Posted by
voice_of_reason on Saturday, January 13, 2007 10:56:14 AM
A test for you FOUR LETTER conservatives and liberals. Given the mix in our country, I believe that it is useful to have a methodology that allow individuals and politicians to 'calibrate' themselves.
One interesting idea is to have a 4-letter word that spans the entire conservative-liberal spectrum, with more 'shades of gray'.
For example, people can fill out a multiple choice questionnaire that is scored against a national average. Each of the 4 letters could be from A-Z, with A-M representing liberal and N-Z representing conservative viewpoints.
Political leaders could be scored using their voting records in addition to their response to the multiple choice questionnaire.
A fifth letter could be added - that represents the PRIORITY that an individual ascribes to a particular aspect. For example, does the individual make his/her defining choice based on religious beliefs - or economics.
It will be interesting to see the actual diversity of thought in our country (even within self-styled Republican and Democrat voters and politicians) - and would be more effective than issue-specific polling.
Can you imagine if instead of the letters 'R' or 'D' next to a politicians name, if we found the letters (ABAA), and could be fairly certain about their viewpoint?
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The following is a simplified version of the above concept.
Pick one position in each of the above groups - the resultant FOUR LETTER WORD would be a way to identify your particular mix of values.
Can you imagine an election in which candidates could choose freely from the following mix (choose ONE in each category):
A)Economic right wing (laissez faire capitalism)
B)Economic center (mixed economy)
C)Economic left wing (socialism)
A)Nationalist right wing (nationalism to the point of isolationism, protectionism, preserving 'identity')
B)Nationalist center (nationalism based on self interest)
C)Nationalist left wing (internationalism, UN uber alles)
A)Religious right wing (fundamentalism)
B)Religious center (often influenced by religion, but skeptical of its value in public policy)
C)Religious left wing (atheism)
A)Social right wing ('family values', pro-life, anti-gay - usually based on religious beliefs)
B)Social center (pro-family but sympathetic to alternative lifestyles, pro-gay - but anti-gay-marriage)
C)Social left wing (pro-choice, pro-gay, pro-minority to the point of anti-majority, seek to legalize euthanasia, drugs, prostitution)
For example, I identify myself as 'ABCB'
So, what kind of FOUR LETTER WORD conservative are you?