Tim May writes:
Check out the "Nolan Chart," which is a fairly common classification in _two_ dimensions. Libertarians often use it to recruit members, by showing that the views of people they ask ("Do you favor legalizing drugs?" etc.) are often more similar to the libertarian position than to others.
In fairness to my left-leaning friends (Dave Mandl as a good example), the questions in the Nolan Chart test are designed to make almost anyone appear to be a libertarian.
Yeah, I agree. It always seemed like a tremendous kludge to me. But anyway...In case my point was misunderstood, I should clarify. I was not trying to enforce conservative/liberal distinctions, which (like most people on this list) I think are fairly meaningless. The world is much more complicated than that; though there are minor real differences, supposed distinctions between "conservatives" and "liberals" are for the most part an illusion--part of the "spectacle," to use Situationist jargon. I responded the way I did to John Kreznar's post precisely because it looked identical to standard Republican-style leftist-baiting, which I unfortunately see too much of every day on the net. John cleared this up in personal email. Apologies if I misunderstood or misconstrued what he was saying. --Dave. -- Dave Mandl dmandl@panix.com