Not sure about my politics...

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How does one go about determining their political views? I'm not sure about my own politics, and I would like to determine where my political views fit on the leftwing-rightwing spectrum as well as the libertarian-authoritarian compass without necessarily using any online aides. For that matter, how did you guys come to your political views?

Thanks guys.

For me it is all about deciding what your views on important issues are. Then if there is one prevalent theme to your views, for example money comes first then everything else on most issues then you will probably be able to align yourself a party. If the needs of the people being met is most important (social care etc) then you are more lefty. Basically in America because of the two party thing you wont agree with any party completely but you will disagree with one less than another and for most people that is a good start. Obviously most sensible people know that voting is the most important thing they can do, even if you dont totally agree then vote for an independent who sounds good, but voting is key to showing that the people care and that there are lots of people just waiting to vote the current people out if they don't do good things with the country.

In Britain atleast there are more than two parties and there are small regions so your vote really does make a difference where as in America the system has more holes in it than a mine field.

Psychologists and sociologists have actually studied politics in relation to personality, intelligence, socio-economic factors, and other variables. You're likely to intuitively support some political ideology or other, at least for the most part, even if you don't know how to articulate it.

Things like respect for tradition and authority (political, social, and religious), conventional beliefs and behavior, fear of change, and distrust of outsiders (xenophobia) are a part of right-wing authoritarianism, which tends to map to conservative ideologies and right-wing political parties. Libertarians have a profound distrust of any governmental institution and prefer maximal personal freedom (at least from the government) and support laissez-faire capitalism, usually being unconcerned with the personal effects economic exploitation has on those without access to capital; they see the only role for government in economic activity is to prosecute fraud and enforce contracts made between private parties in civil suits.

Liberals tend to believe in a mix of personal freedom and civil rights (free speech, freedom of religion, etc.) as well as concern for the disadvantaged. They tend to see a positive good in using regulation to prevent large corporations from exploiting workers and taking advantage of consumers. They are not against market economics per se, however.

Edit. Oops, sorry. It just dawned on me you said you were not interested in online aides.

I would actually look more for broad-scale characteristics and an assessment of values. I suppose "major issues" can help with this, but the issue is that what you select as a major issue and where you stand on it already likely attests to your political values.

The reason I would point to broad-scale characteristics and fundamental values though, is because I think that snapshot looks at issues only distorts things. It always falls down to how the question is asked, who is asking, etc. Taking a view of "how should society work?" however gives a grander perspective, and forces you to ask yourself about the system, how it works, where it fails, and how to improve that, and then from that we get to a political view that is richer and deeper.

There is a game called nationstates.net then click on create a nation, after a few days/weeks you will get a good idea of what your overall views are.