If you think the internet, as a whole, overrepresents anything i'm quite surprised.

I always guessed that the internet pretty accurately reflects how people think. Mostly a little screwy, overly enamoured with flashing sparkly unicorns, and deeply attracted to distasteful pornography.

If you think that the whole community here is a 'a bit left-wing', then perhaps it is yourself who is somewhat off-centre?

That really isn't meant to be provocative, I am in NO WAY criticising any beliefs I may imagine you have. Just a thought.

I came to the conclusion a while ago that the majority of people are slightly more conservative in nature than I, but really I think everybody cares about the same things, just prioritises them differently.

Right on, cormade, the dialect moves on. (chuckle)
Yeah I'm mostly conservative.

anarcho-primitivist

I think trying to pigeon-hole people as one thing is pointless and silly. I find it hard to believe that anyone would hold liberal views on EVERYTHING, or conservative views on EVERYTHING, unless they've been brainwashed by the political establishment into thinking 'we are right, the other side is always wrong'.

haha I thik you hit it on the nose jones

Agree...mostly Classically liberal/libertarian

Perhaps I'd only really taken notice of Sicarius's anarchist/luddite threads then.

And someone can legitimately hold liberal or conservative views on everything. Both movements reflect different worldviews, sets of values and understandings of the role of government. If you subscribe to one set of values you are likely to agree with other people who also agree with that set of values.

The "political establishment" didn't invent liberalism and conservatism, they are poltical traditions that have evolved organically over centuries. It is not a moral failing to identify with one or the other.

Most common transposition of liberalism and conservatism is over guns.

Liberalism generally revolves around freedoms to, with conservatism typically freedoms from. With guns however, it's generally Liberals who want freedom from the fear of people who want the freedom to walk around carrying guns.

@ Airborne - The dialect moves on? Is that some kind of odd linguistic joke? I'm not sure I was speaking in any particular dialect. Or do you have your own special meaning for that word : )

Well, I am amazed that someone could claim that there are only two worldviews. In Europe, even in the established political parties there are more than 5 different worldviews. And even these worldviews don't give uniform answers to all situations but just to some. Is the ecological movement left or right? They try to conserve something, so are they conservative? In most issues quite the contrary. Or take anti-globailzation movements. How does this fit into your left-right scheme?

I think in America it gets simplified because we have 2 parties. (And yes, someone will tell me about the Libertarian party, the Communist Party, blah blah, there's two. Face it) People are taught that voting along party lines is the right thing to do.

Much of Europe and the rest of the world not only have more than 2, but frequently has to have coalition governments (which has its good points and bad points).

I'm an European, and I could say I'm mostly social-democrat. That would be left-center in Croatia. In the US, there's no real "left" political power, IMHO.

I'm somewhere between a conservative and a libertarian. I don't think either really want me.

A statist here.

Conservative in favor of a small government, but not quite libertarian.

president perlicles +1
Someone FINALLY noticed!

To paint with a broad brush I might be considered a social liberal but an economic conservative, but I'm sure you'll find that while my views don't conflict with each other (at least I don't think they do!) those two often do. =D

Ballack is quite right, the liberal/conservative dichotomy is limiting. In Australia, like much of the anglosphere, our two main parties are a socially democratic party whose main power base is the labour movement and a liberal-conservative coalition whose main base is business, middle-class voters and rural voters.

I would say that the users of this site seem more conservative on average than most other internet sites, assuming you don`t count Sicarius as twenty people.

And of course, you ave to remember that those who fall into the middle and find uneducated extreme views distateful... well alot of them will likely post less often.

Are you kidding? This forum is more liberal than moveon.org!

We have GetUp.

Its just a way for Labor Party stooges to raise funds that aren't from unions, so when it comes to disclosure time they can say "Look, we don't get ALL our money from the unions".

They also support convicted terrorist David Hicks. They are a despicable organisation.

"Are you kidding? This forum is more liberal than moveon.org!"

Dude. There might be a few loonies, but this isn't a real nutty place. Go to a college campus and tell me this place is liberal.

There are just a few lefties here. Nothing's wrong with that.

er, depends on your campus I suppose
I'd say that the political views here are around what I'd expect. We do, after all, have quite a diverse global community. The one surprise for me was Sicarius, but surprises seem to be what he's best at.

@ Invictus 0621 GMT

I know college campuses are extremist liberal. On this Forum, it's an illusion. The same handful of leftists disagree with me, so it appears as though the majority of people here do.

Personal Freedoms? Liberal, in the strongest sense of the word. I'm pro- choice, guns, independent judiciary, freedom of speech, religion, and a whole host of other things. The Democratic party is the closest thing to what I want in this category.

Economic Freedoms? ...to a point. I happen to be in the business of making money off of regulations (Environmental Testing Equipment), but those don't really go away irreguardless of who's in power. I think businesses should be taxed on windfall profits. I think that Free Trade is great in theory, but in practice smart use of tarrifs are necessary. I, quite frankly, love protectionism, balenced budgets, and the idea that the government should be providing any services the private market can't. It's a bit of a tossup, but the Democrats haven't been in the White House for the last 8 years.

Foreign Policy: I'm a militant realist. Hate idealism or extremism of any kind. Again, Democrats haven't been in the White House the last 8 years, but an idealist certainly has. Thank goodness he hired Gates is all I can say to that. I'm also very disappointed Richardson 1) didn't win the Primary and 2) was passed over for SecState.

My economic policy is Coolidge-esque. I believe that the economy and the government should NEVER interact.

I am an idealist acutally Val... but I don't think Bush is.

You can achieve ideals through pragmatism.

College campuses are extremist liberal? I'm not sure about that. I wake up every day on a college campus and discover that some of the most conservative modern American economic thinking is being cooked up a few blocks from my bed.

@Jones -
I suppose it is hard to believe that somebody is entirely left-wing or entirely right-wing on every issue, however, there is some science out there that would suggest this is more common than you'd think and isn't the result of brainwashing. Read any George Lakoff?

diplomat1824 I think that is the first time I have seen actually state a firm opinion on anything. Usually you just say you are a conservative without stating exactly what you believe. (You might have expressed you opinion and I might not have seen it of course).
Government and Economy never interact hey? What about Taxes? Or do you believe in no taxation of any kind?