Phantasy Star Cave Message Board

A census, since it seems to be a point of argument I hope there is voter's anonymity...

I don't really care if people know my political leanings. I'm Libertarian. Fiscally conservative, socially liberal.

You probably already know this, but in Europe "libertarian" is traditionally (though perhaps not so much in practice any more) synonymous with "anarchist", ie. a socialist ideology and hardly fiscally conservative...

I lean more towards socialism, but not the way it's practiced in countries like Cuba and China.

I want the people to have social security, medicine, food, work on whatever they want, are able to, capable to, as well as equal opportunities, I don't want banks or businesses taking risks evidently engineered towards making the workers or the common people take the blow if they fail, etc.

Open disclosure of official documents as well as a close monitoring of government officials, and on their first screwup to hold them accountable.

Several countries have achieved several of those points, with Sweden being an interesting example of monitoring the government, Cuba another in both education and health care, Canada yet another and France, whether people like the French or not, being another (only regarding medical care).

skymandr wrote:You probably already know this, but in Europe "libertarian" is traditionally (though perhaps not so much in practice any more) synonymous with "anarchist", ie. a socialist ideology and hardly fiscally conservative... ;)

Yes, I'm aware, but there's nothing closer on your poll that fits my political leanings. Your poll is obviously slanted towards European politics (left wing to extremely left wing :P), which I'm not saying is wrong, it just doesn't cover the breadth of the US political spectrum, therefore, doesn't include me. I suppose I could have refrained from voting at all, but thought I'd put in a vote for Anarchism, anyway. ;)

I favor decentralization of the government, deregulation of the economy, support the free market and believe strongly in privatization of most industries with minimal government oversight. It's obvious I diverge from a total anarchist, since they do not believe in private industry as well as the government. I'm more of a Classic Liberal, but I had to go with what was closest on your poll.

Edited: I also get that your poll was aimed at finding out among those that call themselves socialist what kind of socialist they are. I just wanted to offer another view. And I like voting in polls. :)

I don't know what I am. Maybe a socialist? When I vote, I vote for the green guys.

I'm in favour of the government owning and regulating things that people need in their everyday lives, like electricity, public transport, tele-communication and similar. In my experience privatising this only leads to high prices with little competition. The only thing that runs well privatised is busses and trams.

I'm for social health care.

awwrgh My head hurts

I am a capital communist

The free market has screwed over the world numerous times already, and what little regulation they have as it is is woefully ineffective at stopping it from happening again. They've proven time and again that they need to be regulated and controlled or we end up like the US, where there's like 100 people with most of the money in the country riding on the backs of the average person who's barely treading water since their wages never, ever go up whilst profits skyrocket.

So, yeah. May as well go socialist at this point since my options in america are "right" and "super-right", and in australia it's all "we're old and don't understand technology but DEM IMMIGRENTS MAN" so I'm shafted no matter what I do.

Totally, totally sick of the right wing in every single respect.

EDIT: Social Democrat, I mean.

BenoitRen wrote:The only thing that runs well privatised is busses and trams.

Not quite so in Sweden, in my experience at least (well, cross country busses do run well, but not the privatized public transports... meh...)

I just realised that I haven't stated where I stand. A bit rude since I started the topic, one could argue... It will probably not surprise anyone that I'm a socialist, but what brand is a difficult question (I'm a little tempted to say "all of the above..") The only thing I probably wouldn't call myself is communist, though I do think that the communist manifesto is a worth reading and offers a relevant critique of the post-industrial social hierarchy.

In many ways I sympathise with social democracy, though I wouldn't vote for the social democrats in Sweden, since they've taken such a long step away from their socialist roots towards a much to uncritical free market/capitalist stance (the way most labour parties are going, it seems, though in the UK they may be taking a step back now).

Like Benoit, I've often voted for the green. In general though, at least in my less cynical periods, I would probably identify as an a red anarchist/libertarian socialist ("anarcho- cynicalist?" ). I think direct action is an important democratic tool, and that non-parliamentary politics is very important.

Tanith wrote:Edited: I also get that your poll was aimed at finding out among those that call themselves socialist what kind of socialist they are. I just wanted to offer another view. And I like voting in polls.

With my own anarchist tendencies, I encourage your initiative of making your own interpretation of my much too shallow poll!

Comparing the European scale with the American is very interesting, and I would say that it is not simply that the European scale is not broad enough or nuanced enough, rather the American politics is somewhat at an angle to the European: fiscal and social values are not, as I've understood from my American friends, as closely tied in the US. The best attempt at making sense of this that I have found is the political compass: http://www.politicalcompass.org/

I have no political affiliation. Overrated.

Neither do I. But ideas tend to ultimately fall into one or other bucket as far as political inclinations go.

At least, I'd never vote for the conservatives of my country. They've assraped my country, my people and my rights and culture enough for a term and what has already passed of this one. Want a topic to search and see how many dead are? Search "Mexican war against drug cartels felipe calderon" on google or something and look for how many dead are accounted so far.

It's a sad state of affairs.

In all honesty, the political parties in here suck... TERRIBLY. If I were to choose, I'd choose the one that threatens me the least... If only to voice my disapproval of the current ruling party.

I've heard about the war on drugs. Every time I do I wonder if you're in any way near those incidents.

Not so close they shoot right in front of me, but the crime rate in MY city has escalated, yes. As a result, I always carry a switchblade with me, since it's the easiest bladed weapon I was trained to use that I can conceal easily. The ABC daycare tragedy in which 49 children aged 1 to 5 died by burning and countless others still suffer from the aftermath was over here in my city.

A few months ago, the organized crime made an open season all over the country. What was the game? Shooting cops. As a result, the cops are all paranoid and move in 4 to 8 men units around the city, but never actually help the populace (no, really, they don't give a shit about us).

Still, I'm in paradise compared to Ciudad Juárez, a bordering city with the US's town of El Paso, Texas. Over there, it's open season all year long. Prey? Anything that moves. A few weeks ago, a birthday party for a kid turning 15 turned into a bloodbath. Reason? None at all. The drug cartel just opened fire as a message telling the government they can do whatever they want.