The political compass test was quite provocative and interesting! It really made me think about how I see the country (US) and the wider world, what my attitude is towards the economy, how my personal social values and my opinions on religion and sex substantiate my views on politics! I thought the quiz was quite all-encompassing, and also liked that it was slanted or ambiguous at times.

It was challenging to choose between agreeing and disagreeing with each statement, but at the same time, I am glad there was no "i don't know" option, because I am prone to ducking difficult questions.

The underlying principle of the Political Compass is that political views may be better measured along two separate and independent axes. The Economic (Left-Right) axis measures one's opinion of how the economy should be run: "left" is defined as the view that the economy should be run by a cooperative collective agency (which can mean the state, but can also mean a network of communes), while "right" is defined as the view that the economy should be left to the devices of competing individuals and organisations. The other axis (Authoritarian-Libertarian) measures one's political opinions in a social sense, regarding a view of the appropriate amount of personal freedom: "libertarianism" is defined as the belief that personal freedom should be maximised, while "authoritarianism" is defined as the belief that authority and tradition should be obeyed.

Yay to personal freedom and also the network of communes!