A Scientific Way to Determine ‘How Conservative or Liberal Am I?’

Eric Zuesse (blogs at https://theduran.com/author/eric-zuesse/)

On August 7th, Gallup in the United States published the results of their many polls of Americans on a wide range of publicly debated issues, and they found 20 issues that produced more than a 5% difference between the adherents to America’s liberal Democratic Party versus the adherents to America’s conservative Republican Party. Their headline was “Update: Partisan Gaps Expand Most on Government Power, Climate”, and any individual anywhere can find out approximately where on this American ideological scale one’s own ideology is, by rating one’s own position regarding each one of these 20 issues.

Gallup’s figures were the bottom-line “partisan gaps,” between the two groups, not merely “partisan positions.” For example: if, on the issue of “Federal Government Has Too Much Power” you are 100% in agreement, then you are an extreme Republican, extremely conservative, which is libertarian (a believer that everything should be privatized — no property should be under the government’s control — and you therefore believe that government must be eliminated) at -100 (which is actually anarchistic); and, if on it you are 100% in disagreement, then you are an extreme Democrat, which is extremely socialist (a believer that the government should control all property); and then the “partisan gap” would be -200: -100% for libertarians (i.e., anarchists), versus +100% for socialists. Since this is defining ideology 100% on the basis of economics, which is 100% on the basis of property, ignoring owners (persons), governmental actions against owners, or persons, are not being considered; and, so, the broader question of dictatorship versus democracy is largely outside the scope of the ideological spectrum in present-day political ‘science’. Mussolini and Hitler were the first national leaders who privatized assets of their respective governments; so, they were the earliest libertarians, but they were dictators and despised democracy. Yet today’s political ‘scientists’ don’t call those individuals “libertarians” (or, in Europe: “neoliberals”), because in The West, that is the dominant ideology; so, acknowledging that the Axis powers won the ideological war in the post-WW-2 period (as I discussed here) is effectively prohibited.

However, America doesn’t have any libertarian Party (except as a spoiler for the Republicans) and doesn’t have any socialist Party (except as a spoiler for the Democrats). What it DOES have is the Republican (or conservative) Party, versus the Democratic (or liberal) Party. And, therefore, Gallup found that the “partisan gap” on that issue (“Federal Government Has Too Much Power”) was -50, meaning like 75% of Republicans agreed versus only 25 % of Democrats agreed: whereas 75% of Republicans said Yes, 75% of Democrats said No, on that. And you can rate yourself on each one of these issues, in order to determine, on each one of them, where you stand along the political poles between libertarian, conservative, liberal and socialist, on each one of those issues that the most define these two Parties.

A minus-finding here (“-”) shows that Republican responses predominated on the “Yes” side; a plus-finding (“+”) shows that Democratic responses predominated on the “Yes” side.

Here were the results:

Update: Partisan Gaps Expand Most on Government Power, Climate

Partisan differences have expanded over the past 20 years on some, but not all, core U.S. social and policy issues.

“Update: Partisan Gaps Expand Most on Government Power, Climate”

7 August 2023

Federal Government Has Too Much Power

−50

Human Activity Is Main Cause of Global Warming

+33

Completely or Somewhat Satisfied With K-12 Education in U.S.

+30

Abortion Should Be Legal Under Any Circumstance

+30

Foreign Trade Is Opportunity for Economic Growth

+29

Immigration Should Be Decreased

−29

Protecting Environment Has Priority Over Energy Development

+27

Immigration Is Good for Country

+27

Gun Laws Should Be Stricter

+24

Government Should Ensure That Everyone Has Healthcare

+24

Worry Great Deal or Fair Amount About Global Warming

+23

Income Tax You Pay Is Fair

+20

Marijuana Should Be Legal

+15

Great Deal or Quite a Lot of Confidence in Police

−15

Government Should Do More to Solve Nation’s Problems

+13

Doctor Should Be Able to End Life by Painless Means

+11

Favor Death Penalty in Cases of Murder

−9

Having Baby Outside of Marriage Is Morally Acceptable

+8

Same-Sex Marriages Should Be Legally Valid

+6

Sympathize More With Israelis Than Palestinians

-6

To show how this works, I have rated mysef on each, in order to come up with a net U.S.-based ideological score for myself on each of these 20 issues:

Federal Government Has Too Much Power

−50. +25 (I am 75% preferring the liberal position over the conservative position.)

Human Activity Is Main Cause of Global Warming

+33. +50

Completely or Somewhat Satisfied With K-12 Education in U.S.

+30. +30

Abortion Should Be Legal Under Any Circumstance

+30. +60

Foreign Trade Is Opportunity for Economic Growth

+29. +35

Immigration Should Be Decreased

−29. -40

Protecting Environment Has Priority Over Energy Development

+27. +40

Immigration Is Good for Country

+27. 0

Gun Laws Should Be Stricter

+24. +50

Government Should Ensure That Everyone Has Healthcare

+24. +70

Worry Great Deal or Fair Amount About Global Warming

+23. +60

Income Tax You Pay Is Fair

+20. -40

Marijuana Should Be Legal

+15. +40

Great Deal or Quite a Lot of Confidence in Police

−15. +75

Government Should Do More to Solve Nation’s Problems

+13. +87

Doctor Should Be Able to End Life by Painless Means

+11. +85

Favor Death Penalty in Cases of Murder

−9. +10

Having Baby Outside of Marriage Is Morally Acceptable

+8. -90

Same-Sex Marriages Should Be Legally Valid

+6. +90

Sympathize More With Israelis Than Palestinians

-6. +90

I rate myself +762 for all of the 20 factors collectively, and thus an average of +38 on each of the 20, meaning that I am 38% toward the socialist side of America’s Democratic Party — significantly to the left of that Party.

However: for whatever reason, no question appears among those 20 that concerns imperialism, which I consider the most important issue of all — to END imperialism — but if they had, then (because that issue is ignored throughout the American spectrum), I would rate myself as being, on that matter, 100% against BOTH political Parties, and this means that in American politics, there is lots (200) that is irrelevant to my political concerns (+762). So: I have become largely alienated from American politics. I cannot accept the concept of “democracy” as being entirely OUTSIDE the concept of international dictatorship (i.e, imperialism). To me, that’s absurd, outrageous. To a major extent, I reject the ideologies that have guided the U.S. Government ever since 25 July 1945. In fact: imperialism is such a huge issue to me that it is actually at least as important to me as are all of the issues, put together, that ideology in the U.S. is concerned about. All 20 of the issues that divide America’s political Parties are less important to me than ending America’s imperialism is. To me, imperialism is evil, and the America form of it, which (like Hitler’s) aspires to take over the entire world, is the most destructive thing, and the supreme danger, to the entire world. The scientific estimates are that a WW3 would kill approximately 5 billion people from starvation within just two years. Ideology, in America, at least, ignores this danger. If that’s not absurd, then what is?

So: though this measure is relevant to a person whose political concerns are mainly the ones on which America’s conservatives and liberals disagree, it might not be very relevant to a person whose chief political concerns are outside those issues.

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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse’s new book, AMERICA’S EMPIRE OF EVIL: Hitler’s Posthumous Victory, and Why the Social Sciences Need to Change, is about how America took over the world after World War II in order to enslave it to U.S.-and-allied billionaires. Their cartels extract the world’s wealth by control of not only their ‘news’ media but the social ‘sciences’ — duping the public.