Moving beyond the "left/right" political paradigm.

[ericsp23]

I think it is time to move beyond the old "left/right" or liberal/conservative paradigm that has dominated much political discussion over the past few decades. These terms have been in use for a very long time, and their intended use was to help political scientinsts to catagorize political ideologies. But through overuse and changing times the words have ceased to have any real meaning. These labels have begun to get in the way of progress. We no longer debate issues and make compromises. It is now all about being right and forcing one ideology down the throats of everyone. So much emotional baggage has been attached to the words that it in not uncommon to see them hurled around on discussion boards and in the media like hand grenades, and unfortunatly much of the rhetoric that comes from our elected leaders is not much better.
I recently found a website that I think offers an alternative. I'd like to hear what other people think of this as well.
The Political Compass
To summarize, instead of our overly simplistic one dimensional political spectrum, they use a two dimensional spectrum, or "compass." The horizontal position on this compass is called the economic scale, and it retains the traditional left/right labels. At the extreme left end of that axis is collectivism and the extreme right end is Neo-liberalism (unfettered free markets). The vertical axis is referred to as the social scale. The upper end of this axis is referred to as authoritarianism and the lower end is labeled libertarianism. Fascism lies at the extreme upward end of the spectrum while anarchism lies at the extreme lower end.
You can take a test on this webpage that will tell you where you lie on the compass. It will also tell you where some of todays prominent politicians lie, as well as important figures throughout history. I think it is interesting to note that, on this compass, Communism is not diametrically opposed to Fascism, as it is often described. They actually aren't that far from each other on the compass. Fascism is extremely authoritarian, but on economic matters it is generally fairly moderate.

[mooseboy84]

this test proves nothing and fails. yes it can generally give you an either or answer in terms of "left" or "right". however the questions, as well as the answers are so limited it makes no since. some issues you may not really care about or the questions are so absurd it fails at making any relevant diagnosis of you politically.

it uses catch phrases and very limited question an attempt to accuratly diagnos where you are, and it fails in doing that with any real credibility.

its like i said in my thread about the ambiguous "left". http://www.volconvo.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=783

people can point to someone like dennis kuchiech and say hes a "leftist". however, when it comes to describing the core issues, only vague synonyms can be made. this limitedly applies to the "right" as well, however they have many more pillars that support there general ideology.

[AnonT]

There have been a half dozen threads on the 2d political spectrum in the couple weeks since I joined. We all know about this.... but thanks for spreading the news.