Yes I am a Slackivist and Other Political Views

I am a fan of Political Compass because it gives an in depth look into what your political stance is with a questionnaire that doesn’t let you choose “no position”.  Instead of using a single axis of Left and Right it uses two.  A left-right (Collectivims thru Neo-liberalism) economic x axis and an authoritarian-libertarian (Fascism thru Anarchy) social y axis.

Here is what I scored after taking the questionnaire.

I am Libertarian Left.  Which is odd because when I took it in the past I have been closer to the middle.  Now I am in my 40’s and it has drifted farther to the left instead of going right.  For one it might be that the political climate in the US has changed and went to the right and that I am rebelling against it in my own mind.  I know that it won’t always work, so I do try to be pragmatic, but I am lazy just posting my politics on Facebook. (a.k.a. Slacktivism)

I want to show the political compass for the 2016 US Presidential Candidates.

If you look at the Republican candidates and they are in the extreme corner of the Authoritarian Right. Hillary Clinton is in the Authoritarian Right but not to the extreme with the GOP.  This is why Republicans call everyone right of center of in the middle a liberal. Look at Bernie Sanders who is just left of center and they call him a Socialist when he is more of a Social Democrat like in Scandinavian countries.  That is how screwed up US politics is.  It is the conservative Democrats and the reactionary Republicans.

I wonder where it all went wrong?  I am a Gen X’er and grew up during Reaganomics.  Growing up I saw the slide of society turn to this pro-privatization neo-liberalism and the War on Drugs. (Which we are still fighting) In the 1992 when I was old enough to vote I wasn’t going to see another 4 years of George Bush/Day Quayle.  Voted for Bill Clinton and he did some positive thinks like rise taxes on the top tax bracket and rise the minimum wage.   He did setup some changes would make a turn to the worse.  First was the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and that shipped jobs to Mexico and created a series of free trade agreements that shipped jobs to other foreign countries.  Then there was the repeal of the Glass–Steagall Act that made the housing crisis of the early 21st Century.

Now how do we change it for the better?  One is supporting the Occupy Wall St. movement that is still going on.  There are many online efforts you can support.  Here are a few links.

MoveOn.org

Daily Kos

Progressive Change Campaign Committee

Americans of Tax Fairness

CREDO Action

I also want to get a shout out to a blog of an old college friend called Pennsylbama Rising.