Most Crikey readers would have done a political compass test, but here’s one of the best we’ve seen. It doesn’t just let you find which US Presidential candidate you should support. It lets you compare political positions in detail against the contenders.
The test lets you see how your views on issues including gun control, the environment, Iraq, the economy, income, national security, the family, immigration, healthcare, law and order, education and terrorism measure up against the policy positions of Republicans Rudi Guiliani, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson and Democrats Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Barack Obama and (for now) Bill Richardson, who quit the race this morning Australian time.
Crikey readers won’t be surprised to learn that the test says I should support the libertarian Ron Paul.
If you enter ‘no opinion’ for all of the questions in the test, you also get Ron Paul. Sounds more like he is keeping his political cards close to his chest, rather than a libertarian.
“Strongly disagree” for all also gets you Ron Paul, adding further evidence to the theory that he is mostly just a contrarian crank. But no matter what answers I input, I’m always furthest from Fred Thompson, which casts doubt on his exact constituency.
Christian, that’s presumably because there’s no question along the lines of “Do you, or have you ever, thought that blacks are a bunch of lazy crack-dealing good-for-nothings?” Me, I’m touched that Giuliani and I have found common ground (on “family”).
Ron Paul is an extreme right winger, not a libertarian. My closest was Obama. But really, the US Presidential election campaign is like a power struggle in the right of the Liberal party. Whoever wins will govern for business and profit, not people.
Ron Paul may have these official positions now, but in the past he’s been a raving anti-Semite, and extreme right wing nutjob. He’d promise anything to get elected, but heaven help us if he does. Fortunately there appears to be no chance of this.