What is your political affiliation?

Champagne Socialist.

Centrist and I vote for the SNP.

I thought of including green, but since there's a wide array of both left-wing and right-wing greens, I'd say it's a bit too vague a term. If you vote for green in the elections, think of what you'd call yourself besides being green.

Those terms are all too vague.

Sorry.

I don't see how "comedy eco-warrior" is any less vague than "communist but not like Stalin or Mao" tbh.

Sorry, I wasn't aware of such a stance.

Trotskyists ain't down with this shit.

If you're a Trotskyist I think you can vote for "communist".

What the? Lumping it in with "mainstream" Communism?

Don't rise to the revisionist bait, comrade.

These days, I don't think Trotskyist views differ that much from mainstream communism.

PERMANENT REVOLUTION, TUOMAS!!!!11!!

We're not living in the 1930s, comrades.

Trotsky has been rehabilitated long ago.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/138/328574440_d06e3e5012_o.jpg

Trotsky has been rehabilitated long ago.

I didn't even know he had a drug problem!

He was addicted to the opium of the masses.

Lenin was the one who looked like a drug addict, tbqh.

Anarcho-collectivist. Biggest influences in this regard are Bakunin & Huey P. Newton.

You might say 'left libertarian' but Ron Paul & assholes imploring you to GOOGLE BUILDING 7 have pretty much ruined the term libertarian for me.

You can't really get away with calling yourself an "anti-statist Maoist" so

i voted libertarian coz thats like liberal and liberal is good :)

You might say 'left libertarian' but Ron Paul & assholes imploring you to GOOGLE BUILDING 7 have pretty much ruined the term libertarian for me.

I think "anarchist" is a fine term for a "left libertarian".

Actually I voted socialist, which will run away with this by like 150 votes to 20

I think "anarchist" is a fine term for a "left libertarian".

― Tuomas, Thursday, July 23, 2009 12:56 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

Yeah but I feel inclined to append the "collectivist" to stress the cooperative aspects I'm after rather than the Mountain Man With A Shotgun or Teenager In Combat Boots aspects.

I thought of including various strands of anarchism, but the thread would've had too many options. Personally, I'm fine with lumping right-wing anarchists with libertarians.

Eh, I guess my views are broadly socialist, leaning towards social democrat. I clicked the first cos it sounds cooler. I'm not particularly politically engaged or anything, though.

it's hard not being a liberal in america because everyone thinks you are like a dr. morbius or an idealist child

Eco-socialist I guess.

Voted social democrat, because I am, but there should really be something in between "social democrat" and "centrist"! Maybe there isn't in Scandinavia?

xposts Yes, basically because I consider myself well to the left (on most issues) of mainstream American liberals, who generally see themselves as left of centre AFAICT.

I'm a centrist Democrat in voting pattern; my actual political views probably are best described by something batshit and contradictory like "government-regulated anarchy".

Non-affiliated. I read the election promises and decide. Mostly greeny, lefty, but not too far.

If I had to seriously answer something as nebulous as this I think my nebulous answer would be "working class".

it's hard not being a liberal in america because everyone thinks you are like a dr. morbius or an idealist child

― blobfish russian (harbl), Thursday, July 23, 2009 1:12 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark

^^^^^ yes i

TBF in most Western countries if you dissent very far from I Heart Capitalist Democracy then you'll either be accused of being a student or a mentalist.

I'm loving the term "champagne socialist" because it describes about 99% of the people with whom I regularly spend time (the other 1% still drink the champagne but have dropped the pretense of being socialists). I'm considering becoming one myself.

Centrist - I vote Democrat and am mostly a serious progressive, but see the value in compromise and am strongly to the right on a few issues.

Personal monarchist w.caesaropapist leanings.

rapist what now?

I only rape salads...

I think Tuomas did a good job representing the options. (pats on back)

I think I am more of a Premium Import Beer Socialist.

Staropramen Socialist.

Budweiser Baathist

Cocaine and Corona Communist

what the hell is social democrat anyway. i'm a socialist but i believe in democracy.

my only political affiliation is to hot babes, cold brews, and the open road

"cold beer, warm pussy, and somewhere to take a dump with a door on it"

ledge, it's just to contrast w/introverted democrats.

ENSD vs INSD then

Abstention

I am a member of the local Green Party.

Social democrat, or would be if we actually had a left-wing party in the US capable of winning elections. I'm just happy that the Republicans are finally starting to get diminishing returns from screaming about COMMUNISM! whenever something that would benefit the working (or even middle) class is proposed.

Margarita Maoist

i am whatever lies between social democrat and centrist

Broseph Stalinist

what the hell is social democrat anyway. i'm a socialist but i believe in democracy.

Social democrats, at least the Nordic countries, are to the right from socialists and communists but to the left from the centrists. Basically they accept the capitalist market system, parlamentarism, and other basic tenets of Western nation-states, but they believe that a strong welfare state and civil society should try to lessen the inequalities caused by capitalism as much as possible. So they usually favour stuff like progressive taxation, free childcare and healthcare for everyone, free education all the way to the upper levels, a certain amount of protectionism to support the local markets, positive discrimination, etc. Historically, the social democrats have been quite strong Finland and especially in Sweden, and both countries have (at least in principle) all the stuff listed above.

If there's something between social democrat and centrist, I've never heard of a name for it, so I'm sorry for not including it.

when i play video games my societies are usually free republics

enlightened despotism works good to ime

i am whatever lies between social democrat and centrist

that is called "the creamy filling"

You've never heard the term "liberal", Tuomas?

(In my ideal world, "liberal" = "centrist" too, but I'm not sure that this reflects reality on this continent.)

Yeah, but it has several different (even contradictory) meanings around the world. A typical American liberal would be a centrist in Europe, and the poll is written from an European point of view. In Finnish politics "liberal" usually refers to people who support economical liberalism, and who therefore are right-wing.

(x-post)

ha i bet finnish right wingers are like total teddy bears and into theater and horticulture. or are they monsters?

they totally pwnzored the red army

So to be clear, should anyone to the right of Al Gore identify as conservative (or libertarian) on this poll?

A typical American liberal would be a centrist in Europe

dude

i was going to expand on that, but whats the point really

Social democrat with strong syndicalist and collectivist leanings.

xpost - that strikes me as reasonably true, actually? (if we take Tuomas to mean sorta western and especially northern Europe)

(I think it is too. Just thought it would help to clarify terms.)

It's absolutely true but 'liberal' in the US is a portmanteau containing 'leftists' of every stripe, civil libertarians, pacifists, minority rights activists, left-wing feminists, protectionists, labor, environmentalists and their agendas are often different.

Is a portmanteu like a fine port wine?

I’m liberal, but to a degree
I want ev’rybody to be free
But if you think that I’ll let Barry Goldwater
Move in next door and marry my daughter
You must think I’m crazy!

I wouldn’t let him do it for all the farms in Cuba

Drunk Portland liberal

^^ should be "Drunken Portland liberal"

I am a left-of-center pedant.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Thank You For Your Cooperation.

i live in the reality-based community.

Social-lite

social democrat

what's the difference between 'economically conservative but socially to the left' and 'libertarian'? I guess libertarian is more extreme?

Socially conservative but economically at the left

http://www.tvfanatic.com/images/gallery/dennis-duffy.jpg

what's the difference between 'economically conservative but socially to the left' and 'libertarian'? I guess libertarian is more extreme?

if certain people i've run across are any indication, it's apparently what the douchiest of douches born post-'65 claim when they don't want to be labeled as Republican (because that's uncool). they tend to pay nominal lip-service to marijuana legalization, maybe even civil unions. but when pressed they pretty much all turn into Glenn Beck-esque racists and xenophobes

^this. they claim to hate government intervention and welfare and taxes even though they love their cheap farm-subsidy food and driving on the interstate highway system.

and they claim to like marketplace competition but they think competition means "creating a monopoly that makes it impossible for other businesses to exist on their own."

no I meant what was the difference, say, if someone had to decide between those two poll options (probably isn't going to be a problem for many ilxors)

somewhere between Centrist and Economically conservative but socially at the left - i'm down w/homos and capitalism basically

(tbf there are probably plenty of real-deal libertarians who actually do know wtf they are talking about, serious about equal rights for gays and lesbians, think the neoconservative agenda is a particular threat to liberty perhaps greater than the ideologically spent ideas of left-liberalism, big fans of john locke, etc.)

xpost to my snotty but mostly otm post earlier

who actually do know wtf they are talking about =/= being right of course

I don't really think I fall into any of these. I'm socially very much to the left but maybe more centrist economically.

hoos is otm re: left-libertarian. that's how i more or less identify myself. (there's a thread about it, which i'm sure ever fully resolved what left libertarianism is but has some interesting stuff in it.)

i also call myself a liberal, in the parlance of manichaean american political discourse, but it's not a word that means a whole lot.

(which i'm NOT sure ever fully resolved...)

write in vote for "no fat chicks"

i always come out as some sort of super-lefty on these internet polls, though i am not when it comes to economic matters (e.g., i have no problem w/ capitalism as long as there are enforceable regulations and i am pro-balanced budgets [except during economic emergencies]). i also think that people should be left alone to do whatever they want as long as they aren't fucking w/ other people. i'd be all for compromise if the other side (the GOP over here) were also for good-faith compromise (which they aren't), which makes me seem more strident that i am naturally inclined to be.

I guess I am a caviar leftie as we say in France.

Kinda feel like there should be a choice or two between Social Democrat and Centrist. I doubt your garden variety Democrat would self-describe as a "social" _______, even though I certainly would.

Like I said, the options here were chosen from my European point of view, and from that point of view you garden variety democrat is a Centrist.

hoos is otm re: left-libertarian. that's how i more or less identify myself.

Can someone tell me what's the difference between left libertarianism and left-wing anarchism (i.e. mainstream anarchism, as far as I know rightist anarchists have always been a small minority)? Or is it just an American synonym for leftist anarchism that avoids the connotations the word "anarchism" has? Do leftist libertarians trace their thinking back to Bakunin, Kropotkin, Goldman, Rocker, etc, or do they have a theoretical tradition of their own? I'm genuinely interested in this, because among the activists and anarchists in here, "libertarian" is pretty much synonymous with "right-wing anarchist", and I've never heard anyone call themselves "left libertarian".

Can someone tell me what's the difference between left libertarianism and left-wing anarchism (i.e. mainstream anarchism, as far as I know rightist anarchists have always been a small minority)? Or is it just an American synonym for leftist anarchism that avoids the connotations the word "anarchism" has? Do leftist libertarians trace their thinking back to Bakunin, Kropotkin, Goldman, Rocker, etc, or do they have a theoretical tradition of their own?

The 'left-libertarians' I've known (myself included) trace the ideology precisely as you do here--Bakunin, Kropotkin, Goldman, Rocker. In the US the term "libertarian" has largely been co-opted by right-wing anarchists and the term 'anarchist' has largely been co-opted by perhaps well-meaning but often misguided kids who like to draw black A graffiti everywhere & wear combat boots for a few years before putting down the protest placards and growing out of it.

Speaking for myself, saying "left libertarian" is a way to avoid being scoffed at, which (unfortnately) is surely what would happen in most of this country if I went around in daily life calling myself an anarchist.

It just sounds like you don't know what you want but you know how to get it.

Appending the 'left' is also a signpost to political people that when I say libertarian I don't mean that kind of libertarian.

I don't mean to keep hijacking this thread with my fascinating hair-splitting, sorry dudes.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Whoa, didn't expect social democrats to win so clearly!

Also, looks like fascists are the third largest political group in ILX, who would've thought?

mods will be mods

Me at 17: Liberal
Me at 22: Kennedy liberal
Me at 30: Hopeful anarchist
Me at 42: Cynical anarchist
Me at 53: Leninist
Me now: What the fuck are you looking at?

— Dennis Perrin (@DennisThePerrin) June 21, 2019

Philosophically, I am a socialist. Because the way to socialism is long and hard, I often act as a pragmatic ameliorist.