Political Compass
I ran across an interesting site today (Political Compass) that allows you to measure your political leanings on a 2-dimensional grid rather than the traditional left-right line.
Using this method, you end up with a visually interesting display of where your political ideology fits in with other historical figures (they include several examples):
“Both an economic dimension and a social dimension are important factors for a proper political analysis. By adding the social dimension you can show that Stalin was an authoritarian leftist and that Gandhi is a liberal leftist. You can also put Pinochet on the far right as well as in a hardcore authoritarian position. On the non-socialist side you can distinguish someone like Milton Friedman from Hitler.”Not surprisingly, I register as a libertarian leftist, very close to where they’ve plotted Simon Hughes, a Liberal Democrat from the UK.
Check out the test, and if you feel like sharing, I’d like to see what you register! (This after I make fun of online surveys in my last post… 8-)

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I took a moment and tried this. Here’s my results…..
Economic Left/Right: -1.25
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -3.54
Almost dead in heat with you… It would be interesting to know what the results are on a national perspective. That is, where is the average American vs. the Canadian vs. The Brit etc…..
One thing I found interesting was the chart showing UK Ministers currently, and 5 years previous.
Some of the shifts were quite dramatic. Whether that indicates a legitimate change in attitude or bowing to some other pressures, I’m not sure.
It would be interesting to see this applied to Canadian political figures. I dread to think where some of the Alliance members might end up on the grid…