Progressive ideology quiz
Here. My score is 81% progressive. The American average is 52%. A "Liberal Democrat" is 62%. An "Obama voter" is 61%. A "Conservative Republican" is insane.
Because the survey is being conducted by American nationalists, there is no data offered on how my score compares with those of other Canadians.
A few of the questions are a little hokey:
The primary responsibility of corporations is to produce profits and returns for their shareholders, not to improve society. Yes, but only because that is how most corporations are set up (exceptions include "ethical investment funds" and the like). Corporations exist as figments of the legal imagination; their responsibilities are whatever the law says they are. So should I answer this question in accordance with how things *are* or how they *should be*?
America's security is best promoted by working through diplomacy, alliances, and international institutions. Depends on whether the assumed alternative is military or corporate. Diplomacy is much better than war, but not as effective as "cultural exports" in promoting American security.
The gap between rich and poor should be reduced, even if it means higher taxes for the wealthy. Yes, at the moment, but this is not true of all times and places. Just rolling back the tax cuts on the ultrarich to the 1990 level might be enough, or perhaps back to the 1970 level under Richard Nixon.
It is unpatriotic to criticize our government leaders or our military during a time of war. Only if the war is going very badly and is about to be lost. For a government to say that it cannot afford to allow criticism is an admission of weakness.
Healthy economic growth requires eliminating budget deficits, which discourage private investment and raise interest rates. No, but almost. Budget deficits should be reduced in order to encourage private investment and lower interest rates, but interest rates are exceedingly low right now because private investment is beyond discouraged and heading into "scared shitless" mode. In our current situation, reducing or eliminating the budget deficit not only isn't *required* for economic growth, it is likely to *prevent* growth, as Roosevelt discovered in 1937.
Social Security should be reformed to allow workers to invest some of their contributions in individual accounts. Social Security needs reform, but turning it into a mandatory-IRA system won't help. The problem is that Roosevelt lied when he set up the program. He told people that Social Security payments were money that they had "earned", like an annuity. Actually, Social Security is basically a duplicate Welfare system. We should just cancel the thing and let oldsters collect Welfare without having to fill out those weekly "Did you look for work?" forms.
Because the survey is being conducted by American nationalists, there is no data offered on how my score compares with those of other Canadians.
A few of the questions are a little hokey:
The primary responsibility of corporations is to produce profits and returns for their shareholders, not to improve society. Yes, but only because that is how most corporations are set up (exceptions include "ethical investment funds" and the like). Corporations exist as figments of the legal imagination; their responsibilities are whatever the law says they are. So should I answer this question in accordance with how things *are* or how they *should be*?
America's security is best promoted by working through diplomacy, alliances, and international institutions. Depends on whether the assumed alternative is military or corporate. Diplomacy is much better than war, but not as effective as "cultural exports" in promoting American security.
The gap between rich and poor should be reduced, even if it means higher taxes for the wealthy. Yes, at the moment, but this is not true of all times and places. Just rolling back the tax cuts on the ultrarich to the 1990 level might be enough, or perhaps back to the 1970 level under Richard Nixon.
It is unpatriotic to criticize our government leaders or our military during a time of war. Only if the war is going very badly and is about to be lost. For a government to say that it cannot afford to allow criticism is an admission of weakness.
Healthy economic growth requires eliminating budget deficits, which discourage private investment and raise interest rates. No, but almost. Budget deficits should be reduced in order to encourage private investment and lower interest rates, but interest rates are exceedingly low right now because private investment is beyond discouraged and heading into "scared shitless" mode. In our current situation, reducing or eliminating the budget deficit not only isn't *required* for economic growth, it is likely to *prevent* growth, as Roosevelt discovered in 1937.
Social Security should be reformed to allow workers to invest some of their contributions in individual accounts. Social Security needs reform, but turning it into a mandatory-IRA system won't help. The problem is that Roosevelt lied when he set up the program. He told people that Social Security payments were money that they had "earned", like an annuity. Actually, Social Security is basically a duplicate Welfare system. We should just cancel the thing and let oldsters collect Welfare without having to fill out those weekly "Did you look for work?" forms.