Kucinich appears the only liberal according to the political compass

[liberaldemocrat7]

According to the political compass Dennis Kucinich appears the only liberal running for the Democratic nomination.

The rest including Edwards appear to the right of the spectrum which makes them conservative Democrats. I believe they have Gravel tested incorrect with his support of a flat tax.

How did they get these politicians to take the test anyway?

So I'm going to vote for the only liberal Dennis Kucinich in the NY primary.

I would like to find out where Bill Clinton stands on this graph.

[saltpoint]

1. What compass is this, though? Biden is rated a "hard core liberal" on his

voting record of some decades. Edwards, a trial lawyer who is strongly supported by many liberal trial lawyers, speaks of poverty as a pre-eminent concern. Doesn't sound that conservative to me.

Barack Obama's experience building communities is exactly what Republicans don't want.

Dodd's record and Gov. Richardson also are identifyable liberal.

And certainly Mike Gravel is.

So's Kucinich.

[LWolf]

3. Some answers:

A <snip> from FAQ:

21. You've got liberals on the right. Don't you know they're left ?

This response is exclusively American. Elsewhere neo-liberalism is understood in standard political science terminology - deriving from mid 19th Century Manchester Liberalism, which campaigned for free trade on behalf of the capitalist classes of manufacturers and industrialists. In other words, laissez-faire or economic libertarianism.

In the United States, "liberals" are understood to believe in leftish economic programmes such as welfare and publicly funded medical care, while also holding liberal social views on matters such as law and order, peace, sexuality, women's rights etc. The two don't necessarily go together.

Our Compass rightly separates them. Otherwise, how would you label someone like the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan who, on the one hand, pleased the left by supporting strong economic safety nets for the underprivileged, but angered social liberals with his support for the Vietnam War, the Cold War and other key conservative causes?

http://www.politicalcompass.org/faq

[saltpoint]

11. Yes, we have to (or get to) sort through the pack to see the direction we

prefer and the candidates who might best get us there.

That's easier for liberals in Berkeley or Austin or Madison than it is for liberals in Terre Haute or Bartlesville.

Kucinich is a model liberal by the Kennedy model, backed up by his voting record, but he would not be electable in many predominantly red congressional districts.

The Evan Bayh Conundrum is always before us. His father, Birch Bayh, was a sleeves-rolled-up liberal and Indiana voters replaced him in 1980 with a young upstart nincompoop named Dan Quayle. If we wnat the more liberal Senator Birch Bayh, we may not get it in places like Indiana and settle instead for Evan Bayh, who is hardly a firebrand liberal. Even so, he votes blue a good deal of the time, just not as blue or blue as often as Biden or Durbin or Dodd, who have much bluer statewide demographics to stand against.

We have to figure out a way to strengthen the party state-to-state, very similar to the emphasis Howard Dean is looking for in his 50-state strategy, before we can expect more liberal performances from Democrats in conservative districts/states. It's a compelling problem, and worth the effort, especially when the alternative is Dan Quayle.

[LWolf]

14. Good points, all. n/t

[LWolf]

2. The politicians don't take the test.

Their positions are based on actions and votes.

A <snip> from the FAQ, the bolding mine:

15. How can you determine where politicians are honestly at without asking them ?

How can you tell where they're honestly at by asking them? Especially around election time. We've relied on reports, parliamentary records, ... and actions that spoke louder than words.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/faq

[bryant69]

5. Yep - and you cand rest assured that nobody involved in testing said politicians

has any type of political ax to grind. Nope!

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[LWolf]

8. Of course everyone has a political axe to grind.

This particular group is not from the U.S., though, and doesn't have a U.S. axe to grind. That's one reason why I like it.

Here's a little on the creators, from Britain:

<snip>


The idea was developed by a political journalist with a university counselling background, assisted by a professor of social history. They're indebted to people like Wilhelm Reich and Theodor Adorno for their ground-breaking work in this field. We believe that, in an age of diminishing ideology, a new generation in particular will get a better idea of where they stand politically - and the sort of political company they keep.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=389&topic_id=1964436&mesg_id=1965367

[bryant69]

10. probably doesn't hurt that they mark your guy as the only liberal in the race n/t

[LWolf]

13. He and Gravel, which I disagree with.

Perhaps it's because Gravel hasn't been in government to actually do something with the flat tax thing? It's based on record, not speeches.

It's also a different definition of "liberal" than is used in the U.S., as I pointed out in #3, above:

A <snip> from FAQ:

21. You've got liberals on the right. Don't you know they're left ?

This response is exclusively American. Elsewhere neo-liberalism is understood in standard political science terminology - deriving from mid 19th Century Manchester Liberalism, which campaigned for free trade on behalf of the capitalist classes of manufacturers and industrialists. In other words, laissez-faire or economic libertarianism.

In the United States, "liberals" are understood to believe in leftish economic programmes such as welfare and publicly funded medical care, while also holding liberal social views on matters such as law and order, peace, sexuality, women's rights etc. The two don't necessarily go together.

Our Compass rightly separates them. Otherwise, how would you label someone like the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan who, on the one hand, pleased the left by supporting strong economic safety nets for the underprivileged, but angered social liberals with his support for the Vietnam War, the Cold War and other key conservative causes?

http://www.politicalcompass.org/faq

[Odin2005]

12. And that is where the problem enters.

On the test you have to chose between strongly agree/disagree and agree/disagree. This would pose some problems if you are going by a politician's voting record. Also, I think some test-takers pick strongly agree and strongly disagree when they spuld of really just picked agree or disagree, making test-takers seem farther from the center then they really are. IMO there is no way most DUers are in the far anarcho-socialist end of the chart. I'd say the average DU poster is around the same spot as Kucinich and the average American is around where most of the Democratic candidates are.

[LWolf]

16. That may be true.

That the voters are in the authoritarian/right quadrant along with the majority of the U.S. politicians.

Or it could be that, with corruption rampant, the choices in the end are always winnowed down to politicians from that quadrant, effectively forcing voters to shift.

[backscatter712]

4. Link?

[Phoonzang]

6. It's here

http://www.politicalcompass.org/usprimaries2007

At least I'm guessing this is what the OP was talking about.

[porphyrian]

9. Yes, and here are TahitiNut's recent threads on the subject:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1946492

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1962056

[Sufficient Voice]

7. And all commited liberals everywhere thank you for your vote.

[Vidar]

15. There was an old Saturday Night Live bit, starring Kevin Neeland,

I believe, as the last liberal in America, being hunted down, a la The Fugitive. Bless Dennis for wearing the title proudly, and shame on the poseurs that make up the rest of the field.