POLL : What are you??

[kentuck]

[TBF]

1. I chose communist but only because you didn't list socialist.

close enough anyway. :)

[uncommon]

2. Likewise.

[kentuck]

5. Sorry about that.

Poll corrected and you are on record.

[old mark]

3. Reluctantly Liberal, who USED TO BE a radical, back when there were such things.

Liberal is about as far as it goes these days.

mark

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

4. Democratic-Socialist Civil-Libertarian

[dkf]

7. What is the difference between a democratic socialist and a liberal?

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

8. It's relative

I think of Europe as essentially Democratic Socialist.

Some American liberals favor that level of safety-net and government planning in the economy. Some wouldn't go quite that far.

But they are close on the spectrum.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

6. Other

Democratic socialist.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

9. I'm a Gemini.

[cliffordu]

10. annoyed, mostly.

[Coyote_Bandit]

11. Other

I am someone who refuses to be defined by somebody else's fucking labels.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. Pigeon holes are for pigeons.

[alc]

13. other - some of many

In some overall world view I'm probably closest to libertarian. But on different specifics I lean different ways.

A liberal? yes for glbt, abortion, death penalty, wars, progressive taxes and many other issues. want significant health reforms that are mostly considered liberal, but also some that aren't (i.e. single-payer catastrophic coverage but individual choice for non-catastrophic coverage with significant subsidies for 200% poverty level). For many pro-union laws like stopping the tricks corps use to avoid unionization

A conservative? yes on guns, fiscal responsibility in govt, school choice (public and private with subsidies for low income). Think unionization vote should be secret (against card check.)

A moderate? often. want both sides to restrain each other in most cases.

A radical? think we need an extreme overhaul of the government. I'm for succession if done peacefully

An anarchist? not really. I don't trust our government at all but we need something

A communist? great theory. no chance to make it work in a country with more than 200 citizens (social contracts break down at 200-250 individuals and communism just won't work even in corporations that grow over 250 employees)

A troll? I'm sure many people think so even though it's not my intent

A libertarian? want less government for almost all individual activities (i.e. drug use, sex), and for small businesses (<5 owners who are all active employees and under 10 employees total should have almost no regulations like EEOC, ADA and remove most of the tax and other paperwork that requires accountants and lawyers). want us to keep out of other country's business. would like contracts to take the place of many laws.

A socialist? don't consider it a bad word or take offense if someone were to call me a socialist. but I'm not at one all by most definitions

[blondeatlast]

14. I wish I knew. Perhaps some kind DUers could enlighten me.

:evilgrin:

[TBF]

27. Sure - leftist vs. liberal

A friend of mine wrote this... it may help some of you figure out if you are liberal/progressive or leftist (socialist/communist):

Liberal- will blithely be assimilated.

Leftist- will promptly be assassinated.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Liberal- possesses a quaint notion that one can Re-Form hierarchical power structures.

Leftist- desires to completely unravel and eliminate the functions and forms of hierarchy.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Liberal- wishes to turn The Bank into The People's Credit Union.

Leftist- sees the need to turn the tables of the moneychangers and smash the marketplace.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Liberal- feels a warm fuzzy feeling inside while intoning "share the wealth".

Leftist- desires to redefine concepts of wealth particularly as it relates to large metal objects.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Liberal- says "Living Wage".

Leftist- says "Solidarity".
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Liberal- willingly shells out $3 for a glass of carrot juice.

Leftist- sees Root Vegetables as sustenance and metaphor.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Liberal- outside the coffee shop talks daily about the need for the Cappuccino Revolution but balks at acting out for fear this would endanger his/her daily cappuccino.

Leftist- reuses the same coffee filter, paper towels or odd socks when all other options have been exhausted in an attempt to squeeze one more cup from yesterday's grounds.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Liberal- wants to 'get out the vote'.

Leftist- recognizes voting as a nominal form of political activity meant to validate the Democratic State and convince the political consumer that they are a participant in governance.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Liberal- can often be seen mouthing the "education is the answer" mantra particularly in the rarified atmosphere of the Citadels of Expertise. Revels in being near theory or people 'doing theory' in the academy.

Leftist- sees education as social engineering and cultural imperialism. Education Academies seen as the proving grounds for the future ruling class.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Liberal- users of 'all natural' deodorant. The armpits are fresh particularly during commercial breaks.

Leftists- recognize deodorant as one of the essential pillars of Empire. Will often raise their armpit in tight quarters due to quixotic impulses.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Liberal- write lengthy position papers on the plusses of developing more efficient killing machines (See Amory Lovins for more details).

Leftist- sees the Techno Warfare State as one of the great life destroying mechanisms in the history of Mankind and understands the relationship between war and oppression. The Health of the State being that which kills everything else.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Liberal- true believers in the New Economy and Seattle (the city) home of Microsoft, Boeing and Starbucks.

Leftist- true believers in a different Seattle (the Amerindian prophet)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Liberal- incessantly complaining about their leftist rentors.

Leftist- incessantly complaining about their liberal landlords.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Liberals- have recently been experiencing a population explosion which seems to have been caused by a grey form of technocratic inbreeding. Much of this exponential proliferation seems to emanate directly from prime time television. And vice versa.

Leftists- an endangered species. Said to be only 723 remaining in the contiguous 48 states of the United States of America. For years they have been scooped up and exiled to the Periphery. To date all efforts to exhume the spirit of Eugene Debs have fallen on deaf ears.

[thotzRthingz]

15. I'm a registered Independent... progressive all the way, so I chose "liberal" {n/t)

[MineralMan]

16. I'm a socialist in philosophy and a liberal Democrat in reality.

I support the Democratic candidate in any election because that candidate is always superior to the Republican candidate in the same race. That's what I do as a voter.

[slackmaster]

17. I'll cop to libertarian as long as the "l" remains in lower case

I am not now nor have I ever been a member of the Libertarian Party.

[metapunditedgy]

18. An idealist, I suppose. Too hard to choose between "liberal" and "socialist."

Don't like to be pigeon-holed, as someone else said.

[VMI Dem]

19. A liberal that believes in the sanctity of hetero marriage. A pragmatist if you will.

Vote for me without question.


:evilgrin:

[Curmudgeoness]

30. Huh? Is that even possible? nt

[Toucano]

20. I'm a free-thinking humanist

I try to avoid dogmatic thinking in all forms and evaluate issues and principles individually.

One size never fits all.

[Arkana]

21. I'm SOME KINDA DOOMSDAY MACHINE, BOOOOYYYYY???!!!

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. Social Democrat... Sanders is one

if people need to know what that animal looks like.

[Change Happens]

23. Socialista!!!

[Erose999]

24. I'm a Kenyan muslim marxist fascist socialist usurper with a fake birth certificate.

I thought we all were?

[Forkboy]

25. A pain in the ass.

:)

[TheKentuckian]

26. Social Democrat/Civil Libertarian

[socialist_n_TN]

28. Well, I picked socialist (obviously), but what really

is striking about these types of polls, and I've seen a BUNCH of them and they all are consistent, is how WELL the socialist/communists do EVERY time. That tells me that between the self described liberals and the socialist/communist contingents, DU is a pretty left wing place. Not DLC friendly I would think.

Unless the DLCers/moderates don't vote in these polls?

[Curmudgeoness]

29. Dilemma, liberal or socialist. I went with socialist in the end,

but it could have been either. I guess more precisely, a liberal socialist.

[ismnotwasm]

31. Socialist Feminist

[donheld]

32. socialist

[Lasher]

33. I don't know.

My political beliefs don't change much but it seems that the labels to describe them do. Or maybe it's my understanding of these categories. I'm a liberal, but certainly not a neoliberal. I'm an old school New Deal Democrat.

Odd that you didn't list progressive as one of the choices.

[Rockholm]

34. Wish I could vote. There is an ad in the corner I can't make disappear!

[saltpoint]

35. I'm a Bella Abzug Democrat, a Robert Kennedy Democrat,

a Birch Bayh Democrat, a Mario Cuomo Democrat, a Bill Bradley Democrat.

When Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech is replayed on NPR or the History Channel, it still stops me in my tracks.

I'm also an Obama supporter and expect him to be re-elected in 2012 on his merits in and of themselves.

[deacon]

36. Moderate/Solidarity Democrat. n/t