on one political party platform?

(Then again, if we did that, then people would be endorsing all sorts of selfish and self-contradictory policies, right? No tax, but more spending for our schools, our roads, our welfare system... yeah, let's party!...)

[Ｄ∀ＳＴ]

yea I know .....but I never walk down the street wondering if bush or koizumi are doing a good job. Dont care if South korea has a new president. So I would have to say I am selfish or amiss to my politics. I would share a drink with anyone though..

[JayJay]

One thing that amazes me is some people (usally Americans) asume that just because you dont like Bush and are against the War in Iraq, that you must be a liberal. Outside the US more than 80% of people were against Iraq so there must be a LOT of liberals in the world (sacastic tone). In my country (New Zealand) I would say I am conservative-centre (depending on the issue) but it seems to me that the US has slid so much to the right, many people can't even see whats left or right anymore. The Democrats are centre, not left, moderate republicans are centre right and hardcore rebublicans are near on facist. There almost is nobody to represent the left in the US anymore (dont know much about Nadler).

And whats wrong with being liberal? In my country people usually just accept different political points of view even if they don't agree but with Americans its like being liberal is some kind of sick illness. I have friends and relitvies who are both very liberal or consevative. Yes we debate sometimes, but its not a big deal. I never get over hearing some American people say "disgusting liberal". And the whole Red state, blue state thing, I mean what the f*&k? And poor Terri, the politcal football. I mean, why is the US so different? Whats going on over there?

Sorry if I sound like Im America-bashing, I like you Americans, I really do, some of the nicest people on the planet. However some of the American side of my family have been saying they're a little worried about the politcal situation over there. My aunt lives in a very "red" town in Florida and she was against the war. She says she pretty much has to keep her mouth shut.