I love political compass tests like this one, though I'm not pleased with the results....
Most political pundits want to slap you in some flat-line left vs. right paradigm, not recognizing or admitting that that classification is merely an economic one and it fails to describe your view on personal liberties. A political compass test plots you not only on the left right, but an up/down axis that gives you a clearer idea of where you sit.
So, I picked up this test from Chris Heilman's blog, and I took it, and I feel it got me alright with personal liberties, down near the bottom, but not all the way, and towards the far right economically, which isn't quite true either.
My problem is that I don't know what level to answer the questions at. I'm always looking at a couple of different interpretations: literally, personally, or for society as a whole.
Because I was an English major, a writer, and now a computer programmer, I look to literally deconstruct sentences to find their true meaning. And I hold my personal life to a different standard than for the rest of society. For example, one of the questions was "Mother's can work, but their primary job should be homemaker". Literally, I think the statement's okay. Personally, I want Heather to stay home and take care of the kids, at least until I'm writing full-time and then she can go work. So do I agree with the statement? That's the dilema I work through. Yes I think that a parent should be home with the kids, but it doesn't have to be the mother. So I have to end up picking 'Disagree' on the quiz, though I really would like to see more people staying home with their kids, the statement being limited to one gender makes me not want to agree.
Oh well.
We're off to my mom's house for McKenna's birthday party today. We're going to drive back home and see all the families. It should be fun, though I'm not going to be loving sleeping on my mom's couch with my wife and two babies. She needs a genuine guest room.
Well, I disagreed where this test put me on the political compass also. I am a libertarian by -.10. I think that makes me well-balanced. But I always think of myself being more right-winged than left. The Political Compass put me at -4.
I did not have a problem answering whether a mother's primary role should be as care giver first. I strongly disagree with that statement. However, I do feel it's important that someone stay at home with a child opposed to allowing a day care to raise your child. Although, I would never want to be a stay-at-home mother as I prefer being a workaholic.
Unfortunately, not all parents have the luxury of making the choice to stay at home as some children only have one parent/family member. In an idealistic society we would all have the choice of staying home with our child. But these days it seems so important to have a two-income household.