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How about a quiz? Quizzes are always fun, right?! ...No? Wait, don't close the topic yet! The Political Compass is a pretty well-known test that basically examines your opinions on a variety of topics and then places you somewhere on a two-axis graph based on your positions. The two axes are left-to-right (assessing your economic opinions) and libertarian-to-authoritarian (assessing your social positions). Of course, it's not a perfect test, as political opinions are often complicated and involve a lot more than just these two factors, but it's better than the typical left-to-right labels that just throw everything into one big one-dimensional pot. Similar tests include the World's Smallest Political Quiz and the Nolan Chart, but I think this one is best since it's the most comprehensive that I've seen. The test is here (and also linked above :I) if you want to try it out and post your results, though it is a little lengthy. Here are my results. I'm suppose I'm just interested to see the variety of views that exist here on the forum.

Hello everyone, I've been wondering for a while about everyone's political views so I decided to make a thread about it. I'd like to know about your overall ideas and ideology, what your views and opinions on currently important issues are, and on issues that are important to you but maybe not everyone else. Please be careful as I do not intend this to be a discussion or debate topic but as a reaction topic where everyone more or less minds their own post. Considering the topic we're dealing with I'd like to formalize the meanings behind some oft-used terms to try and end up with as little misunderstandings as we can. conservatism is broad a term that refers to a desire to keep things the way they are, both socially and politically, e.g. traditional values, ideologies and institutions. Conservatives want to preserve the things that they think are good A subgroup of this is so-called reactionary, which aims to turn things back into "the way they were". progressivism is a broad term that refers to the idea that change in science, politics, economy and social organization can improve the human condition. The central idea is that societies should develop and implement 'better' policies when it can to progress humanity to a better state. socialism in it's current West-European context stands for a political ideology that a state should care for its citizenry and try to maintain at least a certain level of quality of life for all, as well as improve living standards in general. The reason for this can be because it is considered 'good' or because empiric evidence says it improves living conditions (and that is considered good). All welfare states are to a degree socialist. Socialistic policy often uses financial law to try and curb the excesses of free market economy for more stability. liberalism is a philosophy based on liberty and equality. Liberalism in it's current-day West-European context stands for individualism (the right to stand out from a crowd and not be negatively affected by it) and laissez-faire economical and social policy. Liberalism assumes liberty and equality bring up the best in human nature, and the philosophy may find it necessary in practice to use state policy to safeguard the liberty and equality of all citizenry. libertarianism is a series of political philosophies that value liberty above all else. Libertarianism seeks to maximize autonomy, personal choice and primacy of personal judgment. So write away! I'll write up my own ideas at a later time.