Trying to choose my politicial views...I NEED HELP!! !

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I think that it's time that I start thinking about what poltical view I want to go with. I don't know a THING about politics,and this makes me feel dumb. So...

Please I need a whole list of political views and the defintions,thier views..yes,all that. If you can help me,that would be great.


-SpaceCase

why ruin a good thing?

What did you think of personal rights and privacy?

What about the economy?

I'd say that a good place to start looking is with the political compass test.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/

This test should expose you to some concepts although a lot of people think it is biased but still even if so it should expose some of your beliefs.

As well, I can describe to you various views on society and I will try to be as balanced as possible but if I end up being unfair to a position I apologize I also might miss some of the more unorthodox views:

Economic views:

Laissez-faire capitalism - no government inhibitions on business outside of enforcing contracts and protecting rights. Possibly even no government under anarcho-capitalist views of society.

Mixed economy - Some governmental intervention, regulations, some price floors and ceilings, higher taxes than laissez-faire, some government owned businesses, etc. Most modern economies are mixed economies with some leaning more or less laissez-faire.

Non-capitalist Economy - The government controls the economy, including all prices, wages, and it coordinates everything also under it. Or some other mechanism is used to coordinate the economy if a government is absent.

Economic Issues:

Trade: Free or Protectionism. One can pursue free trade out of a desire for cheap foreign goods and greater economic efficiency. One can pursue protectionism out of a desire to protect workers of the nation from unfair competition or possibly out of a desire to keep problematic capitalism from spreading.

Taxes: High or low. flat or progressive. One can pursue higher taxes for the use of more governmental programs and redistributive policies for running the nation. One could choose instead to pursue lower taxes to allow businesses to make money and to get economic growth through that means.

One can also pursue more progressive taxes for the purposes of getting more money for the government from higher earning groups and to spend it for them as those groups have a lower propensity to consume. One could instead pursue flatter taxes which increase incentives to accrue wealth and seek success allowing for more growth.

Regulations: More or less. One can seek more regulations to protect workers from exploitation as well as consumers. Doing less would be trusting consumers, workers and the market to sort things out in the most efficient manner. Regulations can also include laws such as minimum wages and other measures.

Public Welfare One can pursue policies of more government responsibility for the public good or less. More responsibility includes more welfare policies and nationalized healthcare as well as other issues. Less responsibility means less welfare and a more free market healthcare system.

Schooling More government intervention or less. More government intervention means that state public schools are more funded and held to higher standards, this is viewed as necessary to improve the state of education. Less government intevention means that schools are held more to local standards and possibly the use of voucher systems or other methods to allow for students to go to private schools due to a view of private schools being able to function efficiently.

Environment One can pursue more environmental regulations or less. More regulations include outright restrictions upon certain levels of pollution, offering pollution credits, the use of pigovian taxes to decrease pollution and can have the benefit of promoting a healthier environment. Less regulations would simply be not doing the previous and could have benefits of more economic growth.

Now, if I haven't forgotten any issue I will move on to social issues.

Social Ideals

Moralistic: Laws are put in place to prevent wrongful action and protect people from bad influences. The view is that if we allow for such problems to get a stronghold then they will corrupt society and harm the welfare of society and the individuals in it.

Liberal People are allowed to pursue their own paths and explore their own beliefs. They have a right to do this and government does not exist to interfere with that right.

Social Issues

Gay Rights One can allow gay rights or disallow it. Allowing gay rights would improve the welfare of homosexuals by allowing them to get married, adopt and protect them from persecution. Disallowing gay rights would protect the morality of society by protecting them from the corrupt influences of homosexuals and protect people from their sexual deviancy.

Abortion One can allow abortion or disallow it. Allowing it means that mothers have a right to abort if necessary because it is their body as well, some scholars think that allowing abortion can decrease crime rates. Disallowing abortion means that the unborn child has rights such as not to be killed and to kill the child is like killing a human being, as well, the crime rate speculation is not believed by all scholars and is contested by some.

Drugs One can allow freer drug laws or have more restricted drug laws. More restricted drug laws means that people are more protected from dangerous substances, especially the young and that more is done to prevent drug-users from harming others. Less restricted drug laws mean that people are given greater choice on whether or not to do drugs which can help free up prison space and bring some sectors of the economy into the open.

Guns Less gun restrictions or more. More gun restrictions means that people have less ability to own a gun and less access to deadlier firearms, usually out of the desire to keep them from using it to harm another person. Less gun restrictions means that people are freer to own whatever firearm they want, these guns can be use to protect individuals from crimes committed against them or their property.

Anti-discrimination laws Less or more. Less anti-discrimination laws mean that governments stop interfering with hiring processes to help certain races, often out of the view that such intervention is inherently discriminatory and not effective or necessary. More anti-discrimination laws mean that governments intervene more in such processes in order to make sure that no group is discriminated against and suffers unfairly.

Crime Retribution or rehabilitation. Retribution based punishment is built upon the idea that rehabilitation and softness does not work so the best method to use is based upon punishing the criminal in order to get them to give up, it usually takes a lesser view of prisoners rights and is usually more tolerant of the death penalty. Rehabilitation believes that its methods can work and that they need to be used in order to help out criminals, it takes a much higher view of criminals rights and is less tolerant of the death penalty.

Moving on to international views

International Views

Diplomatic The ideal way to deal with foreign policy is to work with allies, sign agreements, and loan or give money to third world countries and if possible avoid force. Violence and war do not solve the worlds problems but only worsen them and military spending is a waste in this modern era.

Realpolitik The ideal way to deal with foreign policy is with strength. Working with allies is only good if it is in our favor to do so. We should not get involved unnecessarily with foreign affairs as that can weaken us but we should work towards increasing or maintaining a high power position in foreign affairs.

Interventionist The ideal way to deal with foreign policy is with action. This world is plagued with too many troubles for us to standby and allow such problems to continue. The use of the military to knock over foreign dictatorships is just and such actions work towards creating future peace and prosperity.

Isolationist The ideal way to deal with foreign policy is not to. Foreign entanglements are a danger to our interests and foreign wars are a waste of our money. We should avoid getting trapped in politics and just stay at home. Other countries can solve their own problems and they will not bother us if we just only focus on the problems at home.

Foreign Policy Issues

Military Strength More or less. More military spending allows for the army to be able to protect the nation and national interests better and is based upon the remembrance that the pen must be backed by the sword. Less military spending allows for money spent to go towards other purposes and is based upon the idea that foreign threats are not a major issue in this relatively peaceful age.

Foreign Aid More or less. More foreign aid allows for foreign countries to improve their economies better and alleviates some of the suffering of people in foreign countries. Less foreign aid keeps that money home where it came from and is based upon the belief that either that spending should not be used on non-national interests or that governmental aid spending is useless due to the corrupt nature of foreign governments.

Aims Nationalist or Internationalist. Nationalism views the goal of foreign policy to be the promotion of national interests and sees the nation's responsibilities as being to serve the people within, it seeks the national good over the international good. Internationalism views the goal of foreign policy to promote the interests of the world, it believes that nations should be enlightened actors to create a peace for our time and to work together in pursuit of goals.

Military Action More or less. More military action is based upon the belief that firm action is the best way to deal with our threats and promote our interests. Less military action is based upon the belief that diplomatic measures should be more highly stressed and that military actions are dangerous and should be avoided.

If I missed an issue of importance please let me know but I think that this should be a good overview of most conceivable issues.

Space Case, I think your best off sorting that one out yourself. If you care a lot about it it's best that you do a lot of research from various sources, get to know the points of view that are out there in as much of an unbiased way as you can, see what makes sense, and think for yourself on where that puts you. Also, you don't want to be specifically feely about it - try to be as logical as you can because you have to remember that feeling is still very relative to your own life and only accounts for a small corner of whats out there (that much is true for most people in general unless they're in their latter 60's already or have just been that many places and been that involved around the world), in other words you don't want that to run you off course.

From your posts, civil libertarianism and general pro-privacy seems like a good starting point. The economic stuff (like how big you think the state should be) I'd have to leave up to you.

I would say that the post by awesomely glorious was an accurate assessment of political definitions.

Of course someone starting out with politics may be a bit confused with that at first, so take the test that he linked to, and if that fails - just watch the news and read papers. Try to get as many different papers and news channels as possible to avoid bias.

Spacecase, maybe an alternative approach would be to view sections of government and politics as you see them.

Perhaps, maybe glancing at a paper or news show, as they discuss something, think about how YOU'D like to see the problem dealt with.

For example, if they are discussing education, think about your personal experience with education. Think about funding. Do you think only people with kids should pay for school? You may think privatization is best. If you think it should be public, then do you think there should be higher standards since YOU are paying for it (and you ARE a PRODUCT of it).

Military action - do you think that history is worth nothing and that war has solved problems or do you think war causes problems (WW1 was a reason for WW2 which was a reason for Cold war which stemmed many, many battles, some still recovering, some still happening)

If you think that people should simply think for themselves and stop relying on everyone else and actually use 'personal' responsibility then call yourself a libertarian and just rid of the idea of government and view the world as an open system - make life what you want it to be. I'm on here (although, I know that people are in disillusion and need government like a child needs a parent)

http://www.constitutionparty.com/

I agree with Awesomelyglorious in regards to the quizzes and helping you find where you stand in general. However sometimes you may not know what your positions are and you need to do research on your own. There are places to go from all over the political spectrum to get information.

I found this site with a lengthy list of political compasses/quizzes/ect...

http://www.uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=41562.msg922564

Sometimes (well usually) one quiz will be a little biased (or very biased) one way or the other. This isn't even the person who made the quiz's fault necessary. It's just that the person who made it tends to come in with their own viewpoint (beware of leading questions!). I have found that taking several different compasses tends to give you a good idea of where you stand however.

I think, since you're in Mississippi, that you won't find any local candidates that favor gay rights

In terms of getting political opinion, there is a wide array of information from different available in different categories at the "2006 Weblog Awards".

Well, I did forget the ID vs Evolution debate and possibly glossed over a few issues for expediency but whatever.

Looking at news articles is important, especially to get some basis for what is going on in the world but it must be remembered that part of our political views are derived from our moral basis. This is something seen in the moral politics quiz that jimservo gave a link of a link to. How we react to the events going on is often based upon our deeper moral biases and personal political theories more than pure empiricism, especially given the fact that most holders of political positions are not close to experts on the matters at stake.


Thanks for the list. I have already seen most of those tests but they should be handy to somebody who doesn't know where they stand, at least to get the basic grasp of where one is at.

Also, don't feel like you have to stick to any one party line. I don't feel as if liking most of what a party believes means I have to adopt everything that party says, even if I don't agree with it. Like with everything else, fitting in is not everything.

I'd say to first decide on what issues really matter to you. Then, read the platforms of the different political parties (including the small third parties) and see which agrees with your views the best. I didn't think much about politics until I got into college. Then, at first I considered myself conservative because I had gripes with radical feminism and the idea that differences between men and women are something bad. However, after talking to some people who identify as "conservative", I realized that most of them are quite opposed to personal freedom in areas like drug use and other "morality" issues in which I have strong and opposite opinions. Now I am mostly libertarian, as I like the philosophy, though I still don't agree with every word in the Libertarian Party platform, and I'm perfectly okay with that.