If you've read some of my posts here, especially the opening one, you know that I resist trying to wear a single political label. If pressed, I tend to call myself a "moderate conservative with strong libertarian tendencies and a few liberal skeletons in the closet," but protesting that that description doesn't cover everything.
One of the problems today for "ordinary people" (those who aren't consumed by all things political every hour of their waking lives) is that they keep hearing the politicians talk about "the left" and "the right" and not being able to use those labels to usefully describe their own political leanings. The left-right continuum goes back a long way, and maybe it's too simplistic, or at least has outlived its usefulness. Isn't there a more nuanced way to zero in on political beliefs?
Yes, and here's one I discovered a few years ago and found illuminating. It's the world's shortest political quiz, and based on your answers to questions about government control of both economic and social issues, puts you into one of four quadrants: liberal, conservative, libertarian or statist. It's not perfect, but at least it doesn't try to fit you into one of only two belief systems.
When I take the quiz, I come out libertarian, but barely out of the "centrist" descriptor (it apparently doesn't work to link to your own personal quiz results; no matter how you answer the questions, the link makes it appear you are a centrist). I'd be interested to know where you fit.
